DGAP-News

Wacker Chemie AG: WACKER EXPECTS FURTHER GROWTH - Seite 2

Looking at the bottom line, WACKER ended 2014 with Group net income of
EUR195.4 million (2013: EUR6.3 million). That is about EUR189 million more
than in the previous year.

In the first two months of the current year, WACKER has experienced solid
demand. Across all divisions, the sales of these two months beat the
comparable prior-year figures. Overall, the chemical company forecasts
sales of some EUR1.3 billion for Q1 2015 (Q1 2014: EUR1.16 billion).

For full-year 2015, WACKER is expecting higher consolidated sales and
higher EBITDA (adjusted for special income) compared with 2014. The company
is anticipating a high-single-digit percentage increase in sales, with all
divisions expected to achieve higher volumes and sales than in 2014.
Relative to a year earlier, EBITDA should rise modestly, adjusted on a
comparable basis to exclude special solar-sector income from damages
received and from restructured contractual and delivery relationships with
customers. Group net income will come in below the 2014 figure, due to
lower special income and a tax rate of slightly more than 50 percent.

"I am confident that 2015 will be a good year for WACKER," said Group CEO
Rudolf Staudigl in Munich on Tuesday. "We want to continue 2014's upward
trend and achieve sales of more than five billion euros for the first time
in the company's history. This year will see us starting to produce
polysilicon at our new plant in Tennessee. The conclusion of our
largest-ever single investment project will mark a major milestone of
having integrated production plants in all of our key regions around the
world. That will be highly important for our strategy of ongoing
expansion."

Investments
During 2014, the Group invested EUR572.2 million (2013: EUR503.7 million).
That is almost 14 percent more than a year earlier due to project-related
factors. WACKER's investing activities remained centered on the
construction of the new polysilicon site at Charleston, Tennessee (USA).
About EUR310 million - somewhat more than half of all 2014 investments -
went toward this project. Construction there continued as planned
throughout 2014, and production is due to commence in the second half of
2015.

Investing activity in 2014 additionally focused on production-capacity
expansion for polymer products and silicones. WACKER built a new
dispersible polymer powder production plant at the Burghausen site. It has
an annual capacity of 50,000 metric tons and will come on stream in the