Linde, the world's largest industrial gases manufacturer, is defying the sluggish economy.
In the third quarter, turnover rose by three percent to 8.66 billion dollars.
Two percentage points of this was due to price increases, the rest to acquisitions.
Adjusted net profit climbed by five percent to 1.99 billion dollars.
With earnings per share of 4.21 dollars, Linde exceeded its own forecasts as well as analysts' expectations, which averaged 4.18 dollars according to LSEG data.
CEO Sanjiv Lamba attributed this to further cost reductions, among other things. "Despite stagnating industrial activity, Linde employees have once again shown resilient results." However, a rapid recovery of the economy is not to be expected.
Linde therefore limited its profit expectations for the year as a whole:
Earnings per share would be between 16.35 and 16.45 dollars. Previously, Linde had given a range of 16.30 to 16.50 dollars - that would be an increase of five to six percent. In the fourth quarter, 4.10 to 4.20 dollars are expected.
The Group is sticking to its investment plans of 5.0 to 5.5 billion dollars for this year.
The best performance in the third quarter was in the Americas region, where demand in the electronics, manufacturing and metal and mining markets increased and prices rose by three percent.
In Europe, Africa and the Middle East, price increases were unable to compensate for lower sales, with only acquisitions lifting turnover by three percent.
Unlike in America and Asia, however, the return on sales in the region rose sharply, probably due to currency effects.
Linde Engineering, the plant engineering division based in Germany, recorded a 15 percent drop in sales to 519 million dollars, with an operating profit of 101 million dollars.
