Linde
LIN · NasdaqA $425 million cost program charge cut Linde's operating profit in a quarter when price and volume both lifted sales
Q3 FY2026, the quarter to Sep 30, 2026 · 10-Q filed Oct 29, 2026
- Operating margin
- 22.9%
- Net income
- $1.7B
- Free cash flow, quarter
- $1.8B
Largest source of revenue: Americas, 38.3% of the total.
Where Linde's money goes
- 01
Sales rose 9.2% to $9,404 million from $8,615 million
The filing breaks the growth down: higher price attainment added 3% and volumes 2%, the volumes "primarily driven by the electronics, chemicals and energy, and manufacturing end markets". Currency, acquisitions, cost pass-through and engineering sales made up the rest.
- 02
The Americas led on price
Pricing added 6% to segment sales, "primarily from ongoing price actions in addition to recovery of costs incurred in the current and prior periods", and volumes 3%, for growth of 10.7%. APAC grew fastest, 12.0%, with volumes up 5% from electronics, chemicals and energy, and project start-ups. EMEA grew 6.8%, with price adding 2% and volume 1%.
- 03
Under the charge, costs moved in both directions
Cost of sales grew 13.3%, faster than sales, and rose to 52.8% of sales from 50.8%, which the filing puts down to "higher costs and cost pass-through". SG&A fell 0.6% to $892 million and depreciation rose 0.4%, so both shrank as a share of sales. Employees fell to 64,512 from 65,489, which the filing ties to "the ongoing impact of cost reduction programs".
Source: Linde Q3 FY2026 10-Q, filed Oct 29, 2026.
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Growth, profit and margin
Revenue went from $10.5B in FY2016 to $34.0B in FY2025, the operating margin from 21.3% to 26.3%, over 9 years.
- Revenue$34.0B
- Operating income$8.9B
- Operating margin26.3%
- Period
- Q3 FY2026
- Revenue
- $9.4B
- Operating income
- $2.2B
- Operating margin
- 22.9%
- Net income
- $1.7B
- Free cash flow
- $1.8B
Does the profit turn into cash?
Q3 FY2026: free cash flow of $1.8B against net income of $1.7B in the quarter.
- Operating cash flow$10.4B
- Capital expenditure$5.3B
- Free cash flow$5.1B
- Net income$6.9B
Capital expenditure is drawn below the axis as cash out. Cash conversion is operating cash flow over net income, shown in the tooltip for years with a profit.
Financial data and sources
How the revenue mix has shifted
Each breakdown the filing reports, as shares of revenue, for every period it restates.
Segment Information (Details). The filing restates this breakdown for 1 period.
Click a member to isolate it across the years shown.
The figures
Margins, cash and growth for the period, each with what it was computed from.
Not reported, or not derivable
- gross margin: the company reports expenses by nature: no cost of revenue or gross profit line exists
Where revenue comes from
Every breakdown the filing reports for the period, with each item's share.
Segments
| Americas | $3.6B | 38.3% |
| Emea | $2.3B | 24.7% |
| Apac | $2.0B | 20.7% |
| Other | $944.0M | 10.0% |
| Engineering | $582.0M | 6.2% |
ConsolidationItems
| Operating Segments | $9.4B | 100.0% |
| Intersegment Eliminations | $114.0M | 1.2% |
These items do not sum to total revenue; the filing states them beside it. Source10-Q, us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29
ContractWithCustomerSalesChannel
| Packaged Gas | $3.1B | 33.5% |
| Merchant | $2.9B | 31.1% |
| On-Site | $2.2B | 22.9% |
| Other | $1.2B | 12.5% |
What it costs
The cost lines beneath operating income, each as a share of revenue, then the operating result.
Costs are reported by nature: what they are (food, labor, occupancy, personnel, marketing), not what they were for, so there is no cost-of-revenue line and no gross profit.
| Cost line | Q3 FY2026 | Of revenue | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of sales, exclusive of depreciation and amortization | $5.0B | 52.8% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:CostOfGoodsAndServiceExcludingDepreciationDepletionAndAmortization, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Selling, general and administrative | $892.0M | 9.5% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:SellingGeneralAndAdministrativeExpense, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Depreciation and amortization | $965.0M | 10.3% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:DepreciationAndAmortization, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Research and development | $37.0M | 0.4% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Cost reduction program and other charges | $425.0M | 4.5% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:RestructuringCharges, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Operating Profit | $2.2B | 22.9% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
Operating income by segment
Where the operating profit is earned, as the filing reports it.
Segments
| Americas | $1.3B | 58.7% |
| Emea | $817.0M | 38.0% |
| Apac | $534.0M | 24.8% |
| Engineering | $107.0M | 5.0% |
| Other | $42.0M | 2.0% |
Shares of operating income. The segments do not sum to the total; the filing states them beside it. Source10-Q, us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29
Operating figures the company states
From the text of the filing rather than its statements, each with the sentence that states it.
View source
The Americas segment includes Linde's industrial gases operations in approximately 20 countries including the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
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Pricing increased sales by 6% in the quarter, primarily from ongoing price actions in addition to recovery of costs incurred in the current and prior periods.
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Volumes increased sales by 3% both in the quarter and year-to-date periods primarily driven by the electronics, chemicals and energy, and metals and mining end markets.
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The APAC segment includes Linde's industrial gases operations in approximately 15 Asian and South Pacific countries and regions including China, Australia, India, and South Korea.
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Higher p ricing increased sales by 3% in the quarter and 2% year-to-date.
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Volumes increased sales by 5% both in the quarter and year-to-date periods, primarily driven by electronics and chemicals and energy end markets and project start-ups.
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The EMEA segment includes Linde's industrial gases operations in approximately 50 European, Middle Eastern and African countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the Republic of South Africa and Sweden.
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Higher price attainment increased sales by 2% both in the quarter and the year-to-date periods.
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Volumes increased sales by 1% in the quarter and decreased sales by 1% year-to-date.
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The number of employees at September 30, 2026 was 64,512, a decrease of 977 employees from September 30, 2025 due to the ongoing impact of cost reduction programs, partially offset by acquisitions.
View source
Higher price attainment increased sales by 3% both in the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2026.
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At September 30, 2026, Linde's sale of gas backlog of large projects under construction was approximately $7.9 billion.
View source
Volumes increased sales by 2% both in the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2026 primarily driven by the electronics, chemicals and energy, and manufacturing end markets
The statements, as filed
The income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet in the company's own order and words. Every line links to the filing.
Income statement21 lines, as presented in the 10-Q
Cash flow statement5 lines, as presented in the 10-Q
Year to date, as a quarterly filing reports it.
| Line | Q3 FY2026 | A year earlier | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operations | ||||
| Net income - Linde plc | $1.69B | $1.93B | -12% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Add: Noncontrolling interests | $48.0M | $43.0M | +12% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:NetIncomeLossAttributableToNoncontrollingInterest, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Net Income (including noncontrolling interests) | $1.74B | $1.97B | -12% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:ProfitLoss, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: | ||||
| Depreciation and amortization | $965.0M | $961.0M | +0.4% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:DepreciationAndAmortization, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
| Increase (Decrease) in Cash and Cash Equivalents | ||||
| Cash and cash equivalents, end-of-period | $3.95B | $4.51B | -12% | Source10-Q, us-gaap:CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents, as reported in the 10-Q filed 2026-10-29 |
Balance sheet30 lines, as presented in the 10-Q
About this data
- Source
- Linde 10-Q, accession 0001628280-26-068079, filed Oct 29, 2026, read on Nov 2, 2026.
- History
- From the SEC's XBRL company facts, the value from the latest filing that stated each period.
- Reading
- Paragraphs marked Analysis are CXProWealth's reading; everything else is the filing's own numbers and words, or a cited source.
- Version
- methodology business-lens-1.0 · schema 1.2.0 · run business-lens-2026-11-02
What holds Linde's model up, and what could bend it
Competitive edge
Contracts that pass energy costs through
Linde builds plants at a large customer's site and sells the output under long contracts that bill energy cost changes back to the customer. The filing describes cost pass-through as "the contractual billing of energy cost variances primarily to on-site customers". Revenue moves with power prices; profit mostly does not. The supplier earns on owning and running the asset, not on guessing the price of energy.
Pricing power on a dense delivery network
Packaged and merchant gas travel by truck and cylinder from local plants.
The detail
AnalysisGas is cheap to make and costly to move, so the supplier with the nearest plant and the densest route has the lowest cost to serve, and a customer's gas bill is small next to the cost of running out. That gives the incumbent room to raise prices steadily without losing the account.
A backlog of plants built against contracts
Linde spends ahead of revenue, building large plants against signed supply contracts.
The detail
AnalysisThe filing calls the result a "sale of gas backlog": the estimated capital cost of large plants under construction. Growth arrives in steps as each plant starts up, and the money is committed long before the revenue appears.1
What to watch
A risk the company names
The quarterly report says there have been "no material changes" to the risk factors in the latest annual report, so the full list sits there. The risk this report names directly is currency: results of non-U.S. operations are translated into dollars, and the filing warns that "such currency movements may materially impact Linde’s results of operations in any given period".
A risk the company names
Cost inflation is named as the main offset to profit, in the consolidated results and in each of the three gas regions. The company says it covers it with higher pricing and productivity initiatives, and in the Americas with "recovery of costs incurred in the current and prior periods".
The U.S. homecare business is a named weak spot
This quarter the company moved it out of the Americas segment into Other, took non-cash charges "primarily related to the U.S. homecare business", and says Other's operating profit fell "primarily due to declines in the U.S. homecare business".
Sources
- 1.Linde 10-Q for the period to 2026-09-30 (the filing), Oct 29, 2026, read Nov 2, 2026
Linde, further in
Member research, then your own questions on ChatGPT.
What could change the outlook
What Linde's numbers depend on from here, read from the filing: the conditions behind this period's margins and growth, and where a change would show first.
4 readings of what has to hold for this period's results to continue, each tied to a figure in the filing.
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Have a question about Linde?
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Business Lens describes Linde from its own filings with the SEC. It is not a view on its shares, a target, or advice to buy, sell or hold anything; figures are as filed and may be restated by the company later. The filing, the dates and the version are under the financial data above.