Linde Profile
Linde plc (Linde) operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. The company’s primary products in its industrial gases business are atmospheric gases (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases) and process gases (carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene etc). The company also designs and builds equipment that produces industrial gases and offers customers a wide range of gas production and processing services, such as olefin plants, natural gas plants, air separation plants, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants and other types of plants.
The company serves a diverse group of industries including healthcare, chemicals and energy, manufacturing, metals and mining, food and beverage, and electronics.
Industrial Gases Distribution
There are three basic distribution methods for industrial gases: on-site or tonnage; merchant or bulk liquid; and packaged or cylinder gases. These distribution methods are often integrated, with products from all three supply modes coming from the same plant. The method of supply is generally determined by the lowest cost means of meeting the customer’s needs, depending upon factors, such as volume requirements, purity, pattern of usage, and the form in which the product is used (as a gas or as a cryogenic liquid).
On-Site: Customers that require the largest volumes of product (typically oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen) and that have a relatively constant demand pattern are supplied by cryogenic and process gas on-site plants. Linde constructs plants on or adjacent to these customers’ sites and supplies the product directly to customers by pipeline. On-site product supply contracts generally are total requirement contracts with terms typically ranging from 10-20 years and containing minimum purchase requirements and price escalation provisions. Many of the cryogenic on-site plants also produce liquid products for the merchant market. Therefore, plants are typically not dedicated to a single customer. Advanced air separation processes allow on-site delivery to customers with smaller volume requirements.
Merchant: The merchant business is generally associated with distributable liquid oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and helium. The deliveries generally are made from Linde’s plants by tanker trucks to storage containers at the customer's site which are usually owned and maintained by Linde and leased to the customer. Merchant argon, hydrogen and helium can be shipped much longer distances. The customer agreements used in the merchant business are usually three to seven-year requirement contracts.
Packaged Gases: Customers requiring small volumes are supplied products in metal containers called cylinders, under medium to high pressure. Packaged gases include atmospheric gases, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, helium, acetylene and related products. Linde also produces and distributes in cylinders a wide range of specialty gases and mixtures. Packaged gases are generally sold under one to three-year supply contracts and through purchase orders.
Engineering
The company’s Engineering business has a global presence, with its focus on market segments such as air separation, hydrogen, synthesis, olefin and natural gas plants. The company utilizes its extensive process engineering know-how in the planning, design and construction of highly efficient plants for the production and processing of gases. With its state-of-the-art sustainable technologies Engineering also helps customers avoid, capture and utilize CO2 emissions. Its technology portfolio covers the entire value chain for production, liquefaction, storage, distribution and application of hydrogen which supports the transition to clean energy. Its digital services and solutions increase plant efficiency and performance.
The company’s plants are used in a wide variety of fields: in the petrochemical and chemical industries, in refineries and fertilizer plants, to recover air gases, to produce synthesis gases, to treat natural gas and to produce noble gases. The Engineering business either supplies plant components directly to the customer or to the industrial gas business of Linde which operates the plants under a long-term gases supply contract.
Inventories – The company carries inventories of merchant and cylinder gases and hardgoods to supply products to its customers on a reasonable delivery schedule. On-site plants and pipeline complexes have limited inventory. Inventory obsolescence is not material to Linde’s business.
International – Linde is a global enterprise with approximately 68% of its 2023 sales outside of the United States. The company also has majority or wholly owned subsidiaries that operate in approximately 45 European, Middle Eastern and African countries (including Germany, the United Kingdom (U.K.), France, Sweden, and the Republic of South Africa); approximately 20 Asian and South Pacific countries (including China, Australia, India, South Korea and Thailand); and approximately 20 countries in North and South America (including Canada, Mexico and Brazil).
The company also has equity method investments operating in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Linde’s non-U.S. business is subject to risks customarily encountered in non-U.S. operations, including fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, import and export controls, and other economic, political and regulatory policies of local governments.
Patents and Trademarks – Linde owns or licenses a large number of patents that relate to a wide variety of products and processes. Linde’s patents expire at various times over the next 20 years. Linde also owns a large number of trademarks, of which the Linde trademark is the most significant.
International
Linde is a global enterprise with approximately 68% of its 2023 sales outside of the United States. The company also has majority or wholly owned subsidiaries that operate in approximately 45 European, Middle Eastern and African countries (including Germany, the United Kingdom (U.K.), France, Sweden, and the Republic of South Africa); approximately 20 Asian and South Pacific countries (including China, Australia, India, South Korea and Thailand); and approximately 20 countries in North and South America (including Canada, Mexico and Brazil).
The company also has equity method investments operating in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Linde’s non-U.S. business is subject to risks customarily encountered in non-U.S. operations, including fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, import and export controls, and other economic, political and regulatory policies of local governments.
Patents and Trademarks
Linde owns a large number of trademarks, of which the ‘Linde’ trademark is the most significant.
History
The company was founded in 1879. It was incorporated in 2017. It was formerly known as Praxair, Inc. and changed its name to Linde plc in 2018.
