Air Liquide: Beyond plan with €40 billion capital allocation and €4 billion share buyback

Two financial targets: EPS and ROCE

Air Liquide unveiled Beyond, its strategic plan with a 2030 horizon, which takes over from the Advance plan conducted over the 2022-2025 period. The group selected three key objectives. The first concerns recurring net earnings per share: its average annual progression is targeted at +10% (±2%), calculated as a compound annual growth rate from end-2025 to end-2030 based on 2025 exchange rates. The second objective concerns the return on capital employed. Recurring ROCE, calculated excluding strategic acquisitions, must exceed 11% by 2030. The group specifies that this target will be achieved while its industrial investments will progress significantly over the period. The third objective is environmental: Air Liquide continues to pursue a 33% reduction in its CO2 emissions from scopes 1 and 2 by 2035 compared to 2020, according to scenarios compatible with a 1.5°C trajectory. The group still aims for carbon neutrality by 2050. These targets apply to a group present in 59 countries, which has approximately 65,000 employees and achieved revenue of nearly €27 billion in 2025. The indicators used will be defined in 2027, upon implementation of IFRS 18 standard. Chief Executive Officer François Jackow summed up the roadmap in these terms: "taking a new step forward in sustainable value creation".

Three levers: sales, margin and capital allocation

To achieve its earnings per share objective, Air Liquide identified three complementary levers. The first is an average annual revenue growth of +5% (±1%) from end-2025 to end-2030, at 2025 exchange rates and energy prices, with acquisition scope effects included. The group places this pace at two to three times that of industrial output. The second lever is an improvement in operating margin of +400 to +600 basis points. It is calculated as the sum of annual improvements, at the prior year's energy price, over the 2026-2030 period. The group is counting notably on the simplification of its organization, standardization of processes, centralization of procurement and artificial intelligence, broken down into five dedicated roadmaps. The third lever is a capital allocation of more than €40 billion between 2026 and 2030, which combines investments, acquisitions, dividends and share buybacks. This total includes targeted acquisitions and DIG Airgas, but excludes any other strategic acquisition. More than half will be devoted to industrial investments and acquisitions, with industrial investment decisions of approximately €24 billion over the period. According to the definitions published in the appendix, these levers are parameters that management can deploy with variable intensity: these are not numerical targets. For shareholders, the board of directors validated the share buyback program, which will be conducted over 2027-2028, in addition to a regular dividend policy. Share subscriptions reserved for employees will also become annual.

Electronics and artificial intelligence, engines of growth

The plan targets four strategic markets: electronics and artificial intelligence, energy transition, healthcare (with a focus on home healthcare) and space, in which the group is positioning itself toward private actors. Electronics is the only one of these markets for which a detailed numerical trajectory is provided. Air Liquide anticipates weighted average annual sales growth of +10% in 2026-2030, including the DIG Airgas acquisition. More than half of this growth is already secured by long-term contracts. This segment represents approximately 50% of the group's investment opportunities at 12 months. This direction extends a recent announcement: on September 30, 2026, the group announced an investment of more than €170 million in Japan, backed by a long-term agreement with a chip manufacturer for the supply of ultra-pure gases. The plan also sets a new target of 10% reduction in water withdrawals by 2030 compared to 2025.