gasworld Business Intelligence provides you with the latest analysis of Airgas’ Q4 2015 earnings reports.
Airgas headlines
- Total reported sales at $1.3bn in CYQ4, turned negative to be down -3% YoY. Sequentially, sales were down -6%.
- Flat organic growth, but combined with +1% contribution from acquisitions. Negative contribution of -1% from volumes, offset by similar positive impact from pricing.
- Gases up +3%, similar to recent trend, largely offset by worsening decline in hardgoods sales at -5%.
- Reported operating income down -23% YoY at $126m in Q4, after a $21m charge for merger costs. Underlying operating income was down -10%, its weakest performance for several years.
- Operating margin showed seasonal decline, while underlying continued downward trend of recent quarters towards 11%.
- Q4 cost of goods sold was down -6% YoY.
- Selling, distribution & administration costs up +2% YoY, with the increase primarily driven by acquisitions.
- Year-to-date free cash flow of $243m, up 12% over prior year, a slowdown versus first six months.
- As previously announced, Airgas has agreed that, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, Air Liquide will acquire Airgas for a total enterprise value of around $13.4bn including debt assumed. The acquisition process is proceeding on schedule for completion in Q2/3. In anticipation of the merger, Airgas has not conducted a quarterly earnings conference call or issued financial guidance for the upcoming quarter. It has also suspended its share repurchase program.
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