Sempre per recuperare un po' di info su Linde, posto una Bloomberg recente sull'andamento e le prospettive per il 2009.
Anche per Linde si prospetta un anno di debolezza, con un rinvio nel tempo dei target di crescita originariamente da conseguire entro il 2010.
Il calo delle vendite sembra contenuto se raffrontato a quello di altri players attivi in segmenti della chimica a maggiore ciclicità (si parla di un calo "a cifra percentuale singola" nel 2009) e la prospettiva per il 2009 è di una leggera crescita di fatturato e di utili, con Linde che ha cmq varato un piano di costi mirato ad ottenere risparmi per 800 mln euro entro il 2012.
Di questi, oltre la metà verranno conseguiti già nel 2009 per effetto di un taglio delle spese per viaggi e spostamenti nonché per consulenze esterne ed altre voci compreso fra i 160 e i 200 mln di euro ai quali si aggiungono 250 mln euro di sinergie realizzate mediante l'integrazione nel gruppo della controllata inglese BOC Group, acquistata nel 2006.
Linde Drops 2010 Profit Target, Accelerates Cost Cuts (Update3)
By Andrew Noel and Antonio Ligi
March 16 (Bloomberg) --
Linde AG, the world’s second- biggest maker of industrial gases, abandoned a 2010 profit goal and said it will accelerate a cost-cutting program amid the threat of slowing plant orders.
Linde put on hold until a “later date” next year’s target for operating profit of 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion), along with an aim to achieve a
return on capital employed of 13 percent, the Munich-based company said today in a statement.
“The current year of business will give us a big challenge,” Chief Executive Officer
Wolfgang Reitzle said at a press conference. “A certain chain reaction has been generated that we feel too,” he said referring to falling demand in the car and steel industry and a “single-digit” decrease in sales at Linde in the last six to eight weeks.
Reitzle said he’s budgeting for a slight increase in 2009 sales and earnings, as markets stand today, though a decline is still possible. A spreading recession will probably clip orders of large-scale gas plants at Linde’s engineering division, where revenue will fall. The company plans to cut as much as 800 million euros in costs through 2012 by improving productivity.
“The outlook is mixed, but certainly less gloomy than some,” said Cazenove analyst
Martin Evans, who has an “in- line”
rating on the German gas company. “Linde will increasingly face pressures as customer requirement for industrial gases weakens.”
Linde
fell 0.3 percent to 52.97 euros at the close of trading in Frankfurt.
Air Liquide SA, the No. 1 supplier of gases, rose 3 percent to 63.11 euros in Paris, where the company is based.
Savings Plans
About 160 million euros to 200 million euros of the savings plan will probably be realized in 2009. In addition the German company plans to save 250 million euros this year through the integration of British rival BOC Group, bought by Linde in 2006.
Deteriorating steel, auto and electronic markets will weigh on orders for oxygen and nitrogen, Cazenove’s Evans said in a note to clients.
Still, industrial companies are seen as defensive investments because they sign long-term contracts with a broad range of customers, including hospitals and refiners.
Reitzle said that the gas industry generates about 44 euros from every new car built directly or indirectly through suppliers.
Linde, which has about 52,000 employees, imposed a hiring freeze, although it doesn’t plan to cut jobs or reduce working hours.
Reitzle said that the company may reduce travel expenses of 120 million euros by 20 percent this year and lower external consultancy costs.