Praxair, Inc., Danbury, CT, reported sales of $2.1 billion for the first quarter of 2009, 20% below first quarter 2008 sales. Profit declined 5.5% to $290 million.
Demand appears to have stabilized, but at a lower level, with overall volumes down 12% versus the prior year. However, we have not yet seen meaningful signs of recovery and we are therefore cautious regarding our outlook for the remainder of the year, said CEO Steve Angel.
Based on the current macroeconomic environment, Praxair expects sales for the full year of 2009 to be in the area of $9 billion. Full-year capital expenditures are expected to be in the area of $1.4 billion, supporting the construction of 42 on-site production plants under contract which will come on-stream in 2009 …
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Pentair, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, reported sales of $634 million for the first quarter of 2009, a year-over-year decline of 24%. Profit for the term fell 61% to $17.3 million.
Most of our major markets were dismal throughout the first quarter as many of our customers retrenched in reaction to the global recession. Fortunately, our execution against our aggressive cost reduction plans is yielding solid benefits, said Randall J. Hogan, Pentair chairman and chief executive officer.
The Water Group reported $424 million in sales, a 22% percent decline year-over-year. Sales were down 21% excluding the formation of the Pentair Residential Filtration business with General Electric’s Water and Process Technologies unit.
Technical …
Praxair Distribution Inc., a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX), has acquired Alabama Welding Supply of Dolomite, Ala., Fowler Brothers of Birmingham, Ala., and Service Gas Supply,
The acquisitions involve four locations in Alabama and one in Texas. These operations will be integrated into Praxair Distribution’s Southern Region.
Praxair Distribution, with sales of $1.7 billion, supplies industrial, specialty and medical gases and related equipment from 500 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Praxair, Inc. is a global industrial gases company with 2008 sales of $10.8 …
Valley National Gases, Independence, OH, has launched a new line of safety products through the VNG Safety Products Catalog.
“With 12,000 items available, our customers now have access to a full selection of quality safety items for virtually any safety related need,” Jerry McGlumphy, product manager/hardgoods for Valley National Gases said.
Valley National Gases is a distributor of industrial gases, safety supplies, first aid supplies, industrial supplies, gloves, safety glasses and medications. The company operates over 96 locations in 18 states, servicing a multitude of industrial segments from fabrication, to health care, energy to university/research servicing customers in the Industrial and Residential …
Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc., Basking Ridge, NJ, a manufacturer and supplier of industrial, medical, electronics and specialty gases and welding supplies, has agreed to buy Valley National Gases, Independence, OH, from New York-based private equity firm CI Capital Partners LLC. Matheson is a subsidiary of Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation, a producer of industrial, medical, electronics and specialty gases headquartered in Japan.
The acquisition of Valley National Gases supports TNSC’s global expansion strategy and we are thrilled that our MTG team has successfully finalized the agreement. This acquisition also reinforces our commitment to developing a national presence in the United States, Hirosuke Matsueda, president of TNSC said.
Acquiring Valley …
Praxair, Inc., Danbury, CT, reported profit of $200 million for the fourth quarter 2008, down 36.7% over fourth quarter 2007. Sales declined 4.8% to $2.4 billion.
For the full year of 2008, profit was $1.2 billion, a 2.9% improvement over 2007. Year-end sales were up 14.8% to $10.8 billion, primarily from new business, new plant start-ups and higher pricing.
Commenting on the results and business outlook, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Angel said, As we anticipated, volumes dropped dramatically in November and December as our customers in the electronics, chemicals and metals industries cut production in the face of falling commodity prices and weakening demand, said CEO Steve Angel. “Our outlook for 2009 is cautious as we expect …
Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, a U.S. distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases, and welding, safety and related products, today sales of $1.1 billion for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, an increase of 7% from the prior year. Profit grew 10.7% to $62.9 million.
"Our strategic products, which have favorable long-term growth profiles and represent about 40% of sales, posted 4% organic growth in the quarter," CEO Peter McCausland said. "The second half of the quarter was characterized by widespread slowing across most of our customer segments, with relative strength in the medical, analytical, and food and beverage segments.
For the first nine months, sales increased 14.7% to $3.36 billion. Profit was $204.6 million, an …
Sealed Air Corp., Elmwood Park, NJ, reported year-end sales of $4.84 billion, an increase of 4% over 2007 sales. Profit declined 49% to $179.9 million.
Fourth quarter 2008 sales decreased 7% to $1.17 billion. Excluding a $66 million unfavorable effect of foreign currency translation, sales would have decreased 1%. Profit for the quarter was $47.3 million, down 41% from the same period the prior year.
Although market conditions negatively impacted our revenue, our operating results reflect the proactive steps we took earlier in the year to manage our business in these challenging times, CEO William V. Hickey said. “During the year we focused on managing pricing and supply chain initiatives to address volatile resin costs. These efforts, …
Praxair Distribution, Inc., Danbury, CT, a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc., completed 15 acquisitions in 2008 with sales totaling nearly $90 million, including five acquisitions made during the fourth quarter.
Our acquisition program over the past two years has been very successful and remains an important part of our overall growth strategy, said George Ristevski, president of Praxair Distribution. “We have acquired 26 companies with sales exceeding $350 million since 2007 and remain committed to acquiring selected, high-quality distribution businesses. We have many active projects in the pipeline that meet our strict return criteria.”
Praxair Distribution, with sales of $1.7 billion, supplies a comprehensive range of industrial, specialty …
Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired Great Lakes Oxygen, also doing business as Welder’s Supply, Westside Welders Supply, Great Lakes Propane, and Lake Erie Iron and Metal.
Great Lakes Oxygen, a distributor of industrial gas and welding supplies, generates annual sales of more than $15 million through locations in Cleveland, Painesville and Brook Park, OH. Facilities include retail showrooms, warehouses, fill plants, a specialty gas laboratory and an acetylene plant.
Since the beginning of its fiscal year in April, Airgas has completed 13 transactions with acquired annual revenues of more than $200 million.
Airgas is a U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, and hardgoods, such as welding equipment and supplies. Airgas is also …
Praxair, Danbury, CT, will be laying off 1,600 employees and closing underperforming and non-core product lines and businesses in response to a substantial decline in demand for the fourth quarter. The company saw a fall-off in demand in November and is expecting additional customer plant closings in December.
We have moved quickly to take the necessary preemptive steps to make sure we have a cost structure appropriate to the current economic environment,” CEO Steve Angel said. “The slowdown in commodity production and manufacturing has been unprecedented and we believe customers are reducing inventory down the supply chain.”
The company expects new projects and new business applications to offset some of the slowdown in demand, with business beginning to return …
Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired California-based Gordon Woods Industrial Welding Supply, Inc., Accu Air Gases &Equipment, LP and Summit Gas &Gear, LP. The three companies are related but separately managed industrial gas and welding supply distributorships with combined annual revenues of $25 million through 10 locations in southern California.
All three businesses are now part of the Airgas West regional company.
In a separate transaction, Airgas has acquired TexAir Welding Supply, Ltd., an industrial gas and welding supply distributor with $5 million in annual revenues through branch locations in Henderson, Longview and Mount Pleasant, TX. The company will be integrated into Airgas Mid South.
In addition to Gordon Woods and …
Paris-based Air Liquide has acquired Electrocare Systems, Chennai, India, a company specializing in medical equipment for respiratory care.
Electrocare manufactures respirators for intensive care and anesthesia, as well as medical air generators. It is also a distributor-partner of Taema, an Air Liquide company.
Electrocare is in 1,500 Indian public and private hospitals.
This acquisition gives Air Liquide access to expertise in India and provides a solid basis for the continuing development of its respiratory activities (medical gases and homecare) in the country, both in hospitals and in the home.
Air Liquide’s Healthcare World Business Line serves over 5,000 hospitals and 300,000 patients throughout the world. It provides …
Industrial gases provider Praxair, Inc., Danbury, CT, reported third quarter profit of $355 million, an increase of 16% over the third quarter of 2007. Sales were $2.9 billion, up 20% from the prior-year quarter.
Year-to-date, the company reported sales of $8.4 billion, up 22% from the same period a year ago. Profit improved 17.4% to $1 billion.
Praxair achieved strong sales growth in every geographic region, led by South America and Asia.
In North America, third-quarter sales were $1.6 billion, 19% above the prior year. Excluding the effect of higher natural gas prices passed through to customers in hydrogen prices, sales growth was 14%. Acquisitions of U.S. packaged gas distributors contributed 4% to sales growth.
In Europe, sales …
Sealed Air Corp., Elmwood Park, NJ, sales for the third quarter of 2008 increased 5% to $1.22 billion. Sales for the nine-month period increased 8% to $3.68 billion, compared with $3.4 billion for the same period in 2007.
In the third quarter, resin costs peaked and the North American and European economic environment deteriorated,” said William V. Hickey, president and CEO. “Despite these conditions, our food packaging and medical businesses continued to show stable sales performance in the third quarter and year-to-date. Our protective packaging business was more affected by the economy, and unit volumes declined in the quarter, consistent with manufacturing output, shipments and retail sales.
“To offset peak resin costs, we continued to implement price …
Paris-based Air Liquide reported third quarter 2008 sales grew 10.4% to €3.2 billion (US$4.1 billion), as compared to the same period the prior year. Excluding negative currency exchange impact, sales grew 13.1%.
Sales in the Gas and Services segment, the company’s largest segment, increased 11% to €2.8 billion (US$3.6 billion). …
Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, a U.S. distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases, and welding, safety and related products, reported sales for the second quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008, were $1.2 billion, up 15% from the prior year. Profit increased 44% to $72.8 million.
Sales for the first six months of the fiscal year increased 18.5% to $2.3 billion, in a year-over-year comparison. Profit was $141 million, up 38.5%.
Acquisitions contributed 7% to the quarterly increase, and total same-store sales grew 8%, with gas and rent up 12% and hardgoods up …
Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., Cleveland, OH, has acquired a 90% interest in Brastak, a Brazilian manufacturer of brazing products. The company is based in Sao Paulo and has annual sales of $30 million.
The Brastak acquisition represents the expansion of our brazing product line as well as our continued expansion into developing international markets,” said John M. Stropki, Lincoln Electric CEO.
Lincoln Electric designs, develops and manufactures arc welding products, robotic arc-welding systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment. …
Valley National Gases, LLC, Independence, OH, has agreed to acquire General Welding Supply, Martins Ferry, OH, and its affiliates. General Welding Supply distributes industrial, medical, and specialty gases, bulk propane, and welding supplies with locations in Martins Ferry, Dover, and Ashtabula, OH, and Erie, PA.
Valley also acquired L.P. Gas Company, a distributor of propane with one location in Bridgeport, WV.
Michael Ziegler, CEO of Valley National, said: The acquisitions of General Welding Supply and L.P. Gas Company are a great addition to our existing business in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and will further enhance our service capabilities throughout the region.”
Valley National Gases has made eight acquisitions since being …
Air Products will increase schedule pricing on liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen by 8%, liquid argon and liquid and bulk hydrogen by 12% and liquid and bulk helium by 15% to 30% for merchant customers in North America, effective Oct. 1, 2008, or as contracts permit.
Air Products attributed the increases to a need to address continued cost pressures and the need for ongoing investment in infrastructure to improve operating efficiencies.”
Cost pressures includes material, labor and energy costs and capital investment to meet …
