WACKER Polysilicon business remains on a growth course
06 Aug '09
5 min read
Regions In Q2 2009, Asia remained WACKER's largest market with a sales volume of €325.1 million (Q2 2008: €367.5m). Asia's share of total sales equaled 35 percent (Q2 2008: 33 percent). Although customer demand in the region has risen significantly since the beginning of the year, sales here fell almost 12 percent year-on-year. In Germany, WACKER's second-quarter sales were €192.6 million (Q2 2008: €248.4m) – a year-on-year decline of 23 percent. In the rest of Europe, sales were down 14 percent to €230.2 million (Q2 2008: €266.5m) compared to the prior-year period. In the Americas, Q2 2009 sales decreased by 28 percent year-on-year to €148.7 million (Q2 2008: €205.5m). The primary reasons here were the lower volumes of silicon monocrystals and semiconductor-wafer by-products sold to the solar industry. In the other regions, Q2 2009 sales totaled €28.9 million (Q2 2008: €35.1m).
Net Cash Flow and Investments Despite the difficult overall economic situation, WACKER continued its strategic expansion program in Q2. The Group invested a total of €194.3 million (Q2 2008: €181.4m), with net cash flow declining to €-110.2 million (Q2 2008: €104.8m). Compared to Q1 2009 (€70.9m), second-quarter net cash flow was impacted not only by continued investment, but also by performance-related salary components of €66.8 million paid in April for fiscal 2008. Importantly, the company did not pay out 2008's performance-related compensation in full, but only half of the major portion. The remainder will be retained until the economic situation has sustainably and substantially improved.
Second-quarter investments focused on the expansion of production facilities for hyperpure polycrystalline silicon at Burghausen and Nünchritz. As a result, annual nominal capacity will rise successively and in accordance with demand from today's 15,000 metric tons to over 35,000. To help finance the polysilicon facility being built at Nünchritz, WACKER obtained approval for a European Investment Bank long-term loan of over €400 million. The loan is a key component in financing the Nünchritz project. WACKER is planning on total investments of around €800 million at this site – creating some 450 jobs.