Linde plc (LIN) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending March 31, 2023

April 27, 2023 9:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks：

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Linde plc First Quarter 2023 Earnings Teleconference and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. And after the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session.

I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Juan Pelaez, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Juan Pelaez

Chris thank you. Good morning everyone and thanks for attending our 2023 first quarter earnings call and webcast. I am Juan Pelaez, Head of Investor Relations. And I'm joined this morning by Sanjiv Lamba, Chief Executive Officer; and Matt White, Chief Financial Officer.

Today's presentation materials are available on our website at linde.com in the Investors section. Please read the forward-looking statement disclosure on page two of the slides, and note that, it applies to all statements made during this teleconference. The reconciliations of the adjusted numbers are in the appendix to this presentation.

Sanjiv will provide some opening remarks and then Matt will give an update on Linde's first quarter financial performance and outlook, after which we will wrap-up with Q&A.

Let me now turn the call over to Sanjiv.

Sanjiv Lamba

Thanks Juan and a very good morning everyone. We had a strong start to the year as Linde employees once again delivered on their commitments, irrespective of the geopolitical and economic headwinds. Earnings per share, operating margin, and return on capital all reached new record highs.

Robust pricing, coupled with dependable return on capital have more than compensated for a weaker economy. Just like the last four years. Linde's ability to consistently deliver earnings growth in any environment is a testament to the resilient portfolio, operating excellence, and capital discipline. And when global economies recover, which they always do, there's an opportunity to further leverage the base volume growth just as we've demonstrated in 2021.

However, during uncertain times like today, we continue to execute our strategy of optimizing our base business every day, capitalizing on growth projects, including high-quality clean energy projects. All of this while maintaining our industrial gases model, coupled with a disciplined approach to capital allocation.

Slide three provides a brief update on clean energy, including key projects that are both under construction and an example of a project being developed. Let me begin by reiterating our strategy with respect to clean energy and you'll notice it hasn't changed over the last three years, which it shouldn't.