After a strong Q1, Wacker poised for continued growth

26-May-2010 - Germany

Following a strong first quarter, Wacker Chemie AG anticipates substantial sales and earnings gains for full-year 2010. Rudolf Staudigl, the Munich-based chemical company’s CEO, underscored this point at Wacker’s 2010 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. ”We are headed toward renewed growth in 2010,” he explained, reaffirming the full-year forecast. He expects sales to exceed €4 billion and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to grow strongly. Looking at net income for the year, Wacker’s CEO predicts a profit in the three-digit million range.

Of 2009’s net retained profit of €533.4 million (2008: €576.9 million), Wacker is paying out a total of €59.6 million (2008: €89.4 million) to its shareholders. The dividend per dividend-bearing share is €1.20 (2008: €1.80). The Executive and Supervisory Boards’ other proposals were also adopted by large majorities. After the challenges of fiscal 2009, Wacker generated strong sales and earnings growth in the first quarter of 2010. Sales climbed 22 percent to €1,067.0 million (Q1 2009: €872.5 million), primarily due to strong customer demand and soaring sales volumes. First-quarter EBITDA rose to €253.7 million (Q1 2008: €157.8 million), nearly three times the rate of sales.

“It was not just by chance that Wacker weathered the crisis so well. Over the past few years, we worked successfully on attaining strategic positions that helped us emerge from this difficult period unscathed,” underlined CEO Rudolf Staudigl at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in Munich this Friday. Wacker is a cost and quality leader in many sectors, possesses outstanding engineering and process expertise, and has a sound financial base, Staudigl said. He emphasized that Wacker is continuing its efforts to cut costs and increase productivity.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/118031/after-a-strong-q1-wacker-poised-for-continued-growth.html