Linde is optimistic about clean energy projects despite reducing its full-year outlook

Linde, world's biggest industrial gas company, announced on Thursday that it is confident in its clean energy projects, despite reducing its full-year outlook due to a decline in the end markets, including mining, metals, and healthcare.

Sanjiv Lamba, CEO of Sanjiv Lamba Technologies said in a conference call that he was "pretty confident" about the 8-10 billion dollars for investments in hydrogen over the next several years.

Linde announced in August that it would invest over $2 billion to build an environmentally friendly hydrogen facility for Dow's Path2Zero complex in Canada. This is the latest project of its kind as countries try to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Lamba stated that "it's important to understand the scale of the project... The clean energy transition will rely on several Linde capabilities, expertise and product offerings, since integrated gas-management solutions are more in demand."

The U.S./German company that supplies oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen to hospitals and factories has lowered its upper-end earnings guidance for 2024, citing a slowdown in its end markets due to a more difficult economy, particularly in the Americas.

The company now expects the adjusted earnings per share to grow by 8-9% in this year. Previously, it had guided for growth of 8-10%.

Linde expects its adjusted EPS growth to be between 8% and 10% in the fourth-quarter, with the midpoint of this range assuming a contraction in the economy.

The group reported an increase of 9% in its adjusted earnings per share to $3.94 for the quarter July-September. This was ahead of the average analyst estimate of $3.89 in a LSEG survey.

The total sales for the quarter were $8.36 billion, a 2% increase. This was slightly higher than the LSEG poll's estimate of $8.35billion. Bartosz Dabrowski, Gdansk. Editing by Milla Sithole Matarise and Emelia Nissi.

(source: Reuters)