The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

APD Forecasts 12% Sales Growth/Higher Margins Through 2015

[APD held its Investor Day presentation yesterday and issued the updated guidance discussed below.

How does APD tie in with The Global Demographic Tailwind? Please see #msg-46518659.]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-09/air-products-sees-margins-sales-increasing-through-2015-1-.html

›By Jack Kaskey - Jun 9, 2011 4:25 PM ET

Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (APD), the second-biggest U.S. industrial-gas producer, said profit margins [i.e. pre-tax operating margin] will expand 3 percentage points from 17% to 20%] through 2015 and sales will rise about 12 percent annually, led by growth in energy and electronics markets.

Revenue will climb to more than $15 billion in fiscal 2015, from $9 billion in the year ended in September, for an annual growth rate of 11 percent to 13 percent, Chief Executive Officer John McGlade said today in a presentation to investors in New York. Operating profit will rise to 20 percent by then, from 17 percent in the last quarter, the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based company said in a statement.

Air Products plans to leverage its leading positions in hydrogen, used to produce low-sulfur fuels, and gases used to make electronics to exceed anticipated annual industry growth of 9 percent, Chief Financial Officer Paul Huck said in the presentation. The company, thwarted this year in a $5.9 billion hostile bid for Airgas Inc., also plans to make acquisitions boosting sales as much as 2 percent a year, he said.

“Air Products investor day set targets slightly better than expected, with a balance between growth targets and a theme of secular productivity gains,” Laurence Alexander, a New York- based analyst at Jefferies & Co. who rates the shares “buy,” said today in a note.

Analysts project sales to rise 11 percent in the fiscal year through September to $9.99 billion and 9 percent to $10.9 billion the following year, according to average estimates in a Bloomberg survey.‹