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Linde AG: January to June 2014: Linde proves its stability despite unfavourable exchange rate effects - Seite 3

eurozone, revenue in the liquefied gases and cylinder gas business in this
region was slightly above the figure achieved in the first half of 2013. In
the Healthcare product area, a number of supply contracts relating to
homecare operations acquired by Linde from Air Products in April 2012 were
put out again to tender. As expected, due to the reorganisation of supply
areas associated with this process, revenue in the Healthcare business in
the EMEA segment in the first half of 2014 was slightly below the figure
for the prior-year period. In accordance with the terms of its purchase
agreement with Air Products, Linde is therefore entitled to compensation
which will be paid in the third quarter of 2014.

Business trends in the Asia/Pacific segment were hampered mainly by
unfavourable exchange rate effects. In the South Pacific region, the
economic environment in manufacturing industry remained weak and investment
in the mining industry declined. Both these factors had an adverse impact
on growth. Given these conditions, Linde generated revenue of EUR 1.816 bn
in the Asia/Pacific segment in the six months to 30 June 2014, which was
4.3 percent below the figure for the prior-year period of EUR 1.897 bn. In
contrast, on a comparable basis revenue increased by 5.4 percent. Operating
profit fell by 4.2 percent to EUR 476 m (2013: EUR 497 m). The operating
margin remained the same in the first half of 2014 as in the first half of
2013, at 26.2 percent.

Within the segment, the most positive trends were to be seen in business
operations in the Greater China region. Boosted by volume increases in all
product areas, Linde achieved double-digit revenue growth here.

In the Americas segment, Linde generated revenue of EUR 2.095 bn in the
first half of 2014. This was not quite as high as the figure for the first
half of 2013 of EUR 2.137 bn as a result of unfavourable exchange rates. On
a comparable basis, revenue increased by 3.8 percent. Operating profit
dropped by 8.1 percent to EUR 498 m, compared with a figure of EUR 542 m
for the first half of 2013. The operating margin fell as a result to 23.8
percent (2013: 25.4 percent).

These figures were influenced by a number of different factors. Government
tenders introduced in the healthcare business in North America in the
second half of 2013, for example, resulted in reductions in prices, which
as expected had an adverse impact on revenue and earnings in this segment.
In the run-up to these changes, Linde had already begun to adapt its cost
structures. In the course of the first half of 2014, it was increasingly