Wacker Chemie AG is expected to achieve sales revenue of €1.75 billion in the second quarter, according to the preliminary data released by the company

Wacker Chemie AG has released its preliminary financial results for Q2 2023, estimating that the Group's sales revenue will reach €1.75 billion and EBITDA will be €255 million. Based on these estimates, Wacker has revised its forecast for 2023, expecting the Group's sales revenue to be between €6.5 billion and €6.8 billion (previous guidance: €7 billion to €7.5 billion). EBITDA for the year is now expected to be between €800 million and €1 billion (previous guidance: €1.1 billion to €1.4 billion).

These figures are lower than the current market average expectations of sales revenue of €7 billion and EBITDA of €1.1 billion (source: Vara Research, July 12, 2023). Wacker's return on capital employed (ROCE) is expected to be below the cost of capital (previous guidance: above the cost of capital, significantly lower than last year).

Christian Hartel, President and CEO of Wacker, said: "Our downward revision is primarily due to continued weak demand from many industry customers, ongoing destocking measures by customers, and year-on-year price declines for many of our products. Many market experts expect demand to pick up in the second half of the year - a hypothesis that was reflected in our previous forecast. However, like many other chemical companies, Wacker has not yet seen a recovery."

The change in the 2023 forecast is mainly driven by the performance of Wacker's silicones and polysilicon business sectors.

Preliminary data shows that Wacker's silicones sales revenue was €700 million, a year-on-year decrease of 25%.

Preliminary data shows that Wacker's polymers sales revenue for Q2 was €415 million, a year-on-year decrease of 25%.

Preliminary data shows that Wacker's polysilicon sales revenue for Q2 was €515 million. Although sales revenue decreased by 10% year-on-year, it increased by 16% compared to Q1.

Preliminary data shows that Wacker's biotech solutions sales revenue for Q2 was €90 million, a slight increase year-on-year.

Wacker will release its H1 2023 interim report on July 27, 2023.