Air Products Reports Very Strong Fiscal 2019 Third Quarter Results

Q3 FY19 (all from continuing operations; comparisons versus prior year):

• GAAP EPS of $2.20 and GAAP net income of $488 million, both up 13 percent
• Record adjusted EPS of $2.17*, up 11 percent; adjusted EPS up 14 percent on a constant currency basis
• Record adjusted EBITDA margin of 40.1 percent*, up 380 basis points

Highlights

• Completed asset buyback: two air separation units from Jinmei Huayu in Shanxi Province, China
• Korea wins: awarded contracts to supply MEMC Korea's new 300mm silicon wafer fab in Cheonan and POSCO Chemical’s new cathode material manufacturing complex in Gwangyang

Guidance

• Fiscal 2019 full-year adjusted EPS guidance in the range of $8.20 to $8.25* per share, up more than 10 percent* over prior year at midpoint; fiscal 2019 fourth quarter adjusted EPS guidance of $2.26 to $2.31 per share*, up 13 to 16 percent* over fiscal 2018 fourth quarter
• Expected fiscal year 2019 capital spending in the range of $2.4 to $2.5 billion 

*The results and guidance in this release, including in the highlights above, include references to non-GAAP continuing operations measures and are identified by the word “adjusted” preceding the measure. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results can be found below.

Air Products (NYSE:APD) reported GAAP net income from continuing operations of $488 million and GAAP diluted EPS from continuing operations of $2.20 for its fiscal third quarter ended June 30, 2019. These results include several disclosed items which total to a $0.03 EPS benefit.

On a non-GAAP basis, quarterly adjusted net income from continuing operations of $481 million and record adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations of $2.17 increased 12 and 11 percent, respectively, over the prior year. On a constant currency basis, diluted adjusted EPS from continuing operations increased 14 percent.

Third quarter sales of $2.2 billion decreased two percent, as four percent higher pricing and two percent higher volumes were more than offset by four percent unfavorable currency; three percent from a contract modification to a tolling agreement in India, which impacts sales but not profits; and one percent lower energy cost pass-through. Excluding the Jazan sale of equipment project, volumes grew four percent due to new plants and base business growth. Pricing improved in all three regions.

Record adjusted EBITDA of $892 million increased nine percent over the prior year. Sequentially, adjusted EBITDA increased eight percent on strong performance in all regions, particularly driven by the Lunar New Year recovery in Asia. Record adjusted EBITDA margin of 40.1 percent increased 380 basis points over the prior year.

Commenting on the results, Seifi Ghasemi, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, "The committed team at Air Products continues to execute on our well-defined short- and long-term strategy. Our adjusted EPS of $2.17 was the highest ever and 11 percent higher than last year. Our adjusted EBITDA margin of 40 percent was also a record high and 1,500 basis points higher than five years ago when we set our goal to be the best industrial gas company in the world. I want to thank all of our employees around the world who work hard every day to deliver these results."

Third Quarter Results by Business Segment

• Industrial Gases – Americas sales of $955 million increased one percent over the prior year, as four percent higher pricing was partially offset by two percent unfavorable currency and one percent lower energy pass-through. Underlying volumes grew one percent, but were offset by a contact termination that occurred in the third quarter of the prior year. Record adjusted EBITDA of $410 million increased seven percent and adjusted EBITDA margin of 42.9 percent increased 270 basis points from the prior year, primarily driven by higher pricing.

• Industrial Gases – EMEA sales of $495 million decreased 12 percent from prior year. Strong pricing contributed four percent, and volumes increased two percent over the prior year. These results were offset by five percent unfavorable currency, two percent lower energy pass-through, and an 11 percent decrease from the India contract modification. Adjusted EBITDA of $190 million increased two percent over the prior year; on a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA increased seven percent. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 38.4 percent increased 520 basis points over the prior year; excluding the impact of the India contract modification, adjusted EBITDA margin was up approximately 100 basis points.

• Industrial Gases – Asia sales of $679 million increased nine percent over the prior year. Volumes increased 10 percent, driven primarily by new projects, mainly the Lu'An gasification project. Pricing increased five percent, with strength across all major product lines and countries. Unfavorable currency had a negative six percent impact. Record adjusted EBITDA of $334 million increased 24 percent, and record adjusted EBITDA margin of 49.2 percent increased 590 basis points over the prior year on strong volumes, pricing and productivity. Sequentially, volumes and adjusted EBITDA improved eight and 12 percent, respectively, on the strong Lunar New Year recovery and new plant start-ups.

Outlook

Ghasemi said, "We remain very optimistic about the future of Air Products. We are confident our strategy differentiates us and gives us the capability to continue growing earnings per share by more than 10 percent per year over the long term. We have demonstrated this over the past five years, with adjusted EPS growth averaging 13 percent annually."

Air Products expects full-year fiscal 2019 adjusted EPS guidance in the range of $8.20 to $8.25 per share, up more than 10 percent over prior year at midpoint. For the fiscal 2019 fourth quarter, Air Products expects adjusted EPS of $2.26 to $2.31 per share, up 13 to 16 percent over the fiscal 2018 fourth quarter.

Air Products expects capital expenditures in the range of $2.4 to $2.5 billion for full-year fiscal 2019.

Effective October 1, 2018, Air Products adopted the new revenue recognition standard, which had no material impact on the company’s financial statements. Management has provided adjusted EPS on a continuing operations basis. While Air Products might have additional impacts from the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act adopted in late 2017, or incur additional costs for items such as cost reduction actions and pension settlements in future periods, it is not possible, without unreasonable efforts, to identify the amount or significance of these events or the potential for other transactions that may impact future GAAP EPS or the effective tax rate. Management does not believe these items to be representative of underlying business performance. Management is unable to reconcile, without unreasonable effort, the Company’s forecasted range of adjusted EPS to a comparable GAAP range.

Earnings Teleconference
Access the Q3 earnings teleconference scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on July 25, 2019 by calling 323-794-2575 and entering passcode 7887361, or access the Event Details page on Air Products’ Investor Relations web site.

View complete earnings release with all financial tables.