Air Products & Chemicals Inc. revealed recently that its sales for the January-February period rose 15% from the same period last year, posting the optimism on its website though urging caution at the same time.
The company, a major producer of hydrogen gases, cited rising demand and price hikes as raising sales 6% in the two-month period, while currency exchange contributed 4%. The US dollar has been plummeting in value, so sales recorded in other currencies will have increased value when converted to dollars.
The Allentown company posted the sales update on its website, but also cautioned that ‘other factors including raw material, energy, distribution and overhead costs and other price changes also influence results’.
Corporate acquisitions are thought to have boosted sales by 3%, while its best business segment was tonnage gases – with sales up 30% from the 2007 period and sparked by the start-up of new plants. These are industrial gases supplied by large Air Products facilities on customers’ sites.
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