MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Wacker Chemie AG (WKCMY.PK, WKCMF.PK) on Thursday reported that its second-quarter net income fell 55.4 percent to 37.2 million euros from 83.5 million euros in the year-ago period, with earnings per share falling to 0.68 euros from 1.59 euros in the prior year.
Quarterly sales declined 5 percent to 1.27 billion euros from 1.33 billion euros in the previous-year quarter.
The decline in sales was mainly due to overall lower prices, particularly for solar-grade polysilicon, but also for standard silicones. Aggregate volume and product-mix effects also reduced sales slightly.
EBITDA for the quarter was 210.7 million euros, down 19.1 percent from the year-ago period, slowed by markedly weaker polysilicon prices, decreased standard-silicone prices and higher energy costs.
Looking ahead, Wacker Chemie affirmed its outlook for fiscal 2019. The company continues to expect that Group sales for 2019 will grow by a mid-single-digit percentage relative to last year, while EBITDA is likely to decline by 10 to 20 percent versus last year.
However, with the global economy losing momentum and China's solar market yet to revive, Wacker Chemie now expects full-year EBITDA to be closer to the bottom end of the range.
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