Home > Chemical News

Chemical News

Industrial Gas Maker Linde Reports 1st-Half Profit Up at $838.17 Million

https://www.chemnet.com   Aug 01,2007 AP
FRANKFURT, Germany - Industrial gas and chemical company Linde AG said Monday that its net profit in the first six months of the year rose nearly 15 percent, lifted by its acquisition of rival BOC Group PLC and strong growth in its gas and engineering units.

The Munich-based company earned euro614 million (US$838.17 million) in the January-June period, compared with euro273 million a year earlier, just before it acquired Britain's BOC for 8.5 billion pounds (US$14.9 billion at the time).

Sales were up slightly to euro5.89 billion (US$8.04 billion) from euro5.22 billion in 2006.

Net profit in the second quarter rose to euro144 million (US$196.57 million), compared with euro136 million a year earlier, while sales rose to euro3.03 billion (US$4.14 billion) from euro1.57 billion in 2006.

Looking ahead, Chief Executive Wolfgang Reitzle said sales and earnings were set to rise from 2006, part of its goal to reach a pretax profit of euro3 billion (US$4.1 billion) by 2010.

"The message we can take from the half-year figures is clear," he said in a statement. "We have created an efficient organization with a new group structure, which means that we are extremely well-placed to take full advantage of the opportunities for growth in the international industrial gases and plant construction industries."

Linde's gases unit increased its sales by 8.1 percent to euro4.55 billion (US$6.21 billion) in the first six months, compared with euro4.21 billion a year earlier.

Its engineering division saw its first-half sales rise by 43.2 percent to euro1.13 billion (US$1.54 billion) from euro792 million in the same period last year, lifted in part by increased orders from the Middle East.

Linde shares rose 3.3 percent to euro86.50 (US$118.08) in Frankfurt trading.
 Print  |    add to Favorites  |    Close