The Munich-based chemical company, WACKER’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) for the second quarter of 2021 was €326.6 million, more than quadruple the number for the same quarter last year (€105.4 million).
This strong increase was due chiefly to substantial year-over-year growth in both volumes and prices of solar-grade polysilicon. Higher volumes and better prices in the chemical divisions as well as very high plant utilisation rates also had a positive impact on EBITDA. On the other hand, much higher raw-material prices had a negative impact. Compared with a quarter earlier (€246.4 million), EBITDA increased 33 percent. WACKER’s reporting-quarter EBITDA margin was 21.8 percent (Q2 2020: 9.8 percent). The margin in the preceding quarter was 18.1 percent.
Group EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) totaled €233.7 million in the reporting quarter (Q2 2020: €1.8 million). That was an increase of €231.9 million and yielded an EBIT margin of 15.6 percent (Q2 2020: 0.2 percent). Compared with Q1 2021 (€154.9 million), EBIT grew 51 percent. Aside from the factors already mentioned, EBIT also benefited from a year-over-year decline in depreciation and amortization, which came to €92.9 million in the reporting quarter (Q2 2020: €103.6 million). Net income for the quarter totalled €178.8 million (Q2 2020: €4.5 million), while earnings per share came in at €3.50 (Q2 2020: €0.07).
The company confirmed its full-year forecast, which it had revised upward on June 16. It now expects full-year sales to amount to around €5.5 billion (2020: €4.69 billion). EBITDA is expected to come in at between €900 million and €1.1 billion in 2021 (2020: €666 million). The ongoing positive development of polysilicon prices and the continued strong demand in WACKER’s chemical business are the reasons for the higher expectations. At the same time, however, higher raw-material prices and negative exchange-rate effects are likely to diminish EBITDA by more than €300 million. This has been factored into the current outlook.
“We are well on track at the mid-year point and we remain confident that 2021 could prove to be an excellent year for WACKER,” said CEO, Christian Hartel. “Our polysilicon business has been performing particularly well, fueled largely by the high quality of our product for both highly efficient solar cells and semiconductor applications, and by strong customer demand in a tight market.”