Air Products and Chemicals Inc Q2 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Cory Murphy - Vertical Research Partners, LLC - Analyst : This is Cory on for Kevin. In the context of Asia, why has the pricing in Asia lagged? And can you help us understand maybe the pricing in the region? And then for the volume, it declined modestly on a sequential basis. How much of that was related to Lunar New Year versus COVID? And have you seen any impact thus far in the current quarter as it relates to COVID impact on volume?

Question: Cory Murphy - Vertical Research Partners, LLC - Analyst : Understood. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MAY 05, 2022 / 12:30PM, APD.N - Q2 2022 Air Products and Chemicals Inc Earnings Call

Question: Cory Murphy - Vertical Research Partners, LLC - Analyst : Yes, that's great. And a quick follow-up. In the context of rising interest rates, I'm curious how you think about capital deployment going forward and the need for potentially higher ROIC on future projects.

Question: Cory Murphy - Vertical Research Partners, LLC - Analyst : I guess I meant more broadly, sort of structurally as you think about the 10% returns that you generally target, would you raise that target? And how would you think about the project you take on? Yes?

Question: John Patrick McNulty - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst : So I guess, look, we understand the lockdowns in China are a little bit difficult to predict going forward. But I guess, is there a way to think about how much April was down relative to, say, the first -- or excuse me, your fiscal 2Q levels, just so we can kind of set a baseline and then think about how it kind of changes throughout the quarter?

Question: John Patrick McNulty - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst : Got it. Okay. And then just a housekeeping kind of question. So in the Slide 16, where there was kind of a breakdown of the earnings contributions. You had about $0.18 from equity affiliate income. And I'm assuming the bulk of that is Jazan. But when I annualize that, it doesn't quite get to that kind of $0.80 to $0.85 contribution that Jazan is supposed to be giving. So am I missing something on this? Or does Jazan have kind of another kind of step up when we think about moving from fiscal 2Q to fiscal 3Q that we should be thinking about or whether there's a start-up issue or what have you, like, I guess, how would you characterize that?