Germany's Wacker Chemie's Q3 core profit nearly doubles on cost cuts; keeps outlook

Oct 29 (Reuters) - Wacker Chemie on Thursday posted a higher third-quarter core profit, broadly in line with expectations, helped by cost-cutting measures, higher selling prices and a one-off gain in its polysilicon business, while maintaining its full-year sales and earnings forecast.

The German specialty chemicals maker said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) nearly doubled to €217.2 million ($242.4 million) in the July-September period from €111.7 million a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Vara Research forecast third-quarter EBITDA of €213 million.

Chief Executive Christian Hartel credited a cost-savings and efficiency program launched in October 2025, known as PACE, for the improvement.

"Our quarterly results show that the cost-savings and efficiency measures we introduced a year ago are having an impact," he said, while adding that the economic environment remains challenging.

Group sales rose 9.4% year-on-year to €1.47 billion, driven by higher volumes and selling prices, as all four business divisions beat their prior-year sales levels.

Silicones increased sales by 8% on-year to €729 million, while polymers revenue rose 11% to €381 million. Biosolutions sales gained 8% to €100 million, while polysilicon revenue jumped 14% to €225 million.

Wacker Chemie, whose hyperpure polysilicon is used to make silicon wafers for chips in artificial intelligence, high‑performance computing and microelectronics, noted that while the solar-grade polysilicon business remained challenging, the semiconductor-grade polysilicon business continued to perform well.

The group also said about €35 million of quarterly EBITDA came from the termination of a contract in its polysilicon division.

($1 = 0.8959 euros)

(Reporting by Antonis Pothitos; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sonia Cheema)