Air Liquide is continuing its trajectory and once again delivered a solid quarter. In a difficult market environment, our sales increased, demonstrating the resilience of our business model, said François Jackow, Chief Executive Officer, Air Liquide Group while commenting on sales in the third quarter of 2024.
“We continued to improve our margin and our investment decisions reached a record level, paving the way for long-term growth. Through the tangible solutions we provide to our customers, our Group supports major transformations, such as the energy transition and those accelerated by digital technology and Artificial Intelligence, which are key growth drivers.
“At 6.8 billion euros in the third quarter of 2024, our Group’s revenue was up +3.3% on a comparable basis (-0.7% as published, reflecting a negative currency impact and lower energy prices, which variations are passed through to our customers), an increase compared to the previous quarter (+3.1%). Gas & Services, which represent 95% of Group revenue, were up +3.6% on a comparable basis: all activities are growing, demonstrating the strength of our diversified business model. Healthcare in particular increased sharply by +9% on a comparable basis. Geographically, the Americas and Asia were particularly dynamic, with respective growth of +8% and +4%.
“Air Liquide also continued to improve its performance. The transformation plan announced in July has now entered the execution phase across the entire Group, in particular through the simplification of our organization. Group efficiencies, up +10%, reached a record level of 353 million euros at the end of September. We also continued the dynamic management of our business portfolio, while adjusting our prices in Industrial Merchant thanks to our ability to create value. All of these actions contributed to the continued improvement of +100 basis points in the Group’s operating margin excluding the energy impact since the beginning of the year, outpacing our ADVANCE plan, whose performance ambition was raised early in the year.
“Paving the way for future growth, our investment momentum is particularly strong. Well diversified, our investment backlog was still at the very high level of 4.2 billion euros in this third quarter. Reaching a record level, investment decisions amounted to 1.4 billion euros with major projects in Large Industries and Electronics. 12-month investment opportunities remained at a high level of more than 4 billion euros, driven by the transformations that the Group accompanies, whether in the energy transition – for more than 40% of them – or in the field of electronics and semiconductors.
“In 2024, Air Liquide is confident in its ability to further increase its operating margin and to deliver recurring net profit growth, at constant exchange rates,” the CEO said.
