Wacker Chemie, the German chemical supplier and one of the world’s leading suppliers of polysilicon, has confirmed that it surpassed its sales and earnings forecast for 2017.
Wacker’s income from continuing operations climbed 40% in 2017 against 2016, rising to €250 million ($306 million), with net income reaching €885 million ($1.085 billion) against €189 million in 2016.
Group sales, meanwhile, reached €4.92 billion ($6.04 billion), which was an increase of 6% on 2016.
In October last year, Wacker was already looking ahead bullishly to its end-of-year figures having posted a Q3 EBITDA of €298 million, which was an 18% quarter-over-quarter rise. Full year EBITDA came in at €1.015 billion.
Rudolf Staudigl, group CEO, said that the headwinds caused by the euro’s strength and higher raw-material prices posed challenges that were met head-on, thanks largely to robust customer demand throughout both the chemical and polysilicon business segments.
During Q2 last year, Wacker had warned of a “difficult environment” for polysilicon following a relatively poor Q1 for the firm.
At the time, costs incurred for the commissioning of Wacker’s Charleston, Tennessee polysilicon plant impacted EBITDA, while for 2017’s year-end finances the company confirmed that it had yet to receive payments from insures for the damage caused during the explosion at the Charleston plant in September last year.
Wacker Chemie’s media relations manager Christof Bachmair confirmed to pv magazine that polysilicon production at the Charleston plant is “ongoing”, and the company is aiming to restart the facility fully in the spring.
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