Linde AG (Wiesbaden, Germany) increased sales by 15.9% in its material handling segment to 1.9 billion euro ($2.4 billion) in the first half of 2006. Incoming orders exceeded the prior year by 9.1%. EBIT improved at a faster rate than sales, rising 48.7% to 116 million euro ($208 million). Professor Wolfgang Reitzle, president of the executive board of Linde said the company’s GO (Growth and Operational Excellence) optimization program was a major contributory factor to the increased profitability of the business segment.
Linde’s material handling business benefited from favorable market growth. At the end of June, global demand for industrial trucks was up 13%, the company reported. The Western European market proved stable, with an increase of 8%. Most of the growth in the first six months of the year was generated by Eastern Europe (up 44%) and China (up 34%).
Source: Linde AG.
