Siltronic AG (SLTCY), a leading German company specializing in semiconductor wafers, released preliminary figures for its fourth quarter on Tuesday, revealing an EBIT—a critical profitability measure—of 27 million euros, down from 36.8 million euros the previous year. The EBIT margin subsequently decreased to 8% from last year’s 10.3%.
However, preliminary EBITDA experienced a rise to 93 million euros, up from the prior year's 91.1 million euros, thanks mainly to favorable foreign exchange results, with the EBITDA margin increasing slightly to 26% from 25.5%.
Revenue climbed to 361 million euros, compared to 356.6 million euros a year ago. In projections for the 2025 fiscal year, the company expects sales will align closely with the previous year, as demand is anticipated to stay sluggish, with no growth foreseen for 2025. Preliminary sales figures for 2024 stood at 1.41 billion euros.
Current forecasts suggest that the first half of 2025 will be particularly affected by this downturn, with customer volume realignments under long-term contracts partly shifting from the first to the second half of 2025. The company predicts the EBITDA margin to fall within 22% to 27%, compared to the preliminary 26% in 2024.
Moreover, the company’s mid-term objectives have faced delays due to the stagnant recovery in demand. This anticipated recovery, initially integrated into mid-term goals, fell short in 2024, and the current fiscal outlook continues to reflect constrained growth.
Consequently, the company's mid-term target of surpassing 2.2 billion euros in sales and achieving an EBITDA margin in the high 30% range by 2028 is likely to be realized post-2028. In light of the ongoing delay in demand recovery, the Executive Board will recommend a reduced dividend of 0.20 euro per share for 2024 at the Annual General Meeting scheduled for May 12, 2025.
Siltronic's CEO, Michael Heckmeier, commented, "For 2025, we anticipate that market growth, primarily spurred by AI advancements, will not yet lead to increased wafer demand owing to the persistently high inventory levels throughout the value chain. As a result, we expect the first half of 2025 to perform significantly weaker than the latter part of 2024."
