When The Linde Group revealed its first quarter 2017 results on 28th April, it completed a week of seemingly positive financials among the major players.
Air Liquide had revealed solid first quarter results on the Wednesday, followed by a double-header of encouraging underlying results from US-based Praxair and Air Products on the Thursday, and then the forecasted increases in both revenues and profit from Linde on the Friday.
It was a week of financial updates both preceded and followed by tentative signs of optimism beyond the industry’s Tier One heavyweights. While full year 2016 losses were reported by two of China’s more prominent players in Yingde Gases and Hangzhou Hangyang, there were also bright signals emerging from some of the stakeholders in China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) business and good news emanating from Italy-based SOL Group, for example, where increases were experienced across the board in 2016.
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