Air Liquide Q1 2025 Earnings Rise
Air Liquide Group announced its first-quarter 2025 results on April 24, showing a positive start to the fiscal year. For the first quarter of 2025, Air Liquide's revenue reached €7.028 billion, marking a 1.7% increase compared to Q1 2024. Reported sales grew by 5.7%, positively impacted by energy costs (+3.3%) and a slightly favorable currency effect (+0.7%). There were no significant scope effects.
Gases & Services Performance
Revenue from the Gases & Services business reached €6.831 billion in Q1 2025, an increase of 1.8% year-on-year. Reported revenue for Gases & Services grew by 7.4%, with both energy (+3.4%) and currency (+0.7%) factors contributing positively. No significant scope effects were observed during the quarter.
Regional and Business Segment Performance
Americas: Gases & Services revenue in the Americas reached €2.716 billion, driven by growth across all businesses, up 3.2%. Large Industries (+5.9%) benefited from the commissioning of a large ASU in the U.S. in February 2024 and favorable comparables. Industrial Merchant revenue grew 1.1%, supported by a robust price effect of +3.1% and gas volumes, despite a decline in durable goods sales. Healthcare saw strong growth (+12.3%), mainly due to higher medical gas prices in the U.S. and the development of Home Healthcare in Latin America. In Electronics, the business grew 5.5% due to high sales of advanced materials and the expansion of carrier gas production units.
Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA): Revenue for EMEA was €2.788 billion, remaining stable (0.0%) compared to Q1 2024. Sales growth from transferred activities contributed 0.9% to comparable growth while creating the Engineering & Technology business. Large Industries (-3.6%) revenue was impacted by lower sales from the combined heat and power unit in Benelux and air gas sales in Italy.
After several quarters of decline, Industrial Merchant sales grew +2.4% on a comparable basis. Excluding the growth of transferred activities in Q1 2025, sales remained stable (-0.2%): a +3.0% price effect offset the impact of the divestiture of 12 African countries in July 2024 and persistent weak demand. Healthcare maintained solid growth (+2.5%), driven primarily by Home Healthcare and medical gases.
Asia Pacific: Revenue in Asia Pacific totaled €1.326 billion in Q1 2025, an increase of 2.7%. In Large Industries, a large hydrogen production unit commissioned in China in March 2024 drove sales growth by 1.6%. Despite a decrease in helium sales, Industrial Merchant sales (+0.8%) resumed growth and benefited from strong revenue growth in China. Electronics business revenue saw significant growth (+5.0%), with particularly notable growth in carrier gas sales.
Engineering & Technology: Consolidated revenue for the Engineering & Technology business reached €198 million in Q1, a decrease of 2.9% year-on-year. Sales of technological equipment were impacted by the divestiture of the Aerospace and Defense business in March 2024. Consolidated engineering sales remained stable, prioritizing internal projects. Order intake for Group projects and third-party customers reached €665 million, a substantial 34% increase compared to Q1 2024.
Profit Margin Improvement
Despite an uncertain environment, Air Liquide has reiterated its ambition to improve operating profit margin. In February 2025, Air Liquide raised this target to +460 basis points over five years by the end of 2026, to be achieved through three key levers: price management, efficiency, and business portfolio optimization.
