Replies to post #728 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Thanks, Charlie—I can’t (yet) claim to fully understand the organic chemistry that underpins this discussion, but your feedback is much appreciated.

…one of my concerns would be competition from companies like Air Liquide and Praxair. I suspect this is a business where there are a lot of shady (non-free market) things that happen in the background that would give Air Liquide an advantage in countries where English is not the primary language.

Did you see my related post about SNY’s business in Venezuela (#msg-48495427)? Your contention vis-à-vis Air Liquide is undoubtedly true to some degree.

PX is a strong competitor; however, compared to APD, PX is more focused on bottled gasses and less on tonnage gasses*, which is the segment we’ve been talking about. (Please see #msg-46518659, which is excerpted from APD’s 10K report.)

*As far as I know; if this is wrong, please post a correction!

[DewDiligence]

APD’s CEO drove to work in a hydrogen-powered car (:- )):

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Air-Products-Takes-Hydrogen-prnews-1551596596.html?x=0&.v=1

[DewDiligence]

APD held a webcast on tonnage gasses at the Jefferies conference on 2/24/11:
http://www.wsw.com/webcast/jeff54/apd/

Webcast slides:
http://www.airproducts.com/NR/rdonlyres/160428FE-FFC3-438F-BFE9-7E42CCEC45C5/0/2011_Feb24_SJJ_Jefferies_Clean_Tech.pdf

Ion Transport Membrane (ITM) and CO2 Capture were among the featured technologies. Also discussed was the use of H2 to lighten and sweeten oil, which would seem to be especially relevant today.

Unlike the Apr 2010 webcast by David Taylor (VP, Energy) that was previously discussed on this board, the Feb 2011 Jefferies webcast was given by Steve Jones (SVP, Tonnage Gasses).