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58 min ago 3 min read
French industrial gas major Air Liquide plans to make around €24bn ($26.8bn) on industrial investment decisions through 2030, with electronics, energy transition, healthcare, and space viewed as its high-growth areas.
Under its new Beyond strategic plan, the company has targeted a further 400 to 600 basis points (bps) of operating margin improvements through 2030, unveiled weeks after activist investor Elliott Management in the firm.
This target incorporates margin improvements already being delivered in 2026. Under its previous strategic plan, it targeted +100bps in 2026 and a further +100bps in 2027.
The plan targets a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in recurring net earnings per share (EPS) of +10% over the period, with a recurring return on capital employed above 11% in 2030, while aiming to cut its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 33% in 2035 compared to 2020.
To achieve the recurring EPS target, it aims to achieve a CAGR of +5% in sales, improving its margin by four to six percentage points cumulatively, and allocating over €40bn ($44.8bn) in capital during the period.
The profitability drive comes as Air Liquide faces pressure from Elliott to narrow a longstanding with rival Linde.
Air Liquide reported an operating margin of 20.9% in the first half of 2026, compared with Linde’s reported 27.6%, although different reporting methodologies narrowed the gap on some measures.
The French group said the next phase of improvements will be driven by organisational streamlining, greater use of shared services, centralised procurement, digitalisation and AI, alongside local efficiency programmes.
It follows €299m ($334.6m) of efficiencies generated during H1 2026, when Air Liquide said restructuring, organisational simplification, procurement, and digital tools helped lift its operating margin by 110bps excluding energy and purchase-price allocation effects.
Air Liquide will also launch a €4bn ($4.47bn) share buyback programme across 2027 and 2028 as part of more than €40bn it expects to allocate over the period.
Electronics is expected to absorb a significant portion of that growth investment. The firm had already made more than €1bn ($1.1bn) of investment decisions in alone, up 46% on the total decided across 2025, with projects supporting semiconductor manufacturing in the US and Asia.
It claims it is “uniquely positioned” to capture demand driven by “ever-larger” semiconductor fabs.
However, Air Liquide’s increased emphasis on electronics comes as it seeks to translate broadly similar exposure to the semiconductor market into stronger growth. Electronics accounts for around 10% of sales at both Air Liquide and Linde, but Linde’s comparable growth outpaced its French rival in Q2.
CEO François Jackow said the new strategy opened an “ambitious” chapter in the firm’s growth trajectory.
“In a constantly evolving environment…the resilience of our business model, our innovation capabilities, and our leading market positions, our roadmap is clear: reach a new frontier in lasting value creation,” he said.
