Air Liquide's Interim Results in Line with Expectations, Maintains Profit Margin Outlook
Air Liquide, a French industrial gases group, has reported solid half-year results for 2025, indicating a positive outlook for the future. The company, which supplies gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen to factories and hospitals, confirmed its margin outlook until 2026.
According to the half-year report, Air Liquide aims to improve the operating margin by 200 basis points (2 percentage points) over the two years to the end of 2026. The company achieved an operating margin of 19.9% in H1 2025, up 100 basis points year-on-year on a comparable basis, excluding energy price impacts. The CEO, Francois Jackow, stated that the company relies on diversified growth engines, particularly in the electronics and energy transition sectors.
The rise in operating margin was reported on a basis that excluded the energy impact. However, the company's revenue growth was attributed to a favorable energy impact, but this was mitigated by negative currency effects. The revenue for the January-June period was 13.72 billion euros ($15.89 billion) on a comparable basis.
Analysts polled by Vara Research expected an operating margin of 20.2% for Air Liquide and a revenue of 13.73 billion euros. The company's revenue increase was 1.8% in the first half of the year. The half-year report showed that recurring net profit increased by 9.6% in H1 2025 to €1.84 billion, reflecting strong momentum that the company intends to sustain into 2025 and 2026.
The increase in recurring net profit is part of a broader strategic plan (ADVANCE) focusing on cost control, energy transition, and investment momentum that is expected to support ongoing profit growth in 2025 and 2026. While exact numeric targets for 2026 operating margin and recurring net profit growth are not explicitly provided in the half-year report, the indication of a two-year horizon for a +200 basis points margin gain and the strong H1 profit growth trajectory imply that Air Liquide expects continual improvement in these metrics through the end of 2026.
This article was reported by Olivier Cherfan in Gdansk and was edited by Milla Nissi-Prussak.
Air Liquide's strategic plan, ADVANCE, emphasizes cost control and investment momentum, with a focus on the energy transition sector. The company aims to boost its operating margin by 200 basis points over the next two years (2025-2026), with the expectation of maintaining this positive trend in finance and business growth.
