Linde - 5th Feb 202613 Feb 2026 09:46
Linde beat forecasts to report a full year operating profit of $8.9bn, including a fourth quarter profit of $2bn, which it attributed to disciplined capital allocation, strong network density and growing project pipeline. Annual sales topped $34bn, up 3% year-on-year.
In the fourth quarter, Americas sales totalled $3.88bn, up 8% year-on-year, while Asia Pacific sales rose 3% to $1.73bn, and Europe, Middle East & Africa [EMEA] revenues grew 6% to $2.18bn. Overall quarterly sales rose 6% to $8.8bn. Linde Engineering sales totalled $615m, down 2% versus prior year, and operating profit was $103m or 16.7% of sales.
CEO Sanjiv Lamba said growth remains geographically uneven, and it needs “to adjust our organisation to reflect that”.
“EMEA continues to see broad based weakness,” he said. “There are some bright spots – in the north, with the Scandinavian countries, and a little bit of optimism out of Germany. The complexity of Europe and the EU … provides a bit of a sceptical view from our perspective. China markets are largely bottoming out [which is impacting ASEAN] and I expect further growth and momentum in India.”
He said the economic environment last year was a contrast, on one hand seeing exuberant investment in AI and digital infrastructure which drove unprecedented activity – consequently the electronics sector “stood out” – while on the other, traditional industry markets like manufacturing, metals, chemicals and energy faced continued retrenchment.
“This created a challenging backdrop for many of our customers operating in these sectors,” he said.
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