Linde plc (NYSE:LIN) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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This quarter, our globally weighted CPI ended up at about 5%, and you can see our pricing year-on-year ended up at about 5% as well. So again, that’s kind of a reflection of that long-term trend, and that’s what’s playing out. And sequentially, we expect to continue to see that movement. Wherever we see increased cost levels, we are more than out there to ensure that that recovery is taking place. In the Americas, as I said, sequentially, you’ll see that happen over the next couple of quarters as well. Matt, anything to add?

Matt White: Yes. I would just add, David. Thanks, Sanjiv. We’re a bit of a victim of what I’d call rounding and footing in the Americas as well. So when you actually calculate the sequential sales change, it comes to like 2.49%, so it rounded down to 2%. But volume, price and pass-through all rounded to about 1% sequential improvement. But to force it to 2%, one of them had to go down. So we actually are getting a healthy sequential price in Americas. I think it came to like 0.7%. But given the rounding footing to just make the numbers work, we had to push it to zero. So while it says zero, it’s really 0.7, and it’s a trend that we would expect given what the inflation is, to Sanjiv’s point.

Operator: And we will take our next question from Peter Clark with Société Générale. Your line is open.

Peter Clark: Yes. Good morning, everyone. Sorry, I cannot restrain myself. I have 2. But the first 1 was on the DOE and the announcement of the hydrogen hubs, which you’re not involved in. I don’t think anyway. I know a lot of it is focused on mobility, but there is some industrial probably in there, and they are targeting quite a slug of U.S. hydrogen production by 2030. I think it’s 30%. So just wondering your views on that? I presume there’s something about ensuring returns from this. And then, the second question, EMEA margins now ahead of America, over 30%. I think they’re up 1,200 basis points from 2018, so really delivering on the old Linde AG platform. Structurally, I think they should be the highest margin region anyway given the mix, but just where you see the momentum from here because obviously, you’ve seen this enormous jump. I know you’re confident of moving it forward, but just your views on that.

Sanjiv Lamba: Thanks, Peter. Let’s start off with the DOE hubs that were announced. And we are actually involved in them, and we’ve been awarded as one of the participants of the ARCHES hub, which is in California, where we have a market that we believe on mobility will be meaningful, and therefore, we are participating in that. We did participate in a few others. But remember, for us, Peter, the core of how we think about our business and also the development of that business going forward is all built around network density. And that’s the asset test that we apply to the development around the hydrogen hubs as well. The DOE has done a remarkable job and really kind of put this whole proposal forward, but of course, there’s still a long way to go to get to that funding and ensuring that you have a reasonably complex structure with multiple stakeholders involved in putting and positioning one of those projects.

So we’ll be watching out for those developments, but where we thought there was most impact for us in our business in California, we are participating in our part of the hub that’s been selected. So just that much in hubs. Let’s talk about EMEA, and you’re right. I mean, EMEA margins at about 30% is a major milestone. I do recall, Peter in the past, your comments around EMEA being the most profitable region, or at least it should be. We are demonstrating now that it can be. You’ll recall, if you go back to 2018, Peter, that the EMEA margins were 19.2% in the baseline. So they’ve come almost 1,100 basis points up from that, and it’s been consistent. It’s not been choppy. It’s been a consistent and it’s a hard process, as you know, and we talk about this all the time, the grind of making sure you do pricing and productivity everyday while we watch out for all growth opportunities that come by.

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