By Inti Landauro
PARIS--French industrial gas supplier Air Liquide (AI.FR) said
Friday it expects net profit will rise this year after favorable
currency swings boosted revenue in the first quarter.
The company said revenue rose 7% in the first quarter to 3.99
billion euros ($4.31 billion). Excluding the effects of the weaker
euro during the period, lower energy prices and
merger-and-acquisition effects, revenue rose 3% during the period,
the company said in a statement. Analysts polled by Factset
forecast sales of 3.95 billion euros.
The company's revenue was also lifted by the opening of new
plants in China, where revenue rose 20% from the same period last
year. Health-care services rose 7% in the period and now represent
20% of the company's overall revenue.
Air Liquide Chief Executive Benoit Potier reiterated he expects
the company to book a higher net profit in 2015 than in 2014. The
company didn't provide a specific forecast.
The company registered EUR62 million in savings in the first
quarter and maintained its target of savings worth more than EUR250
million during the year.
Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
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