Air Liquide: Sales remarkable turnaround in the third quarter of 2020, China is the most dynamic.
Helath Care
Air Liquide's global healthcare team is mobilizing for Covid-19, especially to provide medical oxygen.
The Air Liquide Foundation supports 10 scientific projects and 23 emergency social assistance projects under its Covid-19 program.
Completed the sale of Schülke to EQT Capital Investment.
Big Industry
Reached a final agreement with Sasol to acquire the world's largest oxygen plant in Secunda, South Africa, at a price of approximately 440 million euros. The goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 30% (the transaction still needs regulatory approval, especially the South African Competition Authority, the approval is expected to take effect in December 2020).Signed a long-term contract with Eastman Chemical Company of the United States with an investment of more than 160 million U.S. dollars to modernize existing assets and build new air separation units and partial oxidation units.
Invest 125 million euros to build a world-scale oxygen production facility in Moerdijk, the Netherlands, to adapt the renewable energy power grid.
Invest 60 million euros to build the eighth air separation plant in China's Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone.
On October 23, 2020, Air Liquide Group released its third-quarter performance report. Its operating income was 4.98 billion euros (2019: 5.454 billion euros), a decrease of 8.7% compared with the published data.
Air Liquide Group stated that business in all regions is picking up, with sales in the third quarter of 2020 falling by 0.9% on a comparable basis, close to the level of 2019. China’s economic recovery is the most dynamic, with significant sales growth in the third quarter of 2020, while it is opposite in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. Business in Europe is increasing, and slightly increased compared to 2019. Signs of a gradual recovery can be seen in North America, and business in South America is still strong, especially in the large industrial and healthcare industries.
In the third quarter of 2020, gas and service revenue reached 4.77 billion euros (2019: 5.242 billion euros), a slight decrease of 0.9% on a comparable basis.Currency (-3.8%), significant range (-2.7%) and energy (-1.5%) significantly negatively affected gas and service revenues by 8.9%. Significant impacts include: the sale of Shumei in the medical field, the reduction of the group’s participation in Japanese distributors in the third quarter of 2020, and the sale of Fujian Shenyuan in September 2019.
In the Americas region--gas and services operating income was 1.916 billion euros (2019: 2.137 billion euros), a comparable drop of 3.3%.Compared with the second quarter, sales in North America improved significantly, but still declined compared to 2019.Sales in Latin America have increased.The revenue of large industries increased by 2.1% in the quarter.General Industry’s revenue continued to rebound strongly, but it was still affected by the public health crisis and protest restrictions, with revenue fell by 6.8%.The strong growth of electronic gas was 6.6%. Healthcare will continue to do its best to fight the new coronavirus pandemic, and its sales have increased by 8.0%.
In the European region-gas and services operating income was 1.615 billion euros (2019: 1.742 billion euros), a comparable increase of 0.5%. Although the volume of industrial activity in the region is still below the level before the public health crisis, its industrial activity has recovered significantly.Compared with the second quarter of 2020, the sales of large industries (-3.4%) increased continuously. In the general industrial business (-4.8%, of which a decrease of 1.9% came from the small-scale business divestiture), gas cylinder sales have returned to levels close to the third quarter of 2019. In the third quarter, due to the new coronavirus pandemic, the sales price of ventilators remained high, and healthcare revenue increased by 9.5%.
In the Asia-Pacific region-gas and services operating income reached 1.101 billion euros (2019: 1.207 billion euros), a comparable increase of 1.6%. In China, the development momentum of all industrial business areas is very strong, an increase of 7.6%. Affected by the public health crisis, recovery in other parts of the region has been slower. Big industry (+3.0%) is driven by Chinese demand and increased production of a set of equipment in South Korea.General Industry (-4.0%) is still sluggish, but it has rebounded from the second quarter.Electronic gas (+6.3%) maintained strong growth, excluding equipment and installation sales, which increased by more than 10%.
In the Middle East and Africa region-gas and services operating income was 145 million euros (2019: 156 million euros), a comparable growth rate (0.0%). In terms of general industry, compared with the second quarter, the Middle East and India improved significantly, while the recovery in Africa was the opposite. Compared with the third quarter of 2019, the sales of large industrial companies increased slightly, especially in South Africa and Saudi Arabia.The healthcare business that continues to work to combat the new coronavirus COVID-19 has achieved strong growth in the region.
Healthcare has invested a lot of money in the fight against the new Covid-19 virus, and its comparable sales have increased by 8.4%.
The sales growth of electronic gas is also very stable, 5.9% and 7.3% respectively (excluding equipment and installation), and sales of advanced materials and carrier gas have also increased significantly.
Sales in the large industrial sector were stable, with an increase of 0.2% compared to the third quarter of 2019, which was mainly driven by the recovery of developing economies, especially China. General Industry fell by 5.8%, and the sustained price impact was +2.6%. Growth in China, Eastern Europe, and South America could not offset the slowdown caused by the public health crisis, while the impact of the public health crisis remained strong, especially in the United States.
Due to the public health crisis, sales to third-party customers are still sluggish, with engineering and manufacturing revenue of 60 million euros in the third quarter.Resources are mainly allocated to internal projects of large industries and electronic gas.