By Monica Houston-Waesch

FRANKFURT--Linde AG (LIN.XE) ratcheted down its mid-term goals for 2017 late Monday, primarily due to significantly slower industrial production growth and U.S. healthcare market price reductions.

The industrial gases group also said its engineering division will contribute less than planned to operating profit, since low oil prices are making customers hesitant to invest.

Operating profit in 2017 is likely to be between 4.2 billion ($4.45 billion) and EUR4.5 billion, down from its former forecast range of EUR4.5 billion to EUR4.7 billion.

Linde now expects return on capital employed to be between 9% and 10% in 2017, below its previous forecast of 11% to 12%.

"The state-controlled price reductions in the U.S. healthcare market in 2016 and 2017 are expected to be stronger than originally assumed," when the previous forecasts were made in October 2014, Linde said.

Linde's adjusted targets for 2017 are based on current exchange rates, the company said.

-Write to Monica Houston-Waesch at nikki.houston@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 01, 2015 02:04 ET (07:04 GMT)