According to fourth quarter fiscal results, Air Products has seen a 12% increase in EPS. Chairman, President and CEO for the firm, John McGlade, attributed the incline to growth in emerging markets and performance across the tonnage gas business.
The North American industrial gas conglomerate, Air Products, has reported net income of $325m, or diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.51, for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter versus $294m and $1.35, respectively for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.
Fourth quarter revenues of $2,611 million increased 11% versus prior year and 1% sequentially. Underlying revenues were up 6% and 2% respectively. Operating income of $425 million rose 6% versus prior year and 2% sequentially on improved volumes.
For fiscal 2011, sales of $10,082 million increased 12%, primarily driven by a 9% volume increase. Operating income of $1,671 million was up 13% and diluted EPS of $5.73 increased 14% from the prior year.
Commenting on the results, John McGlade, Chairman, President and CEO said, “This quarter’s improvements were driven by growth in emerging markets and strong performance in our tonnage gases business. Overall economic activity for this quarter continued at the slower underlying growth rate we saw last quarter.”
Reflecting on the year, McGlade added, “We achieved another solid year of key project wins, double digit sales and earnings growth despite a slowing global economy in the second half of 2011. More importantly, we saw strong gains in operating cash flow and we improved our most important measure, return on capital, by 80 basis points to 13.3% for the year.”
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