In his speech, Staudigl gave details of the company’s direction in the years ahead and explained the strategic goals WACKER will be focusing on until 2020. “We will continue expanding our production capacities, with capital expenditures staying below depreciation,” said the CEO. “We want to grow faster than the chemical-sector average and achieve attractive margins with our products. At our chemical divisions, we are targeting an EBITDA margin of over 16 percent. For our polysilicon business, the target margin is in excess of 30 percent.” According to Staudigl, a further priority is the development of new products with a focus on sustainable energy generation, electromobility and energy conservation. As examples, he mentioned high-performance silicones for electric cars, adhesive additives for wind turbines and dispersible polymer powders for building insulation systems. Moreover, the company intends to work on the process efficiency of its production plants. The goal is to achieve a reduction in raw-material and energy consumption, coupled with higher output.
“Sales growth, lower capital expenditures and continuing efficiency and cost improvements will all lift our cash inflow from operating activities in the coming years,” emphasized Staudigl. With this in mind, the company reformulated its previous dividend policy. Now, the company is distributing about half of its annual net profit to shareholders, instead of at least 25 percent as in the past. For full-year 2016, the dividend payout is €99.4 million. The dividend per dividend-bearing share is €2.00. The Executive and Supervisory Boards’ other proposals were also adopted by large majorities.
Resolutions and Voting Results
At today’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, 43,637,257 voting shares were represented – 83.67 percent of all eligible shares (number of shares outstanding: 49,677,983). The voting results were as follows for agenda items 2 through 5:
Item 2: Resolution on the Appropriation of Net Retained Profit
The Executive and Supervisory Boards proposed that 2016’s retained profit of €1.24 billion be appropriated as follows: €99.4 million to be distributed to shareholders and €1.15 billion to be carried forward to new account. The proposal was adopted. The result was:
- 43,591,997 Yes votes (99.99 percent)
- 2,076 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 fiscal 2016 was adopted. The result was:
- 42,903,781 Yes votes (99.12 percent)
- 382,002 No votes
Item 4: Resolution on the Ratification of the Actions of the Supervisory Board
The Executive and Supervisory Boards’ proposal to ratify the actions of the members of Wacker Chemie AG’s Supervisory Board during fiscal 2016 was adopted. The result was:
- 42,068,008 Yes votes (96.65 percent)
- 1,457,740 No votes
Item 5: Appointment of Auditor
The Supervisory Board’s proposal to appoint KPMG AG as auditor for 2017 was adopted. The result was:
- 42,416,509 Yes votes (97.53 percent)
- 1,072,712 No votes
Information for editorial offices: All documents relating to Wacker Chemie AG’s 2017 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting can be downloaded from WACKER’s website under Investor Relations.
