Gas maker Linde's Q1 net profit up 72 pc

BERLIN: German gas and engineering company Linde AG said on Tuesday that its first-quarter profit increased 72 percent as demand for its products showed a ``marked revival.''

The producer of gases like hydrogen and nitrogen earned euro198 million ($262.1 million) in the January-March period, up from euro115 million a year earlier.

Revenues rose 7.4 percent to nearly euro2.9 billion in the quarter from nearly euro2.7 billion last year.

Chief Executive Wolfgang Reitzle said there was a ``a marked revival in demand'' for the company's products and expects to have higher sales this year than last.

``It looks as if the worst is behind us,'' he said. The company's gases division said increasing demand from emerging economies helped spark an 8.5 percent increase in revenues to euro2.3 billion. Operating profit at the unit was up 14.5 percent to euro625 million. Operating earnings exclude financial items such as interest and taxes, as well as one-time gains and losses.

The company said its engineering division's order backlog of approximately euro4 billion pointed to stable business performance through 2012, with demand primarily from China, India and the Middle East. However, Linde said that ``given the continuing economic uncertainty, it is still likely that the award of some projects will be postponed.''

The engineering division reported revenue of euro517 million, down from euro549 million last year. The division's operating profit improved, however, by 13.3 percent to euro51 million.

Linde shares were down nearly 1.6 percent to euro90.25 in Frankfurt morning trading.