For the quarter, Linde reported income from continuing operations of $978m and diluted earnings per share of $1.88. Sales for the quarter totalled $7.7bn, up 12% versus the prior year.
Excluding Linde AG purchase accounting impacts and other charges, adjusted income from continuing operations was $1.4bn, up 25% versus prior year and flat sequentially.
Q3 operating profit was $1.2bn. Adjusted operating profit of $1.8bn was up 19% versus prior year led by higher price, strong volumes and continued productivity initiatives across all segments.
Operating cash flow for Q3 totalled $2.5bn, an increase of 36% versus the prior year.
Steve Angel, CEO of Linde, said, “Linde employees delivered another stellar quarter achieving record EPS, operating cash flow and return on capital. We maintained our industry leading performance and significantly expanded our project backlog.”
“We also announced new greenhouse gas emission goals including a commitment to absolute emissions reduction, reaching climate neutrality by 2050.”
“The Linde team demonstrated, once again, they can deliver in any environment. We are well positioned for the future, and I am confident our best days, indeed, lie ahead.”
Results by Segment
Americas sales of $3bn were 17% above prior year. Underlying sales increased 12% driven by 3% higher pricing and 9% higher volume, led by stronger demand across all end markets and project start-ups.
Sequentially, price increased 1% and volumes were flat.
Operating profit of $859m was 27.8% of sales, 30 basis points below prior year or 70 basis points higher when excluding the effects of cost pass-through.
APAC (Asia Pacific) sales of $1.5bn were 5% above prior year. Underlying sales grew 11% driven by 1% price attainment and 10% volume growth, led by higher demand across all end markets and project start-ups.
Sequentially, price increased 1% and volume grew 2%, led by growth across most end markets.
Operating profit of $382m was 24.4% of sales, up 170 basis points versus prior year or 220 basis points when excluding the effects of cost pass-through.
EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) sales of $1.9bn were up 18% versus prior year. Underlying sales grew 9% from 4% higher pricing and 5% higher volumes across all end markets.
Sequentially, underlying sales were flat with pricing up 1%, offset by lower volumes.
Operating profit of $476m was 24.9% of sales, up 210 basis points versus prior year or 370 basis points when excluding the effects of cost pass-through.
Linde Engineering sales were $601m, 11% below prior year largely due to the timing of plant completion.
Operating profit was $106mor 17.6% of sales, up 200 basis points versus prior year.
Order intake for the quarter was $6,612m and third-party sale of plant backlog was $9.9bn.