Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (APD)

Air Products reported a loss of $6.47 per share and an operating loss of $2.1 billion for its fiscal third quarter of 2026 3.

The loss came from about $2.9 billion of charges for ending large clean energy projects, chiefly the Louisiana Clean Energy Complex and a hydrogen plant in Casa Grande, Arizona 34.

Without the charges, the everyday business grew: adjusted operating income, which leaves the charges out, was $810 million, up nine percent, on sales of $3.2 billion 3.

Chief executive Eduardo Menezes said the company has “a clear pathway to reduce capital expenditures” 3.

The company raised its fiscal 2026 guidance for adjusted earnings per share to a range of $13.39 to $13.49 and now expects capital spending of about $3.5 billion 3.

The question still open is the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project in Saudi Arabia, which the company expects to deliver green ammonia in 2027, with a sales deal for the ammonia finalized with Yara 13.

Leonard Pool started the company in 1940 on one idea: make oxygen inside the customer's plant instead of shipping it in heavy containers 18.

World War II brought orders for mobile oxygen generators for the armed services, and after the war a long contract with Weirton Steel kept the model alive 8.

In the mid-1950s the company supplied liquid hydrogen to the U.S. defense department, and in the 1960s sales rose 400 percent while earnings rose 500 percent 8.

It also moved into chemicals in 1962 with the purchase of Houdry Chemicals, and later won a 12-year, $281 million contract to supply liquid hydrogen for the space shuttle 8.

In 1986 a ten-year plan added environmental energy as a third core business and pushed the firm abroad, with $1 billion invested in European plants between 1986 and 1993 8.

Seifi Ghasemi became chief executive in 2014 9. The company then pulled back to gases: it announced plans in 2015 to separate its materials business 10.

It spun off electronic materials as Versum on 1 October 2016 and sold the performance materials division to Evonik on 3 January 2017 for $3.8 billion in cash 710.

Clean hydrogen became the big bet: the Louisiana Clean Energy Complex was announced in 2021 as the largest U.S. investment in the company's history, at an expected $4.5 billion 5.

On 30 September 2024 it sold its liquefied natural gas technology business to Honeywell, booking a gain of $1.6 billion 1.

A proxy contest ended in January 2025, and a new chief executive, Eduardo Menezes, took over on 7 February 2025 19.

Fiscal 2025 became a reset year: sales of $12.0 billion fell 1 percent, and exit costs of about $3.6 billion for cancelled projects produced an operating loss of $877.0 million 1.

Industrial gases by region

The core business sells oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, helium and carbon dioxide, and these regional gas sales were over 90 percent of consolidated sales in fiscal 2025 1.

About half of sales come from on-site supply: plants built at or near a customer, under contracts of 15 to 20 years 1.

Its rivals are Air Liquide, Linde and Messer, and it names the electronics, refining and chemicals industries as its main customer concentrations 1.

In the third quarter the Americas had sales of $1.3 billion, Asia $886 million and Europe $816 million 3.

Electricity is the largest cost of making air gases, and contracts pass most energy cost changes on to customers; no single customer is more than 10 percent of sales 1.

Equipment and hydrogen

A smaller equipment business makes air separation gear, turboexpanders (Rotoflow) and helium and hydrogen containers (Gardner Cryogenics), under 10 percent of sales 1.

Most hydrogen it makes is gray hydrogen, made from natural gas without capturing the carbon dioxide 1.

People and places

The company had about 21,300 employees on 30 September 2025, and its headquarters and research site are in Allentown, Pennsylvania 1.

Menezes spent more than three decades at Linde before joining; Melissa Schaeffer is chief financial officer 911.

The Americas segment runs about 445 production and distribution facilities across North and South America 1.

Current problems

Lower helium demand and the cancelled projects cut volumes in fiscal 2025, and project exits led to a $2.9 billion charge in the latest quarter 13.

The umbrella, in words

Air Products owns 51 percent of the Jazan Integrated Gasification and Power Company in Saudi Arabia, which it accounts for as an equity investment, and 50 percent of INOX Air Products in India 1.

Its other equity affiliates include Sapio Produzione Idrogeno Ossigeno in Italy (49 percent) and Chengdu Air & Gas Products in China (50 percent) 1.

It sold a Singapore subsidiary in April 2025 for cash proceeds of $104.3 million 1.

Control is spread: the filing names no controlling holder, and Mantle Ridge, whose founder sits on the board, was reimbursed $24.7 million for proxy contest costs 1.

The company expects fiscal 2026 capital spending of about $3.5 billion and fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $3.55 to $3.65 3.

It expects the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project to come onstream and deliver green ammonia in 2027 1.

Under a long-term agreement, its Air Products San Fu unit will build, own and operate four air separation plants for a chip maker's expansion in Taiwan 3.

Cash spending on the project exits is estimated not to exceed $925 million, with lower spending expected once settlements are final 4.

The company said it expects benefits from new plants, pricing actions and productivity work, while remaining cautious about the economy 3.

It expects its global cost reduction program to save about $240 to $260 million a year before tax once fully carried out 1.

Yara said it would not proceed with buying the Louisiana ammonia assets, Hydrocarbon Processing reported 6.