Issue 6 of 2018 - WACKER delivers impressive report cards! Growth will continue in 2018

WACKER recently held a press conference in Germany to announce for the first time the WACKER Group's financial figures
, excluding Siltronic electronic materials.
In 2017, WACKER achieved all the performance targets in the forecast and partially exceeded them
.
Sales in the 2017 financial year increased by 6% to EUR 4.
92 billion due to higher sales of chemical and polysilicon products, largely compensating for the strength of the euro against the US dollar and lower product prices year-on-year
.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) grew strongly to EUR 423.
7 million
.
China accounts for nearly a quarter of
WACKER's global sales.

Dr.
Stauchi, President and CEO of Wacker Chemie, said that the continuous growth of China's domestic consumption has once again driven China's economic development and made Asia the strongest growth region
.
In 2017, WACKER's three chemical businesses generated sales of €3.
7 billion, up 7 percent
from the previous year.
Among them, WACKER's strongest silicones division generated sales of €2.
2 billion, up 10 percent from the previous year, and EBITDA rose to €445 million, up 23 percent from 2016.
Sales in the Polymers division exceeded EUR 1.
2 billion last year, but EBITDA decreased by 21% year-on-year to EUR 206 million due to higher raw material prices.
Sales of the biotechnology business amounted to €206 million, unchanged from the previous year, and EBITDA amounted to €38 million, slightly higher than last year
.
In addition, WACKER lost around 6,000 tons
of polysilicon for sale due to a hydrogen explosion at its Charleston site in the United States, which temporarily shut down production at the site.
Despite this, the polysilicon business unit achieved sales growth in the 2017 fiscal year of more than €1.
1 billion
.

In the face of possible economic risks arising from the world political situation, rising raw material prices and currency effects, Dr.
Staudich said that since sales in WACKER's chemical business in the first two months of this year were significantly higher than in the same period last year, the company's business is expected to continue to develop in the remaining months of the year, and the sales volume of WACKER's three chemical business units is expected to increase in 2018, and the sales volume of polysilicon is expected to be the same as the
previous year 。 In the polysilicon business, sales in the first two months of this year were significantly lower than in the same period
last year due to the loss of production due to the temporary shutdown of the Charleston site.
However, the cause of the damage to the equipment at the base has now been clarified, the repair of the damaged parts has been largely completed, and it is expected that the equipment
will be phased back up in the coming weeks.