MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker Chemie AG, the Munich-based chemical group, has posted higher sales and earnings in Q4 2013 than in the comparable year-earlier period. As expected, though, full-year sales and earnings were below 2012’s results, according to the company's preliminary calculations.
Wacker's generated total sales of EUR4.48 billion in 2013 (2012: EUR4.63 billion), some 3% down on 2012. The decline was chiefly prompted by lower prices for polysilicon and semiconductor wafers. All in all, price effects reduced group sales by some EUR370 million or 8% in 2013. The chemical divisions, though, counterbalanced the price pressures with higher volumes, keeping their total sales steady at the prior-year level.
Based on preliminary figures, Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at around EUR679 million (2012: EUR795 million). This is close to 15% less than in the previous year.
Wacker’s chemical divisions, though, increased their EBITDA by over 11% compared to the previous year, thanks mainly to higher volumes.
"The figures for 2013 are in line with our expectations and forecasts," said CEO Rudolf Staudigl in Munich on Thursday. "We are pleased that our final-quarter sales and earnings were better than in 2012. In polysilicon, volumes picked up strongly, even though prices have not improved noticeably in the fourth quarter. In chemicals, demand was very healthy despite the usual slowdown during the winter months. Overall, our fourth-quarter performance offers a good basis for starting the new fiscal year."
As MRC informed previously, in February 2013, Wacker Chemie AG officially launched its new production plant for ethylene-vinyl-acetate copolymer (EVA) dispersions at its Ulsan site in South Korea. The additional 40,000 tonnes from the second reactor line increases the site's EVA-dispersion capacity to a total of 90,000 tonnes per year. The production capacity of the site has, thus, almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea.
Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC