Wacker earnings fall 60% on ‘weak market environment’

Munich, Germany – Wacker Chemie AG has seen its annual sales and earnings decline significantly due mainly to an “ongoing weak market environment.”

In preliminary results, published 29 Jan, Wacker said group earnings (EBITDA) for 2023 fell 60% year-on-year to €824 million, on 22% lower sales of €6.4 billion.

Wacker linked the decline to “lower prices along with persistently high energy costs and reduced plant-utilisation rates as a result of the decline in sales volumes.”

Savings from the group’s ongoing efficiency measures “positively supported” the development of earnings, Wacker added.

Wacker’s silicone business, representing more than one-third of group sales – down 21% at €2.74 billion – saw a 73% year-on-year decline in earnings to €236 million.

The silicone decline was linked primarily to lower prices, particularly for standard products, lower volume sales of speciality products and reduced plant-utilisation rates.

“The global industrial engine began to stutter in 2023 and many companies felt the impact, as did we at Wacker,” commented the group's president and CEO Christian Hartel (pictured).

Price pressure, said Hartel, was high, and a recovery in customer demand that was hoped for at the beginning of the year did not materialise.

Furthermore, “persistently high energy prices in Germany” further impacted the business.

“As a result, we could not post sales and earnings similar to the record figures Wacker achieved in 2022,” the CEO added.

According to Hartel, a recovery in demand “is currently not in view” though he remains optimistic about the company’s long-term prospects.

“As great as the current challenges may be, we will continue to benefit from global megatrends in the medium and long term,” he stated.

Trends such as digitalisation, renewable energies, e-mobility, and energy-conservation are among the key drivers of Wacker’s business.

“Strategically speaking, we are well positioned and remain committed to our 2030 growth targets,” the Wacker leader concluded.