(Reuters) – Air Liquide climbs on the Paris Stock Exchange on Tuesday to reach a historic high as the industrial gas specialist reported better than expected annual operating profit and announced a doubling of its margin target for 2025.

At 10:04 a.m., Air Liquide shares gained 6.05% to 182.06 euros, at the top of the CAC 40, after an all-time high of 182.66 euros.

In 2023, Air Liquide generated current operating income of 5.068 billion euros, above the 5.02 billion expected by analysts according to a consensus established by Vara Research.

With an annual turnover of 27.6 billion, the current operating margin rate reached 18.4%, an improvement of 220 basis points.

“We have, in two years, practically achieved the ambition of increasing the margin that we had set for ourselves by 2025 as part of our ADVANCE strategic plan”, underlined the group’s general director in a press release, François Jackow.

“As a result, we are announcing today that we are doubling our initial ambition,” he added.

Air Liquide previously planned to increase its operating margin by 160 basis points for 2025, bringing the new target to 320 basis points.

In a note, Jefferies analysts estimate that this new objective implies an increase of 170 basis points in the margin over the financial years 2024 and 2025.

For 2024, Air Liquide said it is confident in its ability to once again increase its operating margin and achieve growth in recurring net income, at constant exchange rates.

(Report by Gaëlle Sheehan and Blandine Hénault, edited by Kate Entringer)

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