18.03.2013 – As expected, Wacker Chemie AG generated lower sales and earnings in 2012 than in the prior year. According to preliminary calculations, the Munich-based chemical group achieved total sales of 4.63 billion Euro in 2012 (2011: 4.91 billion Euro), almost 6 % below the prior-year figure. The decline is chiefly due to lower prices for polysilicon and semiconductor wafers. Altogether, price effects reduced 2012’s consolidated sales by 700 million Euro, or by over 14 %. The chemical divisions, in contrast, actually increased their sales performance by 5 % overall, with higher volumes and positive exchange-rate effects offsetting the impact of price competition.
Based on preliminary figures, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to around 787 million Euro (2011: 1.1 billion Euro) – down 29 % year over year. The earnings decline is mostly due to the overcapacities affecting the photovoltaic industry. Solar-silicon prices halved over the last 12 months. Strongly growing demand for polymers, however, helped Wackers’s chemical divisions increase their year-on-year EBITDA by some 15 %t.
WACKER’s capital expenditures amounted to some 1.1 billion Euro in 2012 (2011: 981 million Euro) according to preliminary figures. The major part of investments was dedicated to new facilities for producing hyperpure polysilicon. Additional funds flowed into the expansion of production capacities for polymer dispersions and polyvinyl acetate solid resins in China and South Korea. Capital expenditures also went into pro rata financing of Wacker’s siloxane-production joint venture with Dow Corning in China.
Share:
