By Bartosz Dabrowski
(Reuters) -Linde, the world’s largest industrial gases company, said on Thursday it was confident about its clean energy projects after trimming its full-year forecast due to a slowdown in its end markets including mining, metals and healthcare.
“I feel pretty confident that the $8-10 billion number for hydrogen investments over the next few years looks pretty much intact,” CEO Sanjiv Lamba said on a conference call.
In August, Linde said it would invest more than $2 billion to build a clean hydrogen facility to supply Dow’s Path2Zero production complex in Canada, the latest of such projects for the gases group as countries look to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions.
“I think it’s important to note the size and scope we are undertaking… the clean energy transition will draw upon several different Linde capabilities, expertise, and product offerings since integrated gas management solutions are in greater demand,” Lamba said.
The U.S.-German company, which supplies gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen to factories and hospitals, lowered the upper end of its 2024 earnings guidance, saying its end markets had slowed down amid a tougher economy, especially in the Americas region.
It now expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to increase by 8-9% this year, after previously guiding for 8-10% growth.
Linde said it expected its adjusted EPS to grow by 8% to 10% in the fourth quarter, with mid-point of the range assuming an economic contraction.
The group reported a 9% rise in its adjusted EPS to $3.94 in the July-September quarter. That came ahead of analysts’ mean estimate of $3.89 per share in an LSEG poll.
Total sales were up 2% at $8.36 billion in the quarter, slightly ahead of the LSEG poll estimate of $8.35 billion.
(Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
