LIN - Linde plc (LIN) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-05-02 12:27:07 ET
Linde plc (LIN)
Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call
May 02, 2024, 09:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Juan Pelaez - Head, IR
Sanjiv Lamba - CEO
Matt White - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Duffy Fischer - Goldman Sachs
Mike Leithead - Barclays
Peter Clark - Bernstein
Jeffrey Zekauskas - JPMorgan
David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
John Roberts - Mizuho
Josh Spector - UBS
Eric Zhang - Citi
John McNulty - BMO Capital Markets
Steve Byrne - Bank of America
Laurent Favre - BNP
Laurence Alexander - Jefferies
Presentation
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Linde's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] And please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]
And I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Juan Pelaez, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Juan Pelaez
Abby, thank you and good morning, everyone. Thanks for attending our 2024 first quarter earnings call and webcast. I am Juan Pelaez, Head of Investor Relations. And I'm joined this morning by Sanjiv Lamba, Chief Executive Officer; and Matt White, Chief Financial Officer. Today's presentation materials are available on our website at linde.com in the Investors section.
Please read the forward-looking statement disclosure on Page 2 of the slides and note that it applies to all statements made during this teleconference. The reconciliations of the adjusted numbers are in the appendix of the presentation. Sanjiv will provide some opening remarks, and then Matt will give an update on Linde's first quarter financial performance and outlook, after which, we will wrap up the Q&A.
Let me now turn the call over to Sanjiv.
Sanjiv Lamba
Thanks, Juan, and a very good morning, everyone.
The Linde team delivered another solid quarter despite stagnant economic conditions across most regions. EPS of $3.75 grew 10%. ROC increased to 25.6% and operating margins reached 28.9%. These all represent record levels even though volumes declined 1%.
Over the last few quarters, we have seen a row of negative base volumes, which are tracking the stagnant to declining manufacturing environment, especially in EMEA. While volumes continue to track local industrial production, we know there is more we must do to grow....
Linde plc (LIN) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript