Linde (LIN) Q1 2026 Earnings

Linde’s sales for the first quarter were $8,781 million, up 8% versus prior year including 5% favorable currency impact. Compared to prior year, underlying sales increased 3% from 2% price attainment and 1% volumes, primarily from project start-ups. Acquisitions increased sales by 1%.

First-quarter operating profit was $2,439 million. Adjusted operating profit of $2,630 million was up 8% versus prior year led by higher price and continued productivity initiatives across all segments. Adjusted operating profit margin was 30.0%.

First-quarter operating cash flow of $2,240 million increased 4% versus prior year. After capital expenditures of $1,342 million, free cash flow was $898 million. During the quarter, the company returned $1,545 million to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases, net of issuances.

Commenting on the financial results and business outlook, Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Lamba said, “Linde employees delivered another solid quarter with 10% EPS growth, 30% operating margin and 24% return on capital under increasingly challenging global conditions. These results underscore the resiliency of our operating model, discipline of capital allocation and perseverance of management actions.”

Lamba continued, “Looking ahead, I’m confident the Linde team will continue to create shareholder value in any environment.”

For the second quarter of 2026, Linde expects adjusted diluted earnings per share in the range of $4.40 to $4.50, up 8% to 10% versus prior-year quarter or 7% to 9% when excluding estimated favorable currency of 1%.

For the full year 2026, the company expects adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $17.60 to $17.90, up 7% to 9%, assuming favorable currency of 1%. Full-year capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $5.0 billion to $5.5 billion to support growth and maintenance requirements including the $7.1 billion contractual sale of gas project backlog.

First-Quarter 2026 Results by Segment

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Americas sales of $4,025 million were up 10% versus prior year. Compared with first quarter 2025, underlying sales increased 6%, driven by 4% higher pricing and 2% higher volumes, primarily in the electronics, manufacturing and metals and mining end markets. Operating profit of $1,272 million was 31.6% of sales, 60 basis points above prior year.

APAC (Asia Pacific) sales of $1,701 million were up 11% versus prior year. Compared with first quarter 2025, underlying sales increased 6%, driven by 6% volumes primarily in the electronics, and chemicals and energy end markets and project startups. Operating profit of $477 million was 28.0% of sales, 130 basis points below prior year.

EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) sales of $2,171 million were up 7% versus prior year. Compared with first quarter 2025, underlying sales decreased 2%, driven by 1% higher pricing and 3% lower volumes, primarily in the chemicals and energy and manufacturing end markets. Operating profit of $784 million was 36.1% of sales, 60 basis points above prior year.

Linde Engineering sales were $517 million, down 8% versus prior year, and operating profit was $101 million or 19.5% of sales. Order intake for the quarter was $640 million and third-party sale of equipment backlog was $2.8 billion.

Earnings Call

A teleconference on Linde’s first-quarter 2026 results is being held today at 9:00 am EDT.

Materials to be used in the teleconference are also available on the website.

Live conference call

US Toll-Free Dial-In Number: 1 888 770 7292 UK Toll-Free Dial-In Number: 0800 358 0970 Access code: 6877110

Live webcast (listen-only)

https://www.linde.com/investors/financial-reports

About Linde

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2025 sales of $34 billion. We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain, decarbonize and protect our planet. Linde serves a variety of end markets such as chemicals & energy, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and mining. Linde’s industrial gases and technologies are used in countless applications, enabling space exploration and launch technologies, delivering ultra-high-purity and specialty gases for semiconductor manufacturing, providing life-saving medical oxygen and enabling clean hydrogen production and carbon capture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer growth, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions.

For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit www.linde.com   Adjusted amounts, free cash flow and return on capital are non-GAAP measures.  See the attachments for a summary of non-GAAP reconciliations and calculations for adjusted amounts.

Attachments: Summary Non-GAAP Reconciliations, Statements of Income, Balance Sheets, Statements of Cash Flows, Segment Information and Appendix: Non-GAAP Measures and Reconciliations.

*Note: We are providing adjusted earnings per share (“EPS”) guidance for 2026. This is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (a GAAP measure) but excludes the impact of certain items that we believe are not representative of our underlying business performance, such as cost reduction and other charges, and the impact of other potentially significant items. Given the uncertainty of timing and magnitude of such items, we cannot provide a reconciliation of the differences between the non-GAAP adjusted EPS guidance and the corresponding GAAP EPS measure without unreasonable effort.

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Forward-looking Statements

This document contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements are identified by terms and phrases such as: anticipate, believe, intend, estimate, expect, continue, should, could, may, plan, project, predict, will, potential, forecast, and similar expressions.  They are based on management’s reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date the statements are made but involve risks and uncertainties.  These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: the performance of stock markets generally; developments in worldwide and national economies and other international events and circumstances, including trade conflicts and tariffs; changes in foreign currencies and in interest rates; the cost and availability of electric power, natural gas and other raw materials; the ability to achieve price increases to offset cost increases; catastrophic events including natural disasters, epidemics, and acts of war and terrorism; the ability to attract, hire, and retain qualified personnel; the impact of changes in financial accounting standards; the impact of changes in pension plan liabilities; the impact of tax, environmental, healthcare and other legislation and government regulation in jurisdictions in which the company operates; the cost and outcomes of investigations, litigation and regulatory proceedings; the impact of potential unusual or non-recurring items; continued timely development and market acceptance of new products and applications; the impact of competitive products and pricing; future financial and operating performance of major customers and industries served; the impact of information technology system failures, network disruptions and cybersecurity breaches; and the effectiveness and speed of integrating new acquisitions into the business.  These risks and uncertainties may cause future results or circumstances to differ materially from adjusted projections, estimates or other forward-looking statements.

Linde plc assumes no obligation to update or provide revisions to any forward-looking statement in response to changing circumstances.  The above listed risks and uncertainties are further described in Item 1A.  Risk Factors in Linde plc’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 filed with the SEC on February 25, 2026 which should be reviewed carefully. Please consider Linde plc’s forward-looking statements in light of those risks.

LINDE PLC AND SUBSIDIARIES

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SUMMARY NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS

(UNAUDITED)

The following adjusted amounts are Non-GAAP measures and are intended to supplement investors’ understanding of the company’s financial statements by providing measures which investors, financial analysts and management use to help evaluate the company’s operating performance. Items which the company does not believe to be indicative of ongoing business trends are excluded from these calculations so that investors can better evaluate and analyze historical and future business trends on a consistent basis. Definitions of these Non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similar definitions used by other companies and are not a substitute for similar GAAP measures. See the “NON GAAP MEASURES AND RECONCILIATIONS” starting on page 9 for additional details relating to the adjustments.

LINDE PLC AND SUBSIDIARIES

(a)

2025 cost reduction program and other charges are primarily related to severance.

(b)

To adjust for purchase accounting impacts related to the merger.

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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME

(UNAUDITED)

LINDE PLC AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED

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CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

(UNAUDITED)

LINDE PLC AND SUBSIDIARIES

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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

(UNAUDITED)

(a) There were no cost reduction program and other charges for the three months ended March 31, 2026. 2025 charges were primarily related to severance. Related cash outflows were $44 million and $37 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively.

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SEGMENT INFORMATION

(UNAUDITED)

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APPENDIX

NON-GAAP MEASURES AND RECONCILIATIONS

(UNAUDITED)

The following Non-GAAP measures are intended to supplement investors’ understanding of the company’s financial information by providing measures which investors, financial analysts and management use to help evaluate the company’s operating performance and liquidity. Items which the company does not believe to be indicative of on-going business trends are excluded from these calculations so that investors can better evaluate and analyze historical and future business trends on a consistent basis. Definitions of these Non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similar definitions used by other companies and are not a substitute for similar GAAP measures.

(a) The income tax expense (benefit) on the non-GAAP pre-tax adjustments was determined using the applicable tax rates for the jurisdictions that were utilized in calculating the GAAP income tax expense (benefit) and included both current and deferred income tax amounts.

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(b) Net of income taxes which are shown separately in “Adjusted Income Taxes and Effective Tax Rate”.

(c) The company believes that its non-GAAP measures excluding merger Purchase accounting impacts - Linde AG are useful to investors because: (i) the 2018 business combination was a merger of equals in an all-stock merger transaction, with no cash consideration, (ii) the company is managed on a geographic basis and the results of certain geographies are more heavily impacted by merger purchase accounting than others, causing results that are not comparable at the reportable segment level, therefore, the impacts of merger purchasing accounting adjustments to each segment vary and are not comparable within the company and when compared to other companies in similar regions, (iii) business management is evaluated and variable compensation is determined based on results excluding merger purchase accounting impacts, and; (iv) it is important to investors and analysts to understand the purchase accounting impacts to the financial statements.

A summary of each of the adjustments made for Purchase accounting impacts - Linde AG are as follows:   Adjusted Operating Profit and Margin: The purchase accounting adjustments for the periods presented relate primarily to depreciation and amortization related to the fair value step up of fixed assets and intangible assets (primarily customer related) acquired in the merger and the allocation of fair value step-up for ongoing Linde AG asset disposals (reflected in Other Income/(Expense)).

Adjusted Interest Expense - Net: Relates to the amortization of the fair value of debt acquired in the merger.

Adjusted Income Taxes and Effective Tax Rate: Relates to the current and deferred income tax impact on the adjustments discussed above. The income tax expense (benefit) on the non-GAAP pre-tax adjustments was determined using the applicable tax rates for the jurisdictions that were utilized in calculating the GAAP income tax expense (benefit) and included both current and deferred income tax amounts.

Adjusted Income from Equity Investments: Represents the amortization of increased fair value on equity investments related to depreciable and amortizable assets.

Adjusted Noncontrolling Interests: Represents the noncontrolling interests’ ownership portion of the adjustments described above determined on an entity by entity basis.

(d) We are providing adjusted earnings per share (“EPS”) guidance for 2026. This is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents diluted earnings per share (a GAAP measure) but excludes the impact of certain items that we believe are not representative of our underlying business performance, such as cost reduction and other charges and the impact of other potentially significant items. Given the uncertainty of timing and magnitude of such items, we cannot provide a reconciliation of the differences between the non-GAAP adjusted EPS guidance and the corresponding GAAP EPS measure without unreasonable effort.

(e) Fourth quarter 2025 Adjusted other income (expense) - net includes a charge associated with Linde AG merger-related purchase accounting.

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APPENDIX

NON-GAAP MEASURES AND RECONCILIATIONS

(UNAUDITED)

Free Cash Flow (FCF) - Free cash flow is a measure used by investors, financial analysts and management to evaluate the ability of a company to pursue opportunities that enhance shareholder value. FCF equals cash flow from operations less capital expenditures.

After-tax Return on Capital and Adjusted After-tax Return on Capital (ROC) - After-tax return on capital is a measure used by investors, financial analysts and management to evaluate the return on net assets employed in the business. ROC measures the after-tax operating profit that the company was able to generate with the investments made by all parties in the business (debt, noncontrolling interests and Linde plc shareholders’ equity).

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