Credit ratings

Air Liquide’s credit ratings

Credit Opinion published by S&P on July 21, 2025
Credit opinion published by Moody's on September 12, 2025
Credit Opinion published by Scope Ratings on January 5, 2026

Standard & Poor's

S&P long term credit ratings history

Rationales behind S&P “A” rating are excellent Business Risk as well as adequate Liquidity and an intermediate Financial Risk. S&P puts a strong focus on Air Liquide‘s earnings resilience and stable cash flow generation when analyzing the company's profitability and financial metrics. S&P views Air Liquide's profitability as less volatile than that of most specialty chemical companies. S&P underlines that Air Liquide’s financial policy continues to support growth investments and shareholder remuneration, while allowing for substantial rating leeway.

The “stable” outlook reflects Air Liquide resilient business and prudently balanced capital spending, acquisitions, divestitures, and shareholder distributions. S&P expects the FFO/Net debt ratio to remain sustainably over 30%, thus enabling Air Liquide to maintain an “A” rating.

The agency rates corporate issuers as follows:

• Long-term ratings, in decreasing order: AAA (best), AA, A, BBB, BB, B, CCC, CC, C, D, SD (Selectively Defaulted). The rating is completed by + or -. Companies with ratings above BB+ are considered investment grade and those below non investment grade
• Short-term ratings, in decreasing order: A-1+ (best), A-1, A-2, A-3, B, C, D

Moody's

Moody’s long term credit ratings history

Both Air Liquide’s long term credit profile and short term credit profile were rated for the first time by Moody’s on May 24, 2016. Both ratings were upgraded in September 2022 (from A3 to A2 for the long term credit rating and from P-2 to P-1 for the short term credit rating) and associated with a stable outlook. The rating continues to be supported by Air Liquide's leading position in the industrial gas market, a high degree of revenue visibility and a high network density.

Moody’s recently affirmed Air Liquide’s A2 rating, reflecting their assessment that the company’s credit metrics will remain within expectations even after accounting for debt-funded transactions (DIG acquisition). Moody’s also highlights the robustness and the resilience of the Group’s profitability, its strong customer relationships and long-term contracts, as well as the diversification of the markets in which Air Liquide operates.

Moody’s rating scale:

• Long-term debt rating, in descending order: Aaa (highest rating), Aa, A, Baa, Ba, B, Caa, Ca, C (in "selective default"). The rating is completed by a 1 (best rating in the category), 2 or 3. Companies with a rating above BB+ are considered investment grade and those with a rating of Ba1 or below are considered non-investment grade.
• Short-term debt ratings, in descending order: P-1 (highest rating), P-2, P-3, “Not Prime”. 

Scope Ratings

Scope published for the first time Air Liquide’s issuer rating of "A" in May 2023. This rating is driven by Air Liquide’s strong profitability and reflects its market position as global industrial leader supported by its expertise and diversification, as well as its disciplined financial policy. Following the announcement of the DIG acquisition in South Korea, Scope affirmed the “A” rating while revising the outlook from “Positive” to “Stable” to reflect anticipated higher leverage.

The agency rates corporate issuers as follows:

• Long-term ratings, in decreasing order: AAA (best), AA, A, BBB, BB, B, CCC, CC, C, D. The rating is completed by + or -. Companies with ratings above BB+ are considered investment grade and those below non investment grade.
• Short-term ratings, in decreasing order: S-1+ (best), S-1, S-2, S-3, S-4.