gasworld’s Business Intelligence provides you with the latest analysis of Praxair’s Q4 2014 earnings reports.
Headlines
- Q4 Reported Sales down -1% YoY and -5% sequentially at $2.99bn.
- Q4 Operating Profit down -4% YoY and -7% sequentially.
- Sales +3% and Operating Income flat excluding currency.
- Full Year Sales and Operating Income both up +3% (+6% ex. currency).
- Operating Margin at 22.2% in Q4 was 70 bp down on previous year.
- Still highest Operating and EBITDA margins in industry.
- Operating Cash Flow around 26% of sales.
- ROCE slightly up in 2014 to 28.7%.
- Taken additional actions to address costs – results include $15m severance costs across all segments with expected one-year payback – around half in N. America with most of rest split between Europe and Asia.
- 2014 productivity initiatives exceeded annual target savings of at least 5% of cost stack.
- Repurchased around 1% of issued shares in 2014 – 5th year in succession and expect to continue.
- 2015 expectations – sales range down -2% to up +1% or +4% to +7% ex. currency with EPS up +5-11% ex. currency.
- Underlying gas sales up +3% in Q4 driven by Volume +2% and Price/Mix impact of +1%. Currency impact -4% YoY, but no impact from Energy Pass-through or Acquisitions.
- Underlying gas revenue growth slowest for 6 quarters with both Volume and Price/Mix impact below recent trends.
PX Business Performance
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