Wacker Chemie AG looks back on a successful 2008. The Group has set new sales and EBITDA records.
At the start of 2008, WACKER predicted that sales would grow by well over 10%. We were on target, thanks to a 13.7% increase to €4.30 billion (2007: €3.78 billion). We did not quite meet our target of increasing WACKER POLYMERS’ sales to about €1 billion. The construction-sector downturn led to a sharp decline in demand for dispersible polymer powders and dispersions. Sales therefore amounted to €867.9 million. At WACKER POLYSILICON, sales rose by a greater than expected amount, as initial quantities from “Expansion Stage 7” were sold ahead of schedule.
WACKER Reached its 2008 Sales and EBITDA Goals
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Comparing Actual with Forecast Performance | |||
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Result 2007 |
March 2008 Forecast |
Result 2008 |
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Sales revenue |
€3.8 billion |
well over |
€4.30 billion |
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EBITDA |
€1.0 billion |
> €1.0 billion |
€1.06 billion |
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CAPEX |
€699.3 million |
€1.0 billion |
€1.09 billion |
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Investments (asset additions) |
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€916.3 million |
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Acquisition of Air Products’ shares |
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€171.2 million |
We predicted that EBITDA would exceed €1 billion. Indeed, year-end EBITDA of €1.06 billion met expectations.
The 2008 dividend to be proposed by the Executive and Supervisory Boards at the Annual Shareholder Meeting is €1.80 per share. This means that 20.4% of net income is to be distributed to shareholders. See further details on dividends
WACKER had earmarked some €1 billion for capital expenditures in 2008. Spending totaled €916.3 million – excluding acquisition of Air Products’ shares in our two former partner companies, APP and WPS. Additionally, we invested €171.2 million in the full-share acquisition of APP and WPS – two former joint ventures.
Employee numbers rose by 878 to 15,922 in 2008. The main reason for this increase was the integration of former APP employees.
At €163.2 million, R&D spending was slightly higher than the prior-year level.
In 2008, the general economic trend was much tougher than expected. The acquisition of APP and its subsequent integration into WACKER POLYMERS gave us an above-average sales boost in the USA. WACKER also experienced further sales gains in Germany and Asia – our core markets. Sales in the rest of Europe remained at prior-year levels.
Weak construction-sector performance was the main factor hampering our business. Our semiconductor segment had to cope with lower demand for electronic consumer goods and price pressure, particularly on 300 mm wafers. To compensate for this, we sold monocrystals and other silicon by-products to the solar industry. Since demand for solar-grade hyperpure polycrystalline silicon remained high, we again made sales and earnings gains.