It’s no secret that carving out growth in the gases industry in the current climate is a difficult nut to crack, and has been for a number of years now. Since the global financial crisis in 2008/9, and the stifling weight of the subsequent fall-out, the industrial gases business has had to re-evaluate where the next wave of growth will come from.
Growth has been something of an issue in the US, where a very complex Presidential campaign has been unfolding. In Europe there is the ‘Brexit’ to contend with, as well as growth that has proven elusive in many of the region’s more established economies. In China, growth has been – by its own high standards – muted of late.
This typically robust, resilient industry has been challenged in ways that it had perhaps not been for decades; in its efforts to carve out growth, the industry has had to significantly restructure, pursue opportunities in the emerging economies, and renew the focus on its core again. As we have seen in 2015/16 in particular, the industry has also been the subject of increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity as companies strive to achieve immediately accretive growth through acquisition.
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