LYB · Materials(industrial organic chemicals) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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LyondellBasell Industries N.V. reported revenue of $30.2 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 0.6% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 17.8% in 2016 to -1.4%, and it earned -4.5% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $49.5 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 39.7% went back into the business and 34.5% to dividends; the share count fell 20.3%. On the accounting screens, it passes 3 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 1.93 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202530.2B+0.6% a year over 9 years
Operating margin-1.4%gross margin 8.5%
Return on invested capital-4.5%20.7% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay293.0M1.0% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDANet cash3.2B more cash than debt
Piotroski F-score3/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
-20.0B020.0B40.0B60.0B
2016Revenue 28.5BOperating income 5.1B
2017Revenue 33.7BOperating income 5.5B
2018Revenue 38.1BOperating income 5.2B
2019Revenue 33.9BOperating income 4.1B
2020Revenue 27.0BOperating income 1.6B
2021Revenue 46.2BOperating income 6.8B
2022Revenue 50.5BOperating income 5.1B
2023Revenue 33.3BOperating income 2.7B
2024Revenue 33.4BOperating income 1.9B
2025Revenue 30.2BOperating income -420.0M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-15.8%
+2.2%
+0.6%
Free cash flow per share
-54.9%
-22.9%
-19.4%
Dividend per share
-18.1%
+5.4%
+5.3%
Shares
-0.4%
-0.7%
-2.5%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 10.2%
-20.0%0.0%20.0%40.0%60.0%
2016Return on invested capital 56.0%
2017Return on invested capital 54.0%
2018Return on invested capital 41.5%
2019Return on invested capital 40.7%
2020Return on invested capital 17.5%
2021Return on invested capital 45.9%
2022Return on invested capital 32.1%
2023Return on invested capital 17.0%
2024Return on invested capital 12.9%
2025Return on invested capital -4.5%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Economic profit 3.0B
2017Economic profit 3.9B
2018Economic profit 3.5B
2019Economic profit 2.6B
2020Economic profit 626.9M
2021Economic profit 4.4B
2022Economic profit 2.8B
2023Economic profit 876.3M
2024Economic profit 338.2M
2025Economic profit -1.5B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.
Return on equity
-7.3%
Return on assets
-2.2%
Asset turnover
0.89×
Research & development
0.5% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
5.3% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Net income 3.8BFree cash flow 3.4BAfter stock-based pay 3.3B
2017Net income 4.9BFree cash flow 3.7BAfter stock-based pay 3.6B
2018Net income 4.7BFree cash flow 3.4BAfter stock-based pay 3.3B
2019Net income 3.4BFree cash flow 2.3BAfter stock-based pay 2.2B
2020Net income 1.4BFree cash flow 1.5BAfter stock-based pay 1.4B
2021Net income 5.6BFree cash flow 5.7BAfter stock-based pay 5.7B
2022Net income 3.9BFree cash flow 4.2BAfter stock-based pay 4.2B
2023Net income 2.1BFree cash flow 3.4BAfter stock-based pay 3.3B
2024Net income 1.4BFree cash flow 2.0BAfter stock-based pay 1.9B
2025Net income -738.0MFree cash flow 384.0MAfter stock-based pay 293.0M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
49.5B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 40%19.6B
Acquisitions 4%1.8B
Dividends 34%17.1B
Share buybacks 22%10.9B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 0%115.0M
Over the same years it paid 644.0M in stock. The share count fell 20.3%. 10.3B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-5.00$0.00$5.00$10.00$15.00$20.00
2016Earnings per share $9.49Free cash flow per share $8.32Dividend per share $3.45
2017Earnings per share $12.37Free cash flow per share $9.27Dividend per share $3.59
2018Earnings per share $12.48Free cash flow per share $8.96Dividend per share $4.14
2019Earnings per share $10.19Free cash flow per share $6.80Dividend per share $4.38
2020Earnings per share $4.27Free cash flow per share $4.36Dividend per share $4.21
2021Earnings per share $17.05Free cash flow per share $17.41Dividend per share $4.51
2022Earnings per share $11.94Free cash flow per share $12.98Dividend per share $9.97
2023Earnings per share $6.54Free cash flow per share $10.51Dividend per share $4.96
2024Earnings per share $4.22Free cash flow per share $6.11Dividend per share $5.31
2025Earnings per share $-2.29Free cash flow per share $1.19Dividend per share $5.48
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
300.0M325.0M350.0M375.0M400.0M425.0M
2016Diluted shares 404.0M
2017Diluted shares 394.5M
2018Diluted shares 375.7M
2019Diluted shares 333.5M
2020Diluted shares 334.0M
2021Diluted shares 329.5M
2022Diluted shares 325.7M
2023Diluted shares 324.5M
2024Diluted shares 323.9M
2025Diluted shares 322.1M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
-4.0B-3.0B-2.0B-1.0B01.0B
2016Net debt -281.0M
2017Net debt -1.5B
2018Net debt 553.0M
2019Net debt -413.0M
2020Net debt -1.1B
2021Net debt -1.1B
2022Net debt -1.8B
2023Net debt -3.3B
2024Net debt -3.3B
2025Net debt -3.2B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
-3.3×
Interest coverage
-1× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.77 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
—
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
3of 9 tests passed
✕ProfitableReturn on assets above zerofailed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✕Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforefailed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
1.93grey zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.14 × 6.56+0.91
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.20 × 3.26+0.65
Operating income ÷ assets -0.01 × 6.72-0.08
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.42 × 1.05+0.44
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-2.67below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.92
Gross margin slipping 1.63+0.86
Soft assets 0.91+0.37
Sales growth 0.90+0.81
Slower depreciation 1.14+0.13
Overheads vs sales 1.09-0.19
Profit not in cash -0.09-0.41
Leverage rising 0.96-0.31
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
The effective tax rate is -9.8%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
Value per share, with these assumptions$97.36discounted at 10.2% a year · 48% of it from after year 10
Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.
What the value implies, in the usual multiples
At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings
—
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
29.0×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
0.9×
Free cash flow yield
0.9%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today14.6B
Everything after, today13.5B
The whole business28.1B
Plus net cash3.2B
What belongs to shareholders31.4B
Divided among 322.1M shares: <strong>$97.36</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Reported 3.3B
2017Reported 3.6B
2018Reported 3.3B
2019Reported 2.2B
2020Reported 1.4B
2021Reported 5.7B
2022Reported 4.2B
2023Reported 3.3B
2024Reported 1.9B
2025Reported 293.0M
2026Projected 2.2B
2027Projected 2.3B
2028Projected 2.3B
2029Projected 2.4B
2030Projected 2.4B
2031Projected 2.5B
2032Projected 2.5B
2033Projected 2.6B
2034Projected 2.6B
2035Projected 2.7B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
30.8B
31.4B
32.1B
32.7B
33.5B
34.2B
35.0B
35.9B
36.7B
37.7B
Growth
2.0%
2.1%
2.1%
2.2%
2.2%
2.3%
2.3%
2.4%
2.4%
2.5%
Cash margin
7.2%
7.2%
7.2%
7.2%
7.2%
7.2%
7.2%
7.2%
7.2%
7.2%
Free cash flow
2.2B
2.3B
2.3B
2.4B
2.4B
2.5B
2.5B
2.6B
2.6B
2.7B
Worth today
2.0B
1.9B
1.7B
1.6B
1.5B
1.4B
1.3B
1.2B
1.1B
1.0B
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
9.2%
100
105
110
117
124
9.7%
95
99
103
109
115
10.2%
90
93
97
102
107
10.7%
85
89
92
96
100
11.2%
82
84
87
91
95
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-2.0%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
5.8%
73
79
85
91
97
6.5%
79
85
91
98
105
7.2%
84
91
97
105
113
7.9%
89
96
104
112
120
8.6%
95
102
110
119
128
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$70.59
Median$97.47
90th percentile$133.38
$100.00$150.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$82.44</b> and <b>$114.64</b>; one in ten below $70.59, one in ten above $133.38.
Does the long run make sense?
29.6×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 29.6 times that year's EBITDA.
48%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
What lenders charge, after the tax saving on interest: 13.17% × (1 − 0.0%) = <strong>13.17%</strong>.
Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>10.24%</strong>, the rate every future cash flow is discounted at.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 6 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market—none in the period
Under pre-arranged plans—of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.