AIR LIQUIDE : On the road with CEO François Jackow

Research evidence excerpt

AIR LIQUIDE : On the road with CEO François Jackow

EQUITIES

CHEMICALS

AIR LIQUIDE OUTPERFORMPRICE* EUR174.5  TARGET PRICE EUR200 (UPSIDE 15%)

AIR LIQUIDE ADR OUTPERFORMPRICE* USD40.6  TARGET PRICE USD47 (UPSIDE 16%)

FLASH NOTE

On the road with CEO François Jackow

19 MAY 2026 Securities Research Report Production time: 20:46* (London time)

Research Analyst & Publishing Entities

Laurent Favre, CFA BNP Paribas London Branch (+44) 203 430 8518 laurent.g.favre@uk.bnpparibas.com

We hosted Air Liquide’s CEO in Paris today

The meetings conveyed a generally bullish tone. We sensed high confidence on management’s ability to achieve the

200bp targeted improvement in margins through 2026-27, and that this 100bp/year pace won't necessarily collapse

from 2028 as consensus suggests ("could be a bit more, could be a bit less"). Combining this point with growth prospects

in electronics and decarbonisation, plus eventually a base business/industrial production improvement, we came away

with further conviction of their ability to drive LDD EPS CAGR towards €11 by 2030. At a 27x PE that would imply a

€300‑share valuation and a LDD+ IRR through 2029 – similar to the case we articulated recently for peer Linde.

Tactical note: Our interpretation of all the comments regarding current conditions is that “Q2 organic growth = Q1”

soft‑guide highlighted on the Q1 call is likely on the conservative side, barring any adverse developments in the next

five weeks.

Points of colour

- Current trading – The update was largely reassuring. Pricing is tracking in-line to ahead of the first wave of

inflation. No major supply‑chain disruptions have been reported at the customer level.

o Europe: Healthcare volumes are solid; merchant volumes remain low and flat. Steel shows a gradual