2016 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting: WACKER Expects Continued Growth in Sales and EBITDA in 2016

  • EXECUTIVE AND SUPERVISORY BOARDS’ PROPOSALS ADOPTED BY LARGE MAJORITY OF SHAREHOLDERS
  • DIVIDEND FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015 IS €2.00
  • SALES AND EARNINGS FORECAST FOR 2016 AFFIRMED

Munich, May 20, 2016

After a good year in 2015, Wacker Chemie AG expects continued growth in sales and operating result during the current year. This was underscored by CEO Rudolf Staudigl at the Munich-based chemical company’s 2016 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. “We want to lift our sales by a low-single-digit percentage this year and estimate that EBITDA, adjusted to exclude special income, will climb by 5 to 10 percent,” said Staudigl in a speech to some 1,100 shareholders at the International Congress Center in Munich. In the first quarter of 2016, WACKER posted substantial quarter-over-quarter gains in both sales and adjusted EBITDA.

In his speech, Staudigl gave details of the company’s strategic alignment in the years ahead. “2016 marks a turning point for WACKER,” explained the CEO. “We have completed our new polysilicon site at Charleston in the US state of Tennessee, and will be ramping up the facilities there to full capacity this year. With the site complete, capital expenditures will decline significantly in 2016 and in the coming years. In the future, our investments will focus on facilities for manufacturing intermediate and downstream products at our chemical divisions. As a result, our cash flow will increase substantially and our net financial debt will decline further.”

For 2015, WACKER is distributing a total of €99.4 million in dividends to its shareholders, compared with its payout of €74.5 million for the previous year. The dividend per dividend-bearing share amounts to €2.00 after €1.50 the year before. The Executive and Supervisory Boards’ other proposals were also adopted by large majorities.

Resolutions and Voting Results

At today’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, 41,380,501 voting shares were represented – 79.35 percent of all eligible shares (number of shares outstanding: 49,677,983). The voting results were as follows for agenda items 2 through 6:

Item 2: Resolution on the Appropriation of Profits

The Executive and Supervisory Boards proposed that 2015’s retained profit of €1.22 billion be appropriated as follows: €99.4 million to be distributed to shareholders and €1.12 billion to be carried forward to new account. The proposal was adopted. The result was:
- 41,340,571 Yes votes (99.98 percent)
- 6,518 No votes

Item 3: Resolution on the Ratification of the Actions of the Executive Board

The proposal of the Executive and Supervisory Boards to ratify the actions of the members of Wacker Chemie AG’s Executive Board during 2015 was adopted. The result was:
- 41,315,746 Yes votes (99.99 percent)
- 2,562 No votes

Item 4: Resolution on the Ratification of the Actions of the Supervisory Board

The proposal of the Executive and Supervisory Boards to ratify the actions of the members of Wacker Chemie AG’s Supervisory Board during 2015 was adopted. The result was:
- 40,293,825 Yes votes (97.48 percent)
- 1,039,716 No votes

Item 5: Election of an Auditor

The Supervisory Board’s proposal to appoint KPMG AG as auditor for 2016 was adopted. The result was:
- 40,492,063 Yes votes (99.10 percent)
- 366,814 No votes

Item 6: Resolution regarding Changes to Section 12 of the Articles of Association

The proposal of the Executive and Supervisory Boards to increase Supervisory Board members’ fixed annual compensation and flat fee to €90,000 and €20,000, respectively, with effect from the start of 2016, was adopted. The result was:
- 41,296,307 Yes votes (99.87 percent)
- 52,873 No votes

Information for editorial offices: All documents relating to the 2016 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of Wacker Chemie AG can be downloaded from WACKER’s website (www.wacker.com) under Investor Relations.

This press release contains statements about the resolutions of the 2016 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. Said statements are not binding and serve the sole purpose of providing an overview. They may not always correspond to the exact wording and full extent of the resolutions adopted at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.

This press release 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 the forward-looking statements, nor does it assume the obligation to do so.

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Wacker Chemie AG
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Joerg Hoffmann

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