Linde plc Ordinary Shares (LIN)

“We have a series of actions underway, and I fully expect sequential improvement into the third quarter.”

“We will likely take some cost actions this quarter to manage inflation and improve productivity.”

“The Q2 to Q3 sequential EPS trend is projected to increase $0.05 at the midpoint when excluding FX, which reflects some of the actions being undertaken.”

“Third quarter guidance range is $4.45 to $4.55, or 6 percent to 8 percent growth.”

“Overall, we expect many of these margin headwinds to be temporary and thus recover in the coming quarter.”

“First, recall the comps: 2025 had strong front-half margins and weaker back-half margins, so I am fully expecting better year-over-year comparisons given that.”

“With dislocation costs related to helium, the overall recovery does not fully show through in margins yet, but I fully expect improvements over the next couple of quarters.”

“Matthew will speak more to the numbers, but I remain confident in our long-term margin expansion story.”

“The outlook seems pretty robust for the second half as well.”

“The materials business overall has been doing well.”

“We are on track for that billion-dollar opportunity that we laid out over the next few years. We expect a billion-plus opportunity by 2030 for the space markets.”

“The contribution on a dollar basis is positive but not as large as we would like; on a margin basis, the grossing-up effect is currently a bit dilutive. That should stabilize.”

“We are not looking for macro improvement as long as macro is not taking away from that. You should expect us to look at that 8 percent to 12 percent range, and we will be consistent on that as we look at next year as well.”

“Our EPS algorithm lays out that between management actions and capital allocation combined, we should be delivering 8 percent to 12 percent.”

“I do not think you will see full normalization this year. Once those issues are resolved, normalization will likely take into the early part of next year.”

“Metals and mining were pretty robust in the U.S. and Brazil and I expect that trend to be steady.”

“Aerospace provided more than a third of the manufacturing growth, and I expect that momentum to carry into the second half.”

“Electronics had 18 percent growth year over year in the second quarter and we expect electronics momentum to carry on for the rest of the year as well, which is positive.”

“Traditionally, our resilient markets, healthcare and food and beverage, have been consistent and we continue to expect the same outlook for the rest of the year.”

“I expect that we will end this year on the backlog with an 8-handle despite bringing on investments of up to $1.3 billion.”

“Actions are aggressively underway to essentially attack the issues that we have identified in the Lincare business and I expect that we will continue to see sequential improvement as we move forward.”

“The updated full year range is $17.70 to $17.90, or 8 percent to 9 percent growth excluding a 1 percent FX tailwind assumption.”

“When considering the record $8.1 billion sale-of-gas backlog, continued roll-up acquisition targets and project pipeline opportunities, we expect this number to remain a significant use of capital for the foreseeable future.”

“Recall that the first half results are seasonally lower so we expect the second half to step up like prior years.”

“Furthermore, the project backlog reached a new record from the large-scale electronics wins and we anticipate some further base CAPEX investments to support our commercial space customers.”

“Not included in the backlog are a couple of electronics wins by our Taiwan JV, which will invest approximately $800 million to build, own, and operate ASUs and hydrogen production units to supply to new semiconductor fab and advanced packaging facilities there.”

“Overall, I expect electronics to remain our largest backlog contributor and one of the fastest-growing markets for the foreseeable future.”

“Even after accounting for these startups, and based on the opportunities I see today, I expect our sale-of-gas backlog to finish the year with an 8-handle, underscoring the continued strength of our long-term growth outlook.”

“For the remainder of the year, we are expecting to start up more than 20 projects that add up to approximately $1.3 billion in investments.”

“On the nitrogen, we still fully expect that. So that would be a pro rata, so to speak, startup on the backlog this quarter.”

“So we feel pretty good about what we could see in Q2 on those trends.”

“So I expect APAC to kind of get back up to the 29-type percent margins we saw year as the team there continues to work towards improving that.”

“Starting with the second quarter, we anticipate EPS in the range of $4.40 to $4.50, or 8% to 10% growth.”

“But I feel pretty good it will remain positive throughout the year, and we will have to see how much it remains positive.”

“Separately, our volumes are up, and we have actually already secured some long-term agreements. I fully expect we will secure more long-term agreements.”

“And likely, that price will continue to go up and roll its way through. I fully would anticipate that to happen throughout the year.”

“On a full-year basis, we feel pretty confident we are not only going to raise margins for the full year 2026, but probably at the upper end or even above our traditional range that we tend to talk about of 40 to 60 basis points.”

“We are currently investing more than $1 billion of the project backlog for ultra-high-purity plants, which will support the most advanced fabs in the world. And there is more to come, as we have a high degree of confidence in adding substantial new projects to the backlog this year.”

“So we will see. You know, right now, it is 7% to 9%, kind of range we have out there. And we have got to work through to get higher than that. Right? And we know that. And so that is how I would think about it. But the algo is still intact. And we will take incremental actions if we need to bridge this further to help get us back to that double-digit EPS growth.”

“You know, right now, it is 7% to 9%, kind of range we have out there. And we have got to work through to get higher than that. Right? And we know that.”

“We expect that to continue to post some pretty good numbers.”

“I do not expect very much in the next couple quarters. Hence, why I think the full year will probably be in the lower end of the range from the last couple years.”

“I would expect this year for the full year, we will be on the lower end of that range.”

“So that is our focus, but this slip has caused a little bit of that. So my expectation in that project is you will have a small portion contributing to the startup this year through the atmospheric side of it. And then the hydrogen and TNS side will kick into probably Q1 of next year.”

“But on the ATR and the TNS, that has slipped a few months into essentially Q1 of next year.”

“And based on some timing of some other projects, I would fully expect us to have a higher backlog by end of year based on this. Higher than the $7 billion and could potentially have an eight handle on it, based on this.”

“But I could tell you we are not happy with the performance. The business team is taking actions to improve that. They know that. So I expect to see some improvements there in Europe.”

“For the full year, we are updating to a new range of $17.60 to $17.90, or 7% to 9% growth.”

“For 2026, we anticipate a similar trend as last year.”

“We expect management actions to continue to support profit growth and margin expansion for 2026.”

“As this venues continues to see strong double-digit percent growth, we will isolate aerospace as a separate end market when it consistently exceeds 5% or more of global sales, which will be a function of the frequencies, size, and propellant type of future space launch.”

“Therefore, I do not anticipate significant spot sales this year since we are focused on securing long-term agreements.”

“Given our business is largely contracted, the priority is to meet existing customer commitments. After that, we still anticipate excess molecules allowing us to pursue new, multiyear contracts with high-quality customers.”

“Overall, food and beverage has grown mid- to high-single digits over the last several years, and is expected to remain a steady contributor.”

“In late 2025, a new US health care policy resulted in less services for a specific piece of equipment which is reflected in the current run rate and will continue for the next several quarters.”

“In fact, I'm highly confident that we will announce new signature fab wins in the coming months.”

“What I would say to you for 2026, my expectation remains that we will be above the long-term margin range that we normally offer you. Always say 30 to 50 basis points is what you should expect. My view is in 2026, we will beat that number.”

“We will be heading towards that $7 billion mark.”

“I'm confident we will deliver a stronger EPS growth that our owners expect and have enjoyed for many years.”

“The pricing expectations, Abigail, remain consistent with, you know, the view that we've always given, which is globally weighted CPI we should be at or around that.”

“So from the elements of both management actions and capital contribution, we still feel quite strong about that algorithm, and we expect to deliver on the expected range.”

“On helium impact, just on 2026, I see nothing different. Helium is gonna be long in the medium term at least.”

“Now going forward, I do expect some relief on the supply side, and that should start to manifest itself in the other segment in time.”

“So expectation remains that you might see a continued improvement or a gradient towards a recovery in the RSP of the South Pacific market.”

“So expect to continue to see these kind of numbers. And where opportunities present themselves for larger ones, will absolutely be in the mix.”

“So right now, we expect we should be able to maintain that into '26, time will tell.”

“Double-digit growth. Expect to see that continue over the next few years.”

“And, you know, I'm looking forward to having a billion-dollar business year that I can split it up in the end markets and show it to you guys separately. I expect to see that happen in the next few years.”

“And you know what? We are expecting to get, you know, more than our fair share of that just given the unique position we built up there.”

“So, yeah, the target is to get back to that $7 billion. We'll be close to that mind view. We'll see whether we can dare cross it or how close we can get that business to get us there.”

“So I would expect fully that the backlog will see projects $2.5 to $3 billion come off and get started up and start contributing to revenue and earnings.”

“I would expect further growth and momentum in the India market given that two of the recent events will support that growth story there.”

“My expectation remains that we'll see a lot more investment in that space, and you hear me talk about it when I talk about backlog.”

“My expectation is Australia should see comps will also get better as you can expect. But should see some kind of a recovery this year, as we move forward.”

“I expect them to fully find pricing in line with their weighted CPI is what my expectation of that business remains. You should see that in the coming year as well in 2026.”

“Note the 3% quarter assumption still aligns with the 1% full-year assumption, so we don't anticipate as much FX benefit in the second half of the year.”

“This range assumes a 1% FX tailwind and 0% base volume change at the midpoint.”

“This was anticipated as I expect this metric to remain in the low to mid-20% range for the next few years.”

“Note full-year operating margin is up 30 basis points, which is within the range of our long-term margin expansion expectation of about 30 to 50 basis points per year.”

“I expect this trend to continue into 2026, which we'll discuss later with guidance.”

“These actions will have cash payback levels and timing like prior programs, so I expect the bulk of the benefits to be in the second half of the year.”

“So, again, a recovery on that will take a little longer.”

“Note that there could be FX upside if current spot rates hold since the US dollar has weakened over the last month.”

“I believe at this stage, we are on track to getting that 7 handle by the end of the year as well.”

“We expect that to be consistent into Q4, and I'll give you a little bit of a sentiment view from what I'm hearing from customers as well.”

“So at CTU, for the rest of the year, I expect that declining trend that we have in volumes to remain consistent. Sequentially, you should expect that to be flattish.”

“So generally, Vince, in Europe, Q3 tends to have a seasonal impact, and my expectation remains that Q4 will largely be flat.”

“The quarter guidance rolls up to a full year range of $16.35 to $16.45 or 5% to 6% growth against the challenging macro backdrop.”

“Excluding these 2 items, underlying EPS growth is holding in the mid-single-digit range as we maintain the assumption of base volume contraction at the top end of guidance, similar to last quarter.”

“While this assumes a 2% FX tailwind, it also assumes an approximate 2% tax rate headwind, so these 2 mostly offset.”

“Second half operating cash flow is seasonally higher. So I expect a similar level for the fourth quarter.”

“We anticipate full year ETR to be in the mid- to high 23% range, which is similar to 2024.”

“We expect significant opportunities still in that space for us to continue to do that.”

“I do not expect any significant rationalization impact of the order and kind of the way you defined it where things stand down with large one-off payments.”

“The backlog that we have under execution, obviously, is a strong input into continued EPS growth that we are likely to see into next year and beyond. So expect that for sure.”

“So the expectation of growth between 9% to 11%, I think depends on which study you pick up... I would say to you that I expect that the 9% to 11% growth range is a good number to begin with.”

“And the combination of those 2 should get us to about 10% or hopefully a little more without any help from macro.”

“I expect this end market to provide robust growth for some time and serve as an important part of our project backlog growth.”

“Going forward, I expect health care to remain a stable and steadily growing segment.”

“Our view, my view remains and our business is currently supporting and giving me confidence that there is enough opportunity pipeline on projects that we're currently working on, that we will be able to bring home $1 billion to get that backlog to $7 billion plus.”

“So I do not see any reason why we would not see positive pricing going forward.”

“And when that happens, coupled with the self-help growth initiatives that Sanjiv laid out, I'm confident Linde will return to the double-digit EPS growth that our owners have become accustomed to.”

“On the cash tax front, this will be net beneficial.”

“So starting with the minus 2% on the base volumes that occurred this quarter, to your point, the current guide on the top end is assuming that 2% year-over-year continues out for the back half.”

“The instance over here was destocking happening with one of the larger customers, and that's going to correct itself in the second half.”

“So Laurent, I said this in the last call, as I recall, my expectation remains that we will end the year with a backlog with a 7 handle on it.”

“We feel quite good, at almost 32% margins we're tracking. We clearly see more room to improve. We expect to improve that further.”

“All I'd say is the expectation of margin expansion is something that we have laid out. That 30 to 50 basis points of margin expansion is how you should be thinking about the margins across all the segments.”

“So all in, I'd say when you wrap it all up for APAC, it's probably going to be just balanced or flat volumes for the year.”

“South Korea, the other main market in APAC, mainly driven by electronics, end market is also expected to see some growth.”

“There is EVs and batteries and electronics end markets that will continue to grow, but that will be more than offset by much weaker metals and chemicals for the remainder of the year.”

“I expect China to remain flat for the year, and that continues to be our expectation.”

“Volumes, therefore, likely to be negative in the second half.”

“So our recent announcement regarding the new investment in Texas and Florida is likely the first of many that you'll see.”

“So I'm expecting volumes to be flat, maybe very slightly up, led essentially by growth in the resilient end market, but being partly offset by softer industrial sector.”

“The current negative volume headwinds are a function of contractual customers taking less gas due to the economic uncertainty. Between internal initiatives and industrial recovery, I expect this level to improve like it always has.”

“I expect a step-up for the back half, like what we experienced last year.”

“Don't expect any exciting announcements in the next couple of years. Maybe the back end of next year, you will start seeing some of those early projects announced.”

“By the end of the next couple, 3 years, we would have invested just under $1 billion in building this infrastructure to support the space ecosystem going forward.”

“So within that context we still feel very confident around the backlog contribution. So that 1% we have will continue throughout the year positive.”

“Now the good news is, I fully expect that we will end the year with a backlog with a seven handle on it. In fact, I expect it will be slightly higher than what we have today.”

“Americas has the highest segment price increase at 3% reflecting the inflationary pressure we see in this segment. I fully expect us to stay ahead of any inflationary pressure through a combination of contractual pricing closes as well as our productivity programs.”

“I fully expect this defensiveness to be on display for 2025 and beyond.”

“Do not expect, and we have not built in and we do not expect any recovery in China this year.”

“You should expect weak demand. I think there will be industrial deflation that are likely to continue in that space and really I think there will be pressure at least in the second quarter.”

“As far as chemicals are concerned we are also expecting chemicals to continue to be a little bit softer and I think that trend is likely to hold for the rest of the year as well and in fact probably beyond that.”

“So expect strong productivity benefits from China to continue and that's kind of where that business stands.”

“Inflation is, we are an inflation play, as you've heard us say before, we like inflation. It allows us to move the pricing forward and absolutely, as we've said many times in the past, a good proxy for our pricing is globally weighted CPI. So as it picks up, there's an opportunity for us to continue to price that.”

“I expect to see that that growth continues to be stable, steady and continue going forward.”

“So if I summarized from an outlook perspective, which is then reflected back into our guidance, America's flattish APAC largely balanced despite the headwinds in China and Europe or EMEA really where you'll see weakening volumes kind of reflecting in that outlook that we, that we presented.”

“I think as we look ahead, I'm not expecting any growth from China for the year.”

“Metals, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, all of them will see lower volumes versus prior year.”

“Europe there is unfortunately, as we've said before, no catalyst for change to the current trajectory. So we see continued softening in demand, mainly invest in Europe.”

“We continue to see buyback opportunities in the way the markets are reacting. So we have mechanisms and means to continue to contribute on that algorithm, even as some of these projects might be a little bit delayed or until they contribute.”

“We've always said the capital allocation algorithm, we expect 4% to 6%. That's been our stable contribution going back a couple decades.”

“Our expectation is as volumes improve, those margins will continue to grow, which has been proven over time.”

“However, it's important to note this range still follows our long-term EPS growth algorithm with double digit percent growth from capital allocation and management actions partially offset by the current unfavorable economic impact, including currency translation.”

“This range assumes recessionary conditions at the midpoint, translating to roughly 2% EPS headwind from lower volumes.”

“This represents 3% to 5% growth or 5% to 7% when excluding a 2% currency headwind.”

“Note, the first half is weaker due to seasonality of cash payment timing for interest, taxes and incentives. For 2025, I anticipate a similar trend as last year.”

“We're actively constructing the two largest projects in our history, so I anticipate elevated levels for a few more quarters.”

“Despite the economic challenges, we expect management actions to continue to support profit growth and margin expansion.”

“You may recall from a prior earnings call that project contribution is part of our EPS growth algorithm and despite the uncertainty I expect we will continue to announce new wins in in the quarters ahead.”

“I'd say to you standing here, I still feel reasonably confident that $8 billion to $10 billion over three years is something that we still feel that we are set to get to.”

“And we said that, look, we expect $8 billion to $10 billion over the next few years.”

“So I'll only tell you that 20% of my all-time record sale of gas backlog is electronics. We are executing on electronics projects as we speak. And I'm more than happy to tell you that we'll be announcing new wins very shortly as well.”

“While I remain confident in our ability to deliver on this 10%, we are constantly striving to find more opportunities to improve.”

“All of these elements have historically contributed 4% to 6% EPS growth, and I feel confident this will continue for the years to come.”

“I expect FID in the next few months.”

“We've substantially gotten through all that. i our engineering business. I expect 2025 to be a lot closer aligned on those growth rates.”

“Metals and Mining specifically is likely to be negative year-on-year for a number of reasons, driven partly by demand, but equally by some large turnarounds that our customers are taking in the course of the year.”

“And I think my short summary is, from our perspective, we don't expect anything significant in China in 2025. We're not baking in any kind of recovery. I think industrial volumes and activity will remain stable, but flat.”

“But towards the back end of the year, the second half was sure we are expecting increased momentum across the U.S., and we'll see that play through in how we see the Americas volumes and growth activity come through.”

“And in the U.S., I'd say to you, our current view remains, and I've said this before, right, U.S. volumes and sales at a high watermark, our expectation remains that in the first half of the year, they're likely to be flattish.”

“Industrial sector, obviously, more cyclical, impacted by industrial activity and demand. We do expect lower volumes there. And versus last year, we expect flat to lower volumes, particularly in metals and chemicals.”

“By the very nature, you would expect them to grow. And therefore, we expect low to mid-single-digit growth in our resilient end markets driven primarily by electronics and food and beverage.”

“No impediment to APAC, bridging that gap. And of course, America has got a solid business, which will continue to expand its margin as well.”

“So to answer your question, both for Americas and APAC, my expectation remains that margins will continue to improve.”

“The midpoint of this range assumes no economic improvement from the current environment and thus assumes flat base volumes.”

“As mentioned in prior calls, I expect this split to remain due to seasonality of specific cash outflows, including incentive payments, taxes and interest.”

“The 9% CapEx increase is entirely driven by contractual projects, as base CapEx decreased from a combination of currency, productivity and lower base volumes. I anticipate this trend to continue as we execute on the record $7 billion sale of gas backlog to support future growth.”

“Furthermore, we will continue to identify and execute additional management actions to mitigate macro weakness.”

“The current 2025 guidance range assumes a 4% FX translation headwind, while the midpoint of the range assumes 0% IP growth environment.”

“This combination of capital allocation and management actions is expected to deliver 10-plus percent EPS growth each year with margin expansion, and 2025 is no exception.”

“You've heard me say this before that in the health care space, we expect long-term kind of mid-single-digit growth, and that's what we would expect.”

“Those two current projects we are working on are both likely to see another phase, which likely means that we will see equivalent investment there, plus the other projects as well. So when I look at the overall pipeline, I feel pretty good about the quality of projects that we're pursuing and the path to getting to that $8 billion to $10 billion of investments over the next few years looks pretty much intact.”

“Historically, large currency devaluations have often been followed by periods of more significant local inflation, with 2022 being a recent example. If that occurs, I'd anticipate incremental pricing opportunities to recover the currency devaluation impact.”

“There is an expectation that there will be 2 more phases by the end of the third phase when it gets completed, this could well be the world's largest CCS project at 54 million or 53 million tonnes per annum of CO2 being captured and sequester.”

“I've said in the past, if you think about our EPS algorithm, about 1% to 3% of EPS growth will come from that backlog, and that remains consistent.”

“Sequentially, gas sales were up... Hence, the confidence we say that we will see electronics come back, solid growth sequentially because of gases continue to be on the path of recovery and seeing that normalization on inventory happened.”

“We are on track structurally to see growth rates between low single-digit to mid-single-digit in the health care space. That's kind of our expectation, and I fully expect the health care business to be there as we look ahead.”

“While recovery is slow, we fully expect electronics to provide sequential growth in the next quarter, including project backlog ramp-ups.”

“When you think about -- this action clearly is incremental. This is something we feel we need to take... but we would anticipate a majority of the benefit to be in 2025.”

“We expect this to be roughly a 1-year return, so you could do the math on that.”

“I also mentioned that we see startups happen in the course of the year... providing that 1% to 3% of the EPS growth that I talked about.”

“But from that perspective, I still right now feel our buybacks will be consistent next year with this year just because of the excess free cash flow generation.”

“Clearly, as we generate more excess free cash flow, buybacks will naturally increase.”

“I think our pricing still continues to track with the globally weighted CPI that we see in our regions. And I think the disinflation will have a little bit of a lower number at the global level, but it will still be positive and it will still contribute.”

“I tend not to be overly concerned on that... We still feel quite good about the fourth quarter, where we stand and where we'll be on that.”

“This range assumes an economic contraction at the midpoint since we have not seen sufficient indicators of near-term improvement.”

“I expect to maintain this OCF level for the fourth quarter.”

“We anticipate full run rate savings to be recognized in the second half of next year.”

“Currently, we don't see any meaningful catalyst to reverse this trend for the remainder of this year and thus have embedded this view in our guidance.”

“Matt will provide more details on this charge, and it affects approximately 2% of the workforce globally and is expected to be mostly completed in the next few months.”

“On the $8 billion to $10 billion, as you rightly put it, I feel pretty confident about where we are... I feel pretty confident that, that $8 billion to $10 billion number over the next few years looks pretty much intact and something that I feel confident about.”

“We expect this project to start up in late 2028.”

“That we would expect that investment to be just maybe a little bit lower than what we have in the first phase.”

“Overall, I remain quite confident on cash generation of the gas business but I do expect continued volatility regarding timing of customer prepayments for engineering projects.”

“So repurchases are absolutely an integral part of that. And it's something that we expect to be every day in the market.”

“I expect that to continue for the next couple of quarters at least.”

“Hydrogen volumes are at very high levels and I expect them to remain strong for the rest of the year.”

“That trend has been consistent over an extended period. I go back 15, 20 years. We've demonstrated positive pricing across that period aligned with what we think global CPI has done. And that is actually a great proxy to think about how we continue to see pricing going forward.”

“We're starting up this year, between $1.5 billion to $2 billion worth of projects in the first half itself, more than -- about half of that has already been done.”

“Our view of the market continues to be fairly bullish. And I expect product as it comes on, will get placed in the market at a reasonable pace.”

“Long term -- mid- to long term, I'd say demographics will support that mid-single-digit expectation of healthcare growth.”

“My expectation is by the end of the year, you will see some of those actions getting lapped out.”

“I think to your exact point, we absolutely see the comps getting easier in the back half. So on a year-over-year basis, you might see neutral to positive just because the prior year comp is a little easier.”

“And last but not least, we have a lot of cash that we generate. Surplus cash after investing in the business is swept into share buybacks and they contribute about 2% of that EPS growth.”

“So about 4% to 6% of that EPS growth comes and contributed from pricing and productivity.”

“Time will tell if the organic growth trend persists. But for now we are excluding any further improvement in the earnings guidance.”

“Looking forward, this end market will likely be the largest beneficiary of the project backlog, especially around clean energy projects.”

“we are still not assuming any meaningful economic recovery in the guidance.”

“So I see these margins sustainable. I see that now we offer EMEA as the target for the other segments to strive to.”

“I fully expect that aerospace volumes will be robust and will be back in the next 3 quarters, just given the amount of launches that have been announced by various customers we have.”

“They've obviously overtaken Americas now and now Americas is chasing EMEA. So I'm pleased to see how the team has really come together to deliver on that result. And I can assure you, there's been a lot of work that's gone in to get us to this point. And obviously, that momentum I expect to see continue.”

“As expected, India saw a little bit of slowdown in the quarter due to the ongoing elections, but I expect that we will see that get back in line with our expectations for the rest of the year.”

“Looking ahead, Americas largely flat to slightly positive in the second quarter.”

“Our view is towards the back end of this year, we expect that recovery that everyone is talking about, led by AI chips or data centers to actually gather momentum.”

“For the full year, we're updating our prior guidance to a range of $15.30 to $15.60 or 9% to 11% growth excluding a 1% FX headwind.”

“Also, resilient end markets such as food and beverage and healthcare will continue to grow mid-single digit, driven by demographics and consumer demand.”

“Looking ahead, our base volumes are expected to track local industrial production, including in there are some encouraging secular growth trends such as batteries, aerospace and clean energy.”

“in the next few years, we expect to see us continue to go and make investment decisions around $8 billion to $10 billion.”

“If they hold volumes to these levels, we'd actually see comps no longer being negative year-on-year for EMEA. However, no catalyst that would suggest a significant change in this trend just yet.”

“We've seen a decent electronics performance in China, and we are seeing equally in the rest of Asia, a reasonable level of bottoming out, which hopefully then points to a recovery in the second half.”

“The pipeline looks healthy enough at this point in time, and I'm not going to forecast the time with precision, but I'd say to you that the next few years, we will still see that pipeline play out into investment decisions.”

“My expectation is it is a secular growth trend we call it a resilient market for a reason. My expectation remains and we will see continued strong growth in that space innovation around application development and use of gases for food freezing in particular I think are continuing to be a very important part of that growth story.”

“I feel pretty confident about pushing forward on that 10 plus percent EPS growth despite all the challenges around, et cetera that people talk about, because we know that we have the levers in place to make sure that we get done.”

“And then the rest is all about management action as far as pricing, productivity and total cost management is concerned, that’s what brings up the rest to take us to a midpoint of 10 plus percent EPS growth for 2024.”

“Your point on backlog contribution, again as a reminder on EPS growth that we see, our backlog contribution ranges from 1% to 2% for 2024. I see that at the top end of that range.”

“We fully expect to recover this over time as our pricing aligns with the subsequent local inflation.”

“Steve, let me going to provide the headlines first and then I will dive a little bit deeper. So the headline is, you should expect our sale of gas backlog to continue to grow”

“My expectation is in terms of outlook, my expectation is in the first quarter we will be back with the three handle on that volume and I think my – the momentum that the EMEA team has built around managing the profit growth, my expectation would be that we’ll continue to see margin improvement in 2024 as well.”

“That will drive the CapEx. We are also on the final projects that will be coming onstream into the back end of this year, into next year.”

“We see share buybacks and share count obviously help us at the EPS growth level by about two percentage points.”

“You should expect us to see that continue through in 2024 and you should see that reflected in margins which should continue to see some improvement as we go into 2024.”

“You should expect us to continue to see pricing actions that we take.”

“However, I still expect global operating margins to expand in the future including 2024.”

“And I continue to be confident about winning new backlog projects in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific worth around $8 billion to $10 billion in the next three years.”

“You should expect that there will be projects that will develop and announced even from a Linde point of view in the next one, two, three years and again, that will kind of underpin the long-term trend that we see holding there.”

“So, that’s kind of what you should expect to see in terms of momentum and that momentum will translate into projects that are currently in the pipeline, getting signed up in the next few years as I’ve mentioned. About $8 billion to $10 billion of that and then translating into the backlogs.”

“So Mike, you know that we've gone out and made a commitment of 10-plus percent EPS growth. We referenced that earlier in our introductory remarks as well, and that's what you should expect us to be doing as we move forward.”

“For the full year, we're raising guidance to a range of $14 to $14.10, representing a 14% to 15% growth rate.”

“In terms of more near term, in the past, Mike, I've said decisions of above anywhere between $9 billion to $10 billion over the next few years. I feel pretty good about that number as well.”

“We've announced a $15 billion program, and that share buyback impact provides around 2% of an uplift to the EPS growth as well.”

“The next big lever we have is a combination of pricing and productivity. That will give us between 4% to 6%.”

“Let's start up with the backlog. Our expectation is as our backlog grows, and you've seen it grow in terms of the larger projects that we're doing, our backlog has been growing annually. As you see it grow, you will see that contribute between 1% to 3% of our EPS growth.”

“But consistent with what we've had in prior power spike situations, of which you probably know you had in the United States, we tend to take an unfavorable impact to merchant and package margins in the quarter it occurs, and then we recover in the following 1 to 2 quarters. And we fully expect the same situation will happen again here as we saw a pretty severe power spike, especially in the southern part of the United States.”

“Now looking ahead, I'd expect Linde overall to continue down the path of giving you between 20 to 50 basis points of margin expansion every year as the task we hold ourselves to, and I think EMEA just because it gets to that 30% doesn't mean we 'll be -- waive that.”

“In the Americas, as I said, sequentially, you'll see that happen over the next couple of quarters as well.”

“Now as you look at pricing across the board, again, very often, we reminded you and our investors broadly of when you think about pricing for us, you should be thinking about its correlation to globally weighted CPI on a long-term basis... And sequentially, we expect to continue to see that movement.”

“So as you know, we've been $1 billion-ish per quarter already. We are growing. Our cash flow continues to be quite strong. And so while we did not give any explicit date on this, I would expect that the timing for us to go through this will be consistent with what we've seen in our prior program, for example, the $10 billion that we announced in the beginning of last year.”

“So from an EPS perspective, we fully expect the 2% or so on top with that backlog.”

“For Q4, which is more near term, we're expecting potentially a mild recovery as a result of a bit more cautious view on domestic consumption and weak external environment. And I see that play out, I expect into the first half of next year as well.”

“Excluding FX, the midpoint is down 4% sequentially due to engineering project timing and base volumes, including seasonality, although we are taking actions to improve this range.”

“Therefore, I expect the operating cash flow to EBITDA ratio to remain in the low to mid-80% range.”

“Note that America has experienced elevated power cost in the third quarter, which had a negative impact to merchant and packaged margins. However, this will be recovered over the next 1 to 2 quarters.”

“Regarding Europe, we have not yet seen an inflection point. So the expectation is that volumes will hold around the third quarter levels x some normal seasonal impact.”

“I would say we absolutely expect to carry into next year.”

“As Sanjiv mentioned, we remain confident in our ability to deliver an average EPS growth rate of double-digit percent.”

“I continue to have confidence Linde will grow EPS double-digit percent on average, regardless of the economic environment.”

“I can tell you with some confidence that Linde will continue to manage what we can control and deliver on our commitments, which is reflected in our guidance for the year.”

“My expectation on that backlog, the pie itself is that it will continue to grow just to make sure that, that's kind of understood.”

“And then we'll have a little bit of an uplift from share buybacks, which will remain largely consistent about 2%.”

“We expect our base business to deliver anywhere between 4% to 6% of that EPS growth that we talk about, the target that we've set for ourselves of 10-plus percent EPS growth.”

“And then we are left with EMEA. And EMEA volumes, I expect, will be consistent. I can't see anything that suggests that we'll see a significant improvement in the second half.”

“Based on what I'm seeing, I expect Q3 volumes to be flattish, to chemicals, electronics demand continues to be soft.”

“The rest of Asia, India, particularly, I see growth continuing. I see that momentum in the second half as well.”

“Your expectation and our expectation is we will expand margins year-on-year by about 30 to 50 basis points.”

“My expectation is we will start the TSMC first plant second half of this year, even before the fab actually starts a lot of product is needed to make sure the tools are in place and tested out.”

“I expect the backlog probably towards the end of the year to be closer to about a $5 billion number.”

“I'll also reiterate that I expect over the next few years, decisions around $9 billion to $10 billion, which are more tangible in terms of projects that are currently getting developed.”

“I still would expect our overall pricing to remain in line with overall inflation, which I expect will continue to be higher than what we've seen at least in the last 10 years.”

“Note that FX is a 2% tailwind for the third quarter but has no impact to the full year.”

“Therefore, the $14 figure assumes no economic improvement for the remainder of the year.”

“Project CapEx is increasing from the larger sale of gas backlog, a trend I expect to continue.”

“If the disinflation persists, I'd expect moderating price increases going forward, especially as we lap prior year comps.”

“I expect the U.S. to improve for the second half since a number of customers already back up, but it's difficult to project how European demand will develop.”

“I do expect larger projects in EMEA...I do expect EMEA will have more than its fair share of that.”

“I expect the U.S. or Americas to be around 60% of that decarbonization pie, and I expect the balance to be between EMEA and APAC.”

“The answer to your question, I think, in brief, is over the next 5 to 7 years, we'll continue to see this backlog grow.”

“I certainly expect to see as many if not more this year.”

“I expect that we will continue to see that as we move forward as well.”

“So based on our current cash profiles, we continue to have substantial capital left over. And therefore, we will be buying in the market pretty much almost every day. And as we continue to see opportunities, we'll step that up.”

“So you can expect the backlog to continue to grow. I do not expect it to peak up and down. I expect it to be a reasonably steady growth in the backlog over the years ahead.”

“I would expect to see that volume trend play out as we see those developments continue.”

“If the economy improves, we'll be above this range. And if not, we'll take actions to mitigate.”

“Overall, I expect our long-term operating cash flow to EBITDA ratio to remain in the low to mid-80% range.”

“Final investment decision is anticipated by end of the year.”

“We think most of that is coming out of memory feedback from customers suggest that we're likely to see that kind of a normalization of activity in the second half, probably towards the back end.”

“But the next few quarters could be more volatile as we continue to wind down remaining projects.”

“For the next few quarters, engineering results may continue to be lumpy as we wind down the remaining projects.”

“This is the fourth year in a row of double-digit EPS growth, and I see no reason why this won't continue.”

“I also mentioned that I see $7 billion to $9 billion of decisions on projects for investment over the next two to three years. And that, despite the $1.8 billion that we've now announced, I still see that $7 billion to $9 billion number as being robust in terms of decisions over the next two to three years.”

“We anticipate a meaningful step up in 2023 for new business investments while raising the dividend and maintaining a healthy share repurchase program.”

“This mostly occurred in December, but the vast majority of customers are back to their seasonal run rates. Therefore, this is not expected to be an issue going forward.”

“I expect a few more quarters of engineering volatility as they resolve and subsequently lap suspended Russian projects.”

“We’ll lap that part of this in June and the rest in September, although I do expect a sequential tailwind in the first quarter from our U.S. acquisition of nexAir.”

“You'll recall that this project is expected to start up in phases, beginning this summer.”

“Furthermore, we expect to start up over $2 billion in sale of gas projects this year, including our $1.4 billion project with ExxonMobil in Singapore.”

“I believe the best approach is to use the sale of plant backlog as the next 3 to 4 years of revenue with average profit margin in the low- to mid-teen percent.”

“We're currently at 28% for gender diversity, and I fully expect us to exceed 30% by 2030 across the entire organization.”

“So, we still may have a few more volatile quarters ahead.”

“This trend has already started to reverse as evidenced by the flat sequential impact. I'll speak to guidance at the end, but based on current FX levels, we might have some upside going forward.”

“This secular growth driver coupled with our operating discipline and relentless focus on pricing and productivity within our base business is what gives me the confidence in our ability to keep delivering 10-plus percent EPS growth over the next several years.”

“So from my perspective what you're seeing today is mostly volatility of FX rates. And then as we go to the bond market in the future at least based on the prevailing rates, I would expect to see net interest start to rise.”

“Nicola I didn't get the question entirely, but I heard Exxon and sale of gas for next year. And I want to just confirm to you that that project is progressing on track and we expect to have that from a commercial structure in place for next year and you'll see that reflected next year as well.”

“Year-to-date investments have totaled $2.4 billion between CapEx and acquisitions, of which I anticipate an acceleration based on the current set of opportunities.”

“The full year guidance of $11.93 to $12.03 represents 17% to 18% growth from last year when excluding currency.”

“Second, we anticipate currency rates to worsen driving down sequential EPS by another 2%.”

“We still expect consolidated operating margin ex pass-through to expand more than 100 basis points for the full year.”

“Of course, we are winning more than our fair share of those and I feel good about the fact that we'll see continued growth as a result of that.”

“The IRA has accelerated the US clean energy transition. And from what we are seeing today, the total investment opportunity for Linde in the US alone exceeds $30 billion over the next decade.”

“The potential investment to Decarbonize Linde exceeds $3 billion while considering our existing hydrogen production asset base.”

“Note, we are also assuming no base growth at the top end of Q4 guidance and thus recessionary conditions at the midpoint.”

“As far as merchant volumes are concerned, we might see a little bit of ups and downs, a little bit of variability on those volumes on the merchant side.”