3rd quarter 2015

Sustained sales growth: +7.8%
Efficiency gains in line

Commenting on the third quarter 2015, Benoît Potier, Chairman and CEO of Air Liquide, said:

“In an environment of moderate global growth, the Group delivered in the third quarter a sustained increase in sales. This growth was driven by the dynamism of Healthcare and Electronics, by new unit start-ups and ramp-ups in Large Industries, and by the developing economies. The impact of currency translation is softening, but remains favorable.
Europe at +5% is benefiting from the sustained development of Healthcare and shows signs of recovery in certain industrial sectors. In North America, the slowdown in sectors linked to oil and gas production continues. Asia-Pacific is benefiting from Japan’s positive performance and satisfactory growth in China, where economic activity has become more moderate.
The operating performance is solid and the Group continues to improve its competitiveness and invest in promising markets. The investment backlog amounts to 2 billion euros and represents, along with innovations and technologies under development, an important source of growth over the medium term.
Assuming a comparable economic environment, Air Liquide is confident in its ability to deliver another year of net profit growth in 2015.”

Q3 2015 Group revenue reached € 4,097 million, up +7.8% on a reported basis and up +4.6% on a comparable basis¹ versus 3^rd quarter 2014. Gas & Services sales, which totaled € 3,701 million, rose by +7.4% on a reported basis. They were up +4.5% on a comparable basis versus 3^rd quarter 2014, an increase of one percentage point compared with 2^nd quarter 2015. The currency impact, which remains positive this quarter (+4.9% for Gas & Services), softened with respect to the 1^st half of 2015 and was partly offset by the negative impact of energy prices (-2.0%).

The momentum remains positive in the developing economies, with 3^rd quarter Gas & Services revenue in these countries up +10.4% on a comparable basis.

Globally, growth in Gas & Services revenue for the 3^rd quarter 2015, on a comparable basis, is satisfactory given the trend in industrial production, to which a portion of the Group’s activities is linked:

• Healthcare revenue, up significantly at +8.0%, progressed in both advanced and developing economies. Revenue was boosted by increased demand for home healthcare services, a trend for the long term, by the sales of hygiene products, also particularly dynamic this quarter, and by targeted acquisitions.
• Electronics continues to report robust growth of +12.8%, driven by strong sales in Asia, and more specifically in China, Taiwan and Japan. All of our product lines reported growth, in particular advanced materials, which include the ALOHA™ range and the Voltaix offer, for which sales rose +38.2%.
• Large Industries, up +6.5%, shows clear sequential improvement compared with the two previous quarters and despite a few unplanned plant turnarounds by several customers. Growth is benefiting from new production unit start-ups and ramp-ups, primarily in Germany, Benelux, China, and Saudi Arabia. Hydrogen volumes rose sharply, in particular due to the ramp-up of the Yanbu site, while demand for air gases remains sustained in China and is increasing in the United States.
• For Industrial Merchant, where revenue was down -1.2%, activity remains contrasted. In North America, volumes continue to be adversely affected by the slowdown in oil services and related industries. In Asia-Pacific, sales in Australia declined as a result of the weakness of the mining sector, while they continued to improve in developing economies due to higher volumes. Europe posted slightly positive growth, with bulk volumes higher, for the food and pharmaceutical industries in particular, while cylinder activity remains weak. Sales in Eastern Europe continue to be dynamic.

Engineering and Technology revenue rose by +16.8% on a comparable basis versus 3^rd quarter 2014. This increase is essentially explained by the conversion of a delayed Large Industries project into the sale of the unit to the customer.

Efficiency gains, which stood at € 204 million for the first nine months of 2015, are in line with the annual target of more than € 250 million. The recurrent actions conducted by the Group, principally in the areas of procurement, logistics, and energy efficiency, have contributed to the operational performance.

¹ adjusted for currency, energy (natural gas and electricity) and significant M&A impacts ↩