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Wacker Chemie AG: WACKER closes Q3 in line with expectations and refines its full-year forecast
Munich, October 30, 2025
Munich (pta007/30.10.2025/07:00 UTC+1)
- WACKER's sales for Q3 2025 total €1.34 billion, down 6 percent from last year
- EBITDA at €112 million, decreasing 23 percent year over year primarily due to lower prices and plant-utilization rates
- Net result for Q3 amounts to €-82 million
- Net cash flow amounts to €19 million
- CEO Christian Hartel: "We closed Q3 in line with market expectations. At the same time, sales and earnings declined again in almost all business divisions. We are taking actions – with a clear focus on cash and costs."
- Full-year EBITDA confirmed in the lower half of the expected range
Munich – Wacker Chemie AG's sales and earnings declined in the third quarter of 2025 amid a persistently weak market environment. The chemical company generated sales of €1.34 billion in the reporting quarter (Q3 2024: €1.43 billion), a decrease of 6 percent year over year. This decrease was prompted by lower prices and negative exchange-rate effects. Compared with Q2 2025 (€1.41 billion), sales declined 5 percent.
The Group EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization)[1] amounted to €112 million (Q3 2024: €145 million), down 23 percent year over year. Compared with a quarter earlier (€114 million), EBITDA decreased 2 percent. The reasons for the year-over-year decline were the lower sales volumes, prices and plant capacity utilization rates in some cases as well as the unfavorable development of EUR/USD exchange rate. The Group's EBITDA margin was 8.3 percent for the period from July through September 2025. It amounted to 10.2 percent in the prior-year period and 8.1 percent in the prior quarter.
Third-quarter sales and earnings are in line with current consensus market expectations, which put WACKER's Group sales at €1.37 billion and its EBITDA at €101 million (source: Vara Research, October 24, 2025).
Due to the factors described above, Group EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) decreased considerably year over year to €-20 million (Q3 2024: €30 million), corresponding to an EBIT margin of -1.5 percent (Q3 2024: 2.1 percent). The net result for the reporting quarter was negative at €-82 million (Q3 2024: €34 million), equating to earnings per share at €-1.73 (Q3 2024: €0.56).
"The chemical industry is under pressure – worldwide, but in Europe in particular. The economic situation is tense, market demand is weak. At the same time, the market environment is changing, and competitive pressure is high – especially from China. And this is something that we are experiencing at WACKER as well. Like many other companies, we had to lower our full-year forecast in the middle of this year. Even though we closed Q3 in line with market expectations, sales and earnings were again down year on year in almost all business divisions," explained WACKER CEO Christian Hartel. "We are actively taking actions here – with a clear focus on cash and costs. In October, we launched a comprehensive project to achieve significant cost savings in our production and administrative setup. Measures are currently being developed here. We want to start implementation in the first quarter of 2026," he said. In view of the ongoing weak business situation, the company has also further refined its full-year forecast. Sales are now forecast to be at the lower end of the expected range, with EBITDA in the lower half of the range. The net result for the year is expected to be negative.
Regions
Sales declined in all regions during the third quarter of 2025. Sales in the Americas totaled €252 million (Q3 2024: €273 million), a decline of 8 percent year over year. Sales in Asia amounted to €458 million and were therefore 9 percent lower than in the previous year (Q3 2024: €501 million). In Europe, the Group generated sales of €553 million, a decrease of 3 percent as against the prior-year quarter (Q3 2024: €572 million).
Capital expenditures and net cash flow
At €111 million, the Group's capital expenditures in Q3 2025 were roughly a quarter down on a year earlier (Q3 2024: €149 million). WACKER's investment focus was primarily on maintenance-related investments and the construction of a production facility for specialty silicones in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.
Net cash flow amounted to €19 million in Q3 2025, an improvement year over year (Q3 2024: €-99 million) and the preceding quarter (€-137 million), in particular due to a reduction in inventories.
Employees
WACKER's global workforce decreased slightly in the reporting quarter. The Group had 16,616 employees on September 30, 2025 (June 30, 2025: 16,724), of whom 10,770 employees were at WACKER's sites in Germany (June 30, 2025: 10,767) and 5,846 at its international sites (June 30, 2025: 5,957).
Business divisions
In Q3 2025, Silicones generated total sales of €673 million (Q3 2024: €727 million). This was 7 percent lower than in the previous year and 6 percent lower than in the preceding quarter (€713 million). EBITDA amounted to €86 million, 19 percent below the prior-year figure (€106 million) and 17 percent below the preceding quarter (€104 million). The negative earnings performance year over year is primarily due to a weaker product mix, negative currency effects and lower prices. The EBITDA margin in Q3 2025 was 12.8 percent, after 14.6 percent in Q3 2024 and 14.6 percent in the preceding quarter as well.
At Polymers, too, sales in Q3 2025 were below the prior-year figures and amounted to €344 million, 6 percent lower than in the previous year (€365 million). Once again, this can be attributed to lower sales prices, currency effects and volumes. Relative to a quarter earlier (€363 million), sales declined 5 percent. The division posted EBITDA of €47 million, up 2 percent compared with a year ago (€46 million). Compared with a quarter earlier (€40 million), EBITDA rose 18 percent. The EBITDA margin was 13.7 percent in the reporting quarter, after 12.6 percent a year earlier and 10.9 percent in the preceding quarter.
Biosolutions generated sales of €93 million in Q3 2025, 7 percent below the previous year's figure (€100 million) and 6 percent above the prior quarter's figure (€87 million). The year-over-year decrease is due to the periodic differences in project realization in biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. EBITDA at Biosolutions came in at €8 million in the reporting quarter, a year-over-year decline of almost €6 million (Q3 2024: €14 million). Compared with a quarter earlier (€5 million), EBITDA grew by more than €3 million. The EBITDA margin was 8.8 percent, versus 13.7 percent a year earlier and 5.5 percent in the prior quarter.
Polysilicon saw both sales and EBITDA decline compared with Q3 2024. At €197 million, sales were 6 percent below the previous year's figure (€209 million) and 10 percent below the figure for the second quarter of 2025 (€218 million). Reasons for this year-over-year decline mainly related to low prices, exchange-rate effects, solar-grade polysilicon volumes and an ongoing low plant-utilization rate. By contrast, the business with hyperpure polysilicon for semiconductors performed well. The division's EBITDA during the reporting quarter amounted to €18 million, a decrease of 40 percent compared with the prior-year figure (€29 million). This corresponds to a decrease of 48 percent compared with a quarter earlier (€34 million). From July through September 2025, the division's EBITDA margin was 8.9 percent, after 14.0 percent in Q3 2024 and 15.4 percent in Q2 2025.
Outlook for 2025
Like many other chemical companies, WACKER lowered its full-year forecast in the middle of the year. The decisive factor for the adjustment, which the company made on July 18, 2025, was the ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties, which continue to result in weak demand among customers in numerous segments. On presenting its figures for the third quarter of 2025, WACKER has refined its expectations for the year as a whole.
The outlook for Group sales in 2025 is now likely to come in at the lower end of the expected range of €5.5 billion to €5.9 billion. The company now expects full-year EBITDA to be in the lower half of the expected range of €500 million to €700 million. Furthermore, WACKER now anticipates a negative net cash flow (previously: more or less balanced), although this is expected to be significantly higher than in the previous year. In addition, WACKER expects a negative net result for the year that is significantly below that of the previous year. For the other key financial indicators, the company has not made any further refinements.
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[1]Wacker Chemie AG made a change to its accounting policies effective June 30, 2025. The result from investments in joint ventures and associates as well as other investment income have since been reported under the financial result, meaning that they are no longer part of EBITDA or EBIT. In the third quarter of 2025, this reclassification leads to an increase in EBITDA of €10.7 million (Q3 2024: decrease of €6.6 million). Further details can be found in the half-yearly financial report for 2025, which is available for download on the WACKER website (www.wacker.com) under Investor Relations.
Key figures for the WACKER Group
| € million | Q3 2025 | Q3 2024 | Change in % | 9M 2025 | 9M 2024 | Change in % | ||||||
| Sales | 1,340.3 | 1,429.6 | -6.2 | 4,231.5 | 4,387.0 | -3.5 | ||||||
| EBITDA [1] | 111.7 | 145.3 | -23.1 | 345.3 | 460.5 | -25.0 | ||||||
| EBITDA margin (%) [1] | 8.3 | 10.2 | – | 8.2 | 10.5 | – | ||||||
| EBIT [1] | -20.0 | 30.4 | N/A | -38.7 | 119.4 | N/A | ||||||
| EBIT margin (%) [1] | -1.5 | 2.1 | – | -0.9 | 2.7 | – | ||||||
| Financial result [1] | -28.6 | -1.4 | >100 | -54.9 | 4.6 | N/A | ||||||
| Result before income taxes | -48.6 | 29.0 | N/A | -93.6 | 124.0 | N/A | ||||||
| Net result for the period | -82.1 | 33.9 | N/A | -104.7 | 117.1 | N/A | ||||||
| Earnings per share (basic/diluted) (€) | -1.73 | 0.56 | N/A | -2.38 | 2.04 | N/A | ||||||
| Capital expenditures excluding acquisitions | 110.7 | 149.0 | -25.7 | 299.6 | 443.1 | -32.4 | ||||||
| Depreciation/amortization | 131.7 | 114.9 | 14.6 | 384.0 | 341.1 | 12.6 | ||||||
| Net cash flow | 18.5 | -99.2 | N/A | -283.1 | -404.7 | -30.0 | ||||||
| Sept. 30, 2025 | Sept. 30, 2024 | Dec. 31, 2024 | ||||||||||
| € million | ||||||||||||
| Total assets | 8,559.5 | 8,941.6 | 9,409.9 | |||||||||
| Equity | 4,422.4 | 4,586.4 | 4,837.0 | |||||||||
| Equity ratio (%) | 51.7 | 51.3 | 51.4 | |||||||||
| Financing liabilities | 1,937.5 | 1,795.0 | 1,946.7 | |||||||||
| Net financial debt (-) / net financial assets (+) | -1,156.1 | -771.9 | -690.6 | |||||||||
| Employees (number at end of period) | 16,616.0 | 16,555.0 | 16,637.0 | |||||||||
| [1] Investments in joint ventures and associates and other income from investments reclassified to the financial result (9M 2025: €3.5 million in expenses) (incl. prior-year adjustment of €23.7 million in income); EBITDA and EBIT adjusted accordingly. Further details can be found in the half-yearly financial report for 2025, which is available for download on the WACKER website (www.wacker.com) under Investor Relations. | ||||||||||||
| This report contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions and estimates of WACKER's Executive Board. Although we assume the expectations in these forward-looking statements are realistic, we cannot guarantee they will prove to be correct. The assumptions may harbor risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual figures to differ considerably from the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such discrepancies include, among other things, changes in the economic and business environment, variations in exchange and interest rates, the introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance for new products or services, and changes in corporate strategy. WACKER does not plan to update its forward-looking statements, nor does it assume the obligation to do so. |
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| Emitter: |
Wacker Chemie AG Gisela-Stein-Straße 1 81671 München Germany |
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|---|---|---|
| Contact Person: | Manuela Dollinger | |
| Phone: | +49 89 6279 1629 | |
| E-Mail: | manuela.dollinger@wacker.com | |
| Website: | www.wacker.com | |
| ISIN(s): | DE000WCH8881 (Share) | |
| Stock Exchange(s): | Regulated Market in Frankfurt; Free Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate |