MUNICH (dpa-AFX) – The difficult economic environment caused WACKER CHEMIE to experience declines in sales and operating profit in 2025. The bottom line is a loss in the high three-digit million euro range due to depreciation and expenses in connection with a cost reduction program. “In 2025, the chemical industry, especially in Germany and Europe, will come under massive pressure,” said CEO Christian Hartel, according to the announcement. Therefore, the MDax group turned the red pencil in the fall.
Ultimately, Wacker Chemie wants to save more than 300 million euros annually; Everything is to be implemented by the end of 2027. Half of the total is to be achieved by cutting more than 1,500 jobs worldwide, as the company management announced at the end of November. The majority of jobs are to be cut at the German locations. At the end of the first half of 2025, the group employed a good 16,700 people worldwide. First of all, the savings also cause expenses: according to an announcement on Wednesday, the company has now set aside around 100 million euros for the ongoing cost reduction program.
As part of the savings, Hartel also wants to focus more on higher-margin specialties in the chemical areas, on the semiconductor market in the polysilicon business and on innovative biotech applications in the life sciences division Biosolutions. With regard to Germany as an industrial location, Hartel also repeated his demand: “Above all, we need internationally competitive energy prices and a consistent reduction in bureaucracy.”
Among other things, the group has long been feeling the consequences of a sluggish construction industry. The company’s polymer division, which produces base and additional materials for adhesives, floor coverings, paints and concrete, is suffering from this. And the silicone division, which produces a variety of high-performance plastics for the automotive industry, electrical and medical technology, but also the construction and textile industries, is also suffering.
In both business areas, the order situation remained weak towards the end of 2025, as Wacker explained in a presentation on the current business figures. In the weak environment, the company meanwhile reduced a lot of inventory in the silicone division, which benefited the cash flow. As a result, the net cash flow last year was almost balanced at minus 5 million euros, after a minus of 326 million euros in 2024.
Business with the semiconductor raw material polysilicon once again showed different trends. While demand for high-purity polysilicon to make computer chips remained strong, regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. continued to weigh on the polysilicon business to make solar panels. The US government launched an investigation in mid-2025 to examine the consequences of imports of the material for national security. This causes a lot of uncertainty in the industry. At Wacker Chemie, the utilization of production facilities is suffering and so is operating profit.
All in all, consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) collapsed by 42 percent to 430 million euros in 2025, with sales falling by 4 percent to 5.49 billion euros. On average, analysts had expected around this much sales, but hoped for more in terms of operating results. Excluding the 100 million euro provision for the savings program, the operating result almost reached the analysts’ estimate.
The bottom line, however, was that there was a net loss of 800 million euros due to value adjustments on the stake in the semiconductor wafer manufacturer Siltronic and the contract manufacturer ADL Biopharma, which was taken over in 2023, as the MDAX further announced based on preliminary results. In the previous year, a surplus of 261 million euros was recorded.
Investors on the stock market nevertheless reacted positively; they hope that the austerity program will improve and have an impact. The share price rose by almost two percent to 73.05 euros in the morning. The tentative recovery trend since September has now continued.
What is now particularly important is the outlook for the new year. The company should then present this in March when the final business figures are published. From the perspective of analyst Chetan Udeshi from JPMorgan Bank, the prospects for Wacker Chemie remain difficult for the time being. Structural and cyclical headwinds load./mis/err/stk
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