Online Service
Virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on May 12, 2021
Here, you’ll find all key information on our Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.
Online services for our shareholders
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Wacker Chemie AG has decided to hold a Virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting this year, without the physical presence of its shareholders or their proxies.
This page provides you with all key information on WACKER’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting 2021.
Annual Shareholders’ Meeting Hotline
We’re available for your questions or suggestions Mondays to Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon (CEST) by phone: +49 89-6279-1444 or via the email address hauptversammlung@wacker.com.
Invitation to the 2021 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting
Dear Shareholders,
2020 was an extraordinary year. The coronavirus pandemic caught the economy unawares and with considerable force. Public life ground to a halt in many countries around the world. Today, the pandemic still poses enormous economic, political and social challenges for us all. To overcome this exceptional situation, we focused – and continue to focus – on three priorities:
- Protecting the health of our employees
- Keeping production running
- Safeguarding our company’s long-term future
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, German legislation includes a special temporary rule that permits us to hold the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting without shareholders being physically present. The Executive Board has decided, with the consent of the Supervisory Board, to make use of this option again this year. A virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting enables us to protect your health and that of our employees and service providers, and to minimize the risks for all participants.
For you as a shareholder, this means that you can follow the entire Annual Shareholders’ Meeting live via the internet. After registering by the time specified, you will be able to exercise your voting rights either via absentee voting or the Company-appointed proxies. This is possible either in advance of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting or online during the event. You can submit your questions about agenda items beforehand.
When the world comes to a virtual standstill, WACKER is not going to emerge unscathed. Our sales of €4.69 billion were 4.8 percent lower than the year before. The sales downturn was strongest in Q2 2020. In the second half of the year, we made up for most of that decline thanks to growing demand for our products. At €666.3 million, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) fell 14.9 percent year over year. However, in 2019, our EBITDA had included special income of €112.5 million in insurance compensation. Adjusted for that income, EBITDA declined by a slight 0.7 percent year over year. A very positive fact is that WACKER has returned to profit, posting net income of €202.3 million, after a loss in 2019.
WACKER’s chemical business is our sales and earnings engine. That remains true even though WACKER did not post sales growth in 2020. Lower average prices for standard silicones and reduced volumes due to the pandemic slowed sales and earnings at WACKER SILICONES. WACKER POLYMERS raised its EBITDA amid robust demand from the construction industry and lower raw-material prices. At WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS, both sales and EBITDA grew.
After two difficult years, our polysilicon business stabilized in 2020, for several reasons. First: average prices for solar-grade polysilicon stopped falling. Second: we expanded our market share with semiconductor-sector customers. Third: we significantly reduced our production costs. As a result, EBITDA – measured on a comparable basis – improved by roughly €60 million and came in slightly positive.
The Executive and Supervisory Boards will propose a dividend of €2.00 per share at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.
We herewith invite WACKER’s shareholders to our virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on May 12, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. (CEST).
Registered shareholders will be able to follow the virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting as a livestream from WACKER’s headquarters at Hanns-Seidel-Platz 4, 81737 Munich (Germany) on the internet at www.wacker.com/hauptversammlung.
Sincerely,
Wacker Chemie AG
Dr. Peter-Alexander Wacker
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Dr. Rudolf Staudigl
President and CEO
Agenda (Summary)
- Presentation of the adopted Annual Financial Statements as of December 31, 2020, the approved Consolidated Financial Statements as of December 31, 2020, and the combined 2020 Management Report including the Executive Board’s Explanatory Report on the information pursuant to Section 289a (1) and Section 315a (1) of the German Commercial Code (“HGB”), and of the 2020 Supervisory Board Report
- Resolution on the Appropriation of Profits
- Resolution on the Ratification of the Actions of the Executive Board
- Resolution on the Ratification of the Actions of the Supervisory Board
- Election of the Auditor of Financial Statements
- Resolution on the Approval of the Compensation System for Executive Board Members
- Resolution on Compensation of Supervisory Board Members (Simultaneously Approval of the Compensation System for Supervisory Board Members)
Downloads and Documents
Documents for the 2021 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting
Invitation and Agenda
Annual Report 2020 (incl. Consolidated Financial Statements, Combined Management Report, Report of the Supervisory Board, Appropriation of Profits, Report of the Executive Board pursuant to Section 289a (1) and Section 315 (5) of the German Commercial Code (HGB)
(PDF 3.7 MB) - English
Annual Financial Statements, Combined Management Report and Compensation Report of Wacker Chemie AG 2019
(PDF 2.0 MB) - English
Further Detailed Explanations on the Rights of Shareholders and on Unresolved Agenda Items
(PDF 231.7 KB) - English
Proxy Form
(PDF 125.9 KB) - English
Articles of Association (current version)
(PDF 186.6 KB) - English
The speeches given by the CEO and CFO, respectively, together with the accompanying sets of slides, will be made available here in the runup to the 2021 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.
Virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting – How Will the Event Take Place?
- The entire Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will take place virtually and without participants physically present. It will be streamed live for all shareholders online in the shareholder portal.
- Shareholders can submit their questions about agenda items beforehand. Questions from shareholders submitted via the shareholder portal by the end of May 10, 2021 (24:00 hours (CEST)) will be answered during the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. When answering questions, we intend to only state questioners’ names if this is expressly desired. Please also refer to the more detailed explanations on shareholder rights and data protection provided in the invitation, on our website and in the shareholder portal.
- Countermotions and election nominations properly received by the Company by, at the latest, 24:00 hours (CEST) on April 27, 2021 will be made accessible on the Company’s website immediately after receipt under the further preconditions of Sections 126 and 127, AktG, including the name of the shareholder and – for motions – the justification.
- Shareholders who have properly registered can watch live video and audio of the entire Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in the shareholder portal starting at 10:00 a.m. (CEST) on May 12, 2021. The shareholder portal will be available as of April 21, 2021.
- We’re available for your questions or suggestions Mondays to Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon (CEST) by phone: +49 89-6279-1444 or via the email address hauptversammlung@wacker.com.
Your Questions
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of Wacker Chemie AG will take place on May 12, 2021 as an entirely virtual shareholders’ meeting without the presence of shareholders. The health of the employees, shareholders and service providers involved takes priority. Further information is available on the webpage for our Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.
The entire Annual Shareholders’ Meeting 2021 will be streamed live for all registered shareholders via the shareholder portal .
To log in, all you need is the five-digit number printed at the very top of your registration confirmation and the single check digit just to the right of it. Enter these numbers in the corresponding fields and click on [Next]. Then follow the subsequent instructions.
The Annual Shareholders’ Meeting is one of stock corporation’s three main organizational bodies and provides shareholders with the opportunity to ask questions and vote. Of course, any shareholder can attend or vote at the virtual meeting, either directly or via a proxy. The preconditions for taking part are the possession of WACKER shares at the time of the “Record Date” of April 21, 2021 at 00:00 hours (CEST) and having registered in time, namely by 24:00 hours (CEST) on May 5, 2021, at the latest.
Yes, it is necessary to register if you want to exercise your voting rights and be able to raise a question. The preconditions for taking part are the possession of WACKER shares at the time of the “Record Date” of April 21, 2021 at 00:00 hours (CEST) and having registered in time, namely by 24:00 hours (CEST) on May 5, 2021, at the latest. You will then be sent a confirmation of registration instead of the usual entrance ticket.
Shareholders who request a confirmation of registration from the institution managing their investment account in time generally do not need to do anything further. In such cases, the institution handles registration and proof of share ownership. Please refer to the information in the invitation and any deadlines that may have been set by your institution.
- March 25, 2021: Convening the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in the German Federal Gazette
- Approx. April 12, 2021: Institutions managing the investment accounts start to issue the invitations
- April 21, 2021: “Record Date” (time of reference for providing proof of share ownership)
- April 21, 2021: Access granted to shareholder portal on www.wacker.com/hauptversammlung
- May 5, 2021: Registration deadline for shareholders
- May 12, 2021: Start of Wacker Chemie AG’s 2021 Virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting at 10:00 a.m. (CEST); meeting finishes once the voting results have been determined and announced
- May 13, 2021: Dividend announced
- May 15, 2021: Dividend paid out
Shareholder portal and livestream
Follow Our 2021 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting Live
To use the shareholder portal, shareholders need to log in with their individual access data (participant no. and code) that they received in their registration confirmation.
The livestream of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting via the shareholder portal will begin at 10:00 a.m. (CEST) on May 12, 2021. All registered shareholders can watch the entire Annual Shareholders’ Meeting live there.
Additional Information
Contact
Do you have any questions about our Virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting?
Our Investor Relations team is always happy to help.
We’re available for your questions or suggestions Mondays to Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon (CEST) by phone: +49 89-6279-1444 or via the email address hauptversammlung@wacker.com .