Air Products and Chemicals Inc Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Jeffrey Zekauskas - JPMorgan Chase & Co - Analyst : In your opening remarks, I think you said that you were evaluating proposals to divest the carbon capture piece of the Louisiana project, but you're still evaluating whether you would proceed with the project. So could it be that those two events would be linked, that is you would sell the carbon capture piece to a party, and then work with them to provide them hydrogen or hydrogen and ammonia.

Question: Jeffrey Zekauskas - JPMorgan Chase & Co - Analyst : And as for the Alberta project, because the cost overruns have been so high, why don't you simply stop the project? Or what impede you from stopping it. And would that project have to be money losing on an EPS basis because the depreciates are -- will just be so high from the cost overruns when it comes -- if it comes on?

Question: David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Eduardo, on the cost savings and the employee headcount, is the 20,000 head count you're targeting a new base? Or could it go lower from there?

Question: David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Very good. And just back on Louisiana. If you do move forward with that project with these offtake or partners you suggested, what would be the CapEx remaining to Air Products?

Question: Duffy Fischer - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Just want to get some insights into the growth into next year. So at the midpoint of your guide, you're up 8%, but there's a negative 4% from helium. So that's really 12%. Melissa called out one from the shutdown of the sale of the Chinese assets, which gets you to 11%. So that 11% growth underlying? Can you break that out kind of new projects, price, efficiencies, how you deliver that? And is that smooth throughout the year? Or are the oncoming projects back-end loaded?

Question: Duffy Fischer - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Great. And I'm sure it's not your favorite subject, but helium was mentioned 29 times in your slide deck this quarter. What is your view on the helium industry going forward? Do you think we've stabilized at this point? So '26 will be the last year of headwind? Or do you think we continue to see headwinds in the '27 and '28 for that product?

Question: Patrick Cunningham - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : If you decide to forgo downstream investment in NEOM maybe based on unfavorable regulatory environment, whatever it may be, what do the commercial options look like? And would you expect to see any positive EPS contribution in 2027 under a scenario where you have to sell ammonia exclusively?

Question: Patrick Cunningham - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : Understood. And then maybe just a quick one on equity affiliate income. We saw meaningful growth in the Americas this quarter. Can you provide some color on what was driving that and what we should sort of expect for step up or step down across all of the regions and equity income next year?

Question: John Roberts - Mizuho Securities USA LLC - Analyst : Are you still anticipating doing ammonia cracking in Europe and building an ammonia cracker there?

Question: Laurence Alexander - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Earlier this year, when you put out the target of 6% to 9% growth through 2019, what was your assumption around NEOM? Was it your predecessors framework of realized prices will be roughly double the market price? Was it just a placeholder, 10% IRR? Was it -- can you give us some sense of what was embedded in that framework from the NEOM asset.

Question: Matthew DeYoe - Bank of America - Analyst : Two questions for you. I apologize, the first one is going to be a little long. So if I look at your performance versus Linde, Europe really shows the biggest opportunity for improvement. And notably, I think price there has kind of underperformed materially if you go back or look even to COVID or pre-COVID. I know Helium is probably in there, but I think fundamentally, when electricity prices rolled over in '22 and '23, it looks like Air Products just like handed price back to customers and Linde didn't. And so net, you have a pretty wide margin differential between the two. I mean, when -- do you kind of agree with that view, but is there an opportunity to catch up on the price differential? Or is raising price unilaterally like too difficult? And then, as my second, is there a world where you can just like monetize the $2 billion on cost in (inaudible) to another company that's looking to do a project along the Gulf Coast that might have maybe different strategic goals from Air Products. So I don't know, maybe you can get like 50% of that, right? Is there a word we can walk away with $1 billion and just say that's better than just a full project walk.

Question: Arun Viswanathan - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Just a clarification on the helium headwind. So I think maybe this year came in just slightly below your expectations. I think you're guiding at $0.55 to $0.60, maybe that's $0.49, so maybe that was a little bit better. Maybe you can just clarify that. And then on the helium headwind for next year, it looks like Q1 is maybe a negative 6%, but then the full year is negative 4%. So that appears to be projected to get better as you move through the year. What's your confidence in that, I guess? And is there a possibility that it could get worse? And then for my second question, just on CapEx, is there a possibility that maybe -- what kind of flex do you have there? Would you go down to maybe $3.5 billion if necessary for fiscal '26? And how soon you make those decisions? What kind of freedom are you giving yourselves to or time to make some more difficult decisions, I guess, if you need to?

Question: Kevin McCarthy - Vertical Research Partners LLC - Analyst : Can you elaborate on the decision to sell to coal gasification projects in Asia curious about what exactly you're divesting, whether you have any firm deals in hand today? If so, cash proceeds and any impact on your sales in Asia?

Question: Kevin McCarthy - Vertical Research Partners LLC - Analyst : Eduardo. My second question is a bit of an unusual one. Would you comment on the market for rare gases, like Crypton, Xenon, Neon, are you seeing any escalation of competitive intensity in Asia? And if so, is it meaningful? Or is it simply too small to matter given the small size of those markets. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 06, 2025 / 2:00PM, APD.N - Q4 2025 Air Products and Chemicals Inc Earnings Call