Air Liquide Holds Steady in Difficult 2014 Market, Investment Backlog at $3.2 Billion

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Air Liquide S.A. (Paris, France), which supplies industrial gases and services to businesses worldwide, saw steady growth in a tough market environment in 2014. The company continued to see strong demand in its North American Gas & Services business, where customers are benefiting from low energy prices, and a ramp-up in large-industry units in China. The company also saved more than 320 million euros ($365.1 million) through cost-cutting and efficiency. Net profits were reported to be 1.67 billion euros ($1.91 billion), a 1.52% increase from 2013.

Industrial Info is tracking $1.42 billion in active projects involving Air Liquide, including two major projects in Texas: the $230 million uprate of the Bayou Cogeneration Plant in Pasadena, and the $120 million construction of an air separation plant in Beaumont. The Pasadena project involves replacing four 77-megawatt (MW) gas turbine generator sets with four 85-MW General Electric (NYSE:GE) ME 7001EA sets; it is expected to be completed toward the end of the year. The Beaumont project involves building an air separation plant that will produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon, and supply a nearby plant with 2,400 tons per day of oxygen via pipeline; it is to be completed in third-quarter 2016.

Group revenues stood at 15.36 billion euros ($17.53 billion), an increase of less than 1% from 2013. Improved oxygen volumes, hydrogen volumes and bulk sales in North America and a string of start-ups in China led the global growth. Sales increased slightly in Europe, but were narrowly down in Western Europe, with the company taking a hit from the disposal of cogeneration business Anios at the end of 2013. Large-industry and health care businesses also performed well in South America.

The company also installed and inaugurated hydrogen filling stations in Denmark, France, Japan and the Netherlands, and announced a partnership with Toyota (NYSE:TM) (Aichi, Japan) to build 12 hydrogen filling stations in the northeastern U.S., serving both industrial and general-public vehicles.

Capital expenditures for 2014 were reported to be 1.93 billion euros ($2.2 billion), compared with 2.24 billion euros ($2.56 billion) in 2013.

"In a mixed environment that was also marked by rapid changes in exchange rates and the oil price, the group achieved a solid 2014 performance, in sales, operating margin and cash flow," said Benoit Potier, the chief executive officer of Air Liquide, in the conference call.

Air Liquide's investment backlog now stands at 2.8 billion euros ($3.2 billion). In 2014, the company signed two long-term contracts to supply two 2,400 tons per day of oxygen, each, to two methanol manufacturing plants with a total value of 320 million euros ($365.16 million): one from Natgasoline, an OCI Chemical (Atlanta, Georgia) subsidiary, in Beaumont, Texas, and another for Yuhuang Chemical Incorporated (Beijing, China) in St. James Parish, Louisiana. Air Liquide also signed a long-term supply contract with ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG (Essen, Germany) for 4,600 tons per day of oxygen, plus nitrogen and argon, and invested 40 million euros ($45.65 million) in a new air separation unit in Brazil.

Company executives say that start-ups and ramp-ups of new sites will add about 350 million euros ($399.49 million) in revenue in 2015.

"If Europe picks up, it will definitively make a difference," Potier said in the conference call. "We need a little bit of wind in the sales in Europe. We don't have problems with the American engine, no problem with the Asian motor, and we're building the Middle-East engine."

Potier said that low oil prices will continue to be beneficial to the company, with stronger hydrogen sales to refiners likely offsetting weaker demand from oil producers.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.