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Wacker Chemie AG said Tuesday that its preliminary figures for 2019 indicate that it swung to a loss, mainly due to a impairment charge.
The German chemicals company WCH, +0.46% reported an aftertax loss of 630 million euros ($694.5 million) for the period compared with a profit of EUR260 million the year earlier.
Its loss before interest and taxes was EUR540 million compared with earnings before interest and taxes of EUR390 million the year earlier.
Wacker said a write-down of EUR760 million “reflects the company’s subdued expectations about future price developments for solar-grade polysilicon,” bringing overall depreciation for the year to around EUR1.32 billion.
The company had expected to swing to a loss, reporting in December that the impairment will likely lead to a full-year loss of around EUR750 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization fell 16% to EUR780 million and included special income of EUR112.5 million from insurance compensation.
The company’s revenue for the year fell to EUR4.93 billion from EUR4.98 billion, Wacker said.
Wacker is working on a cost-saving program and will publish related targets in the first quarter of the year. Final figures are released on March 17.
