Jan 28 (Reuters) - Urgent action needs to be taken to protect Germany's chemicals industry, Wacker Chemie's CEO said on Wednesday, after the company's 2025 earnings fell due to sluggish global demand,
Wacker Chemie Faces Earnings Decline Amid Weak Demand and High Costs
Wacker Chemie's Financial Performance and Challenges
Jan 28 (Reuters) - Urgent action needs to be taken to protect Germany's chemicals industry, Wacker Chemie's CEO said on Wednesday, after the company's 2025 earnings fell due to sluggish global demand, negative currency effects and high energy costs.
Decline in Earnings and Sales
The speciality chemicals maker said its preliminary earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 42% to 430 million euros ($515.74 million) from 744 million euros a year earlier.
CEO's Call for Action
Preliminary full-year sales fell 4% from a year earlier to 5.49 billion euros, it said.
Restructuring and Workforce Reduction
Analysts polled by Vara Research expected full-year EBITDA of 557.6 million euros and sales of 5.48 billion euros.
In a statement, CEO Christian Hartel said the German and European chemical sector faced "tremendous pressure" in 2025 and he urged officials to ensure more competitive energy prices and reduced bureaucracy.
"For the chemical industry to continue to have a future in Germany, lawmakers must also take urgent action now to create the right underlying conditions," he said. "Above all, we need internationally competitive energy prices and less bureaucracy."
All four of Wacker's divisions reported weaker sales in 2025, driven by reduced capacity utilization. Silicone sales declined 3% from a year earlier, polymers dropped 6%, biosolutions fell 4% and polysilicon slipped 7%.
But the company said the hyperpure polysilicon for semiconductors business performed "very well," even as solar-grade polysilicon volumes declined.
Wacker said it booked around 100 million euros in special charges in the fourth quarter related to its largest restructuring project to date, which aims to cut production and administrative costs by more than 300 million euros annually.
In November, the firm announced its intention to cut around 9% of its workforce, primarily in Germany, by the end of 2027 as part of its cost-cutting measures. It plans to eliminate more than 1,500 positions globally with the workforce reduction scheme starting from the first quarter of 2026, continuing through the end of 2027.
($1 = 0.8338 euros)
(Reporting by Antonis Pothitos; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Thomas Derpinghaus)
