LyondellBasell key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, LyondellBasell had return on equity of -6.5%, an operating margin of -1.4%, debt equal to 128.3% of equity and a current ratio of 1.77. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2011Dec 2011 | 2012Dec 2012 | 2013Dec 2013 | 2014Dec 2014 | 2015Dec 2015 | 2016Dec 2016 | 2017Dec 2017 | 2018Dec 2018 | 2019Dec 2019 | 2020Dec 2020 | 2021Dec 2021 | 2022Dec 2022 | 2023Dec 2023 | 2024Dec 2024 | 2025Dec 2025 | LTMSept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | — | — | — | — | — | 20.5% | 18.6% | 16.6% | 15.6% | 12.2% | 19.0% | 13.1% | 14.7% | 13.9% | 8.5% | 14.3% |
| Operating margin | 9.0% | 10.3% | 11.6% | 12.6% | 18.7% | 17.3% | 15.8% | 13.4% | 11.9% | 5.6% | 14.7% | 10.1% | 8.2% | 5.7% | −1.4% | 8.6% |
| Net margin | 4.5% | 6.3% | 8.8% | 9.2% | 13.7% | 13.1% | 14.1% | 12.0% | 9.8% | 5.1% | 12.2% | 7.7% | 6.4% | 4.1% | −2.4% | 4.1% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 3.8% | 8.2% | 7.4% | 10.0% | 13.4% | 11.5% | 10.6% | 8.6% | 6.5% | 5.2% | 12.4% | 8.4% | 10.2% | 5.9% | 1.3% | 7.6% |
| Return on equity | 20.3% | 26.2% | 32.7% | 40.2% | 60.2% | 60.9% | 65.1% | 48.8% | 37.1% | 17.8% | 56.7% | 31.8% | 16.6% | 10.8% | −6.5% | 12.2% |
| Return on assets | 9.4% | 12.1% | 15.0% | 16.2% | 19.1% | 16.6% | 19.7% | 17.2% | 11.6% | 4.3% | 15.6% | 10.6% | 5.8% | 3.8% | −2.1% | 3.8% |
| Asset turnover | 2.11 | 1.93 | 1.71 | 1.77 | 1.39 | 1.26 | 1.39 | 1.43 | 1.18 | 0.84 | 1.28 | 1.38 | 0.91 | 0.92 | 0.86 | 0.93 |
| Current ratio | 2.28 | 2.41 | 2.65 | 2.14 | 2.25 | 2.11 | 2.46 | 1.92 | 1.83 | 2.11 | 1.69 | 1.75 | 1.84 | 1.83 | 1.77 | 1.78 |
| Debt to equity | 38.1% | 39.5% | 46.8% | 84.7% | 122.6% | 148.5% | 96.3% | 91.5% | 150.0% | 200.2% | 97.9% | 89.7% | 86.9% | 89.5% | 128.3% | 109.6% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 4.2x | 7.1x | 16.5x | 16.3x | 19.7x | 15.7x | 11.1x | 14.5x | 11.9x | 3.0x | 13.1x | 17.8x | 5.7x | 4.0x | n/m | 5.1x |
| Effective tax rate | 30.0% | 31.7% | 22.7% | 27.0% | 27.9% | 26.5% | 10.9% | 11.5% | 16.0% | −3.1% | 17.1% | 18.5% | 18.8% | 15.2% | — | 23.4% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 1.9% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2.5% | 2.9% | 2.5% | 2.9% | 3.5% | 4.1% | 2.7% | 2.6% | 4.6% | 4.9% | 5.3% | 4.9% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 2.2% | 2.3% | 3.5% | 3.3% | 4.4% | 7.7% | 4.5% | 5.4% | 7.8% | 7.0% | 4.2% | 3.7% | 4.6% | 5.5% | 6.2% | 4.0% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 84.3% | 130.9% | 84.9% | 109.0% | 98.3% | 87.7% | 75.0% | 71.8% | 66.7% | 102.1% | 102.1% | 108.7% | 160.8% | 144.8% | — | 185.4% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 134.7% | 84.8% | 29.2% | 33.6% | 31.5% | 36.4% | 29.0% | 33.1% | 43.0% | 98.5% | 26.5% | 83.5% | 75.9% | 125.8% | — | 85.6% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | 159.8% | 64.8% | 94.0% | 158.1% | 137.8% | 128.8% | 62.3% | 101.2% | 230.0% | 96.7% | 34.0% | 86.7% | 53.4% | 96.7% | 511.7% | 46.2% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 | 2026 Q3Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 10.3% | 7.2% | 10.3% | 11.7% | 4.7% | 9.7% | 22.2% | 17.6% |
| Operating margin | −7.6% | 1.5% | 3.7% | −9.5% | −1.2% | 3.3% | 16.8% | 12.6% |
| Net margin | −7.7% | 2.3% | 1.5% | −11.5% | −2.0% | 1.7% | 6.1% | 8.9% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 18.1% | −13.8% | −2.5% | 7.5% | 14.9% | −7.5% | 5.3% | 16.6% |
| Current ratio | 1.83 | 1.83 | 1.77 | 1.57 | 1.77 | 1.54 | 1.64 | 1.78 |
| Debt to equity | 85.5% | 87.8% | 95.1% | 101.7% | 122.5% | 114.1% | 107.3% | 101.7% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 5.4% | 5.2% | 5.7% | 5.2% | 5.3% | 5.7% | 4.2% | 4.6% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $12.1bn of assets due within a year against $6.8bn of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
- More cash than debt $3.2bn of cash against $11.4bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 102% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 88% to 102% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $3.7bn of operating cash flow against $11.4bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $2.8bn against $546m of interest.
Moat
Moderate moat
How hard LyondellBasell's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 14 / 20
Net income has been a median 8.9% of total assets over 10 years.
- Pricing power 7 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 14.9%, moving by 2.9 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
- Durability 2 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 9.7%; its worst year was -3.0%.
- Cash conversion 14 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 8.0% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.
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