Air Liquide's group revenue totaled €6,887 million in the 1st quarter of 2022, up a strong +7.9% on a comparable basis. This performance was delivered in a challenging context of exceptionally high energy prices, strong inflation, strain on supply chains and the war in Ukraine. The Group benefited from a solid business model and proactive actions to increase prices in the Industrial Merchant business. Introduced in the 2nd half of 2021, the effectiveness of these increases started to be seen from the 4th quarter of 2021, with stronger pricing in the 1st quarter of 2022. The Group’s published revenue saw very strong growth of +29.1% with an energy impact that reached +16.4% and with favorable currency (+4.2%) and significant scope (+0.6%) impacts.
Commenting on sales in the 1st quarter of 2022, Benoît Potier, Chairman and CEO of the Air Liquide Group, said, “There was strong growth in this first quarter, which reflects a good level of activity and demonstrates the Group’s resilience in a context marked, notably, by inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Group sales were up +8% on a comparable basis and +29% based on published figures, notably reflecting the sharp rise in energy prices contractually passed on to Large Industries customers. Sales reached € 6.9 billion, including 6.6 billion for Gas & Services. This growth confirms the strength of the Gas & Services businesses and the strong momentum of the Engineering & Construction and Global Markets & Technologies business lines.
Gas & Services, which represents over 95% of Group sales, was up +7.1% on a comparable basis. This reflects notably the strong growth of the Electronics business line as well as Industrial Merchant which demonstrated, once again, its ability to adapt prices to reflect rising costs. Despite a high basis of comparison, the Healthcare business line continued to grow. In terms of geographies, growth was particularly strong in Europe and the Americas.
Regarding efficiencies, the Group continued to take action to improve performance. In the 1st quarter of 2022, € 77 million in efficiencies were generated in spite of a highly inflationary context, and we confirm our target of over 400 million euros over the year. Cash flow remains high at more than 23% of sales excluding the energy effect.
Investment decisions over the quarter reached the very high level of € 913 million, with several Electronics projects, particularly in Asia. The 12-month portfolio of opportunities remains stable at € 3.3 billion. The proportion of projects linked to the energy transition exceeds 40%.
These investments will foster future growth. They will also contribute to ADVANCE, Air Liquide’s new strategic plan for 2025. This plan, which combines financial and extra-financial performance, is structured around four priorities: delivering strong financial performance, decarbonizing industry, promoting progress through technological innovation and acting for all. With ADVANCE, the Group reaffirms its commitment to sustainable development while continuing its growth trajectory.
In 2022, assuming no significant economic disruption, Air Liquide is confident in its ability to further increase its operating margin and to deliver recurring net profit growth at constant exchange rates.”
