Wacker Cuts 2012 Sales Forecast as Risk of Dropped Orders Seen

Wacker Chemie AG (WCH), a German provider of polysilicon, cut its full-year sales forecast, saying overcapacity has led to an “extremely competitive” solar-power market and a glut that may prompt customers to cancel orders.

Wacker now expects revenue of less than the 4.9 billion euros ($5.9 billion) posted in 2011, the Munich-based company said today in a statement. The manufacturer had targeted sales of about 5 billion euros. Wacker reiterated a forecast that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization will fall “well short” of last year’s 1.1 billion euros.

Solar-cell makers in the U.S. and Germany, including Q- Cells SE (QCE), once the industry’s biggest, have filed for bankruptcy in the past year after struggling against lower-cost Chinese competitors and a glut. The global supply of photovoltaic panels is exceeding demand this year while at least 20 gigawatts of manufacturing capacity will close, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data.

“Ongoing consolidation and overcapacity in the solar industry are resulting in an extremely competitive market environment,” Wacker said. “Growing supply-chain inventories and financing difficulties among market participants could cause some polysilicon customers to not take full delivery or to delay taking delivery, or lead to the termination of contracts.”

Second-quarter Ebitda dropped 26 percent to 240.5 million euros, hurt by price declines, Wacker said. Sales fell 7.8 percent to 1.22 billion euros. Analysts had predicted Ebitda of 229.4 million euros and sales of 1.27 billion euros, according to average estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The chemical maker has lost 16 percent this year in Frankfurt trading for a market value of 2.72 billion euros. The company is more than 50 percent-owned by the founding family’s holding company, Dr. Alexander Wacker Familiengesellschaft mbH.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sheenagh Matthews in Frankfurt at smatthews6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net