Linde Group
Linde is an international technology group which has a leading market position in both its business segments, Gas and Engineering, and Material Handling. After the sale of the Linde Refrigeration business segment at the end of the third quarter, we achieved sales in fiscal 2004 of 9.421 billion EUR with some 41,000 employees worldwide.

We will continue to concentrate on the expansion of our international business and pursue with vigor our strategy of earnings-based growth. With forward-looking products and services, we are well-positioned not only in our core markets of Germany and Europe but also in the growth markets of Asia, the United States and Eastern Europe.

Gas and Engineering
The Gas and Engineering business segment comprises our activities both in industrial and medical gases and in plant construction. Both these areas benefit from mutual exchanges of expertise on major projects in all regions of the world. An example of this successful cooperation is our on-site business, where Linde Gas and Linde Engineering work together to supply major industrial consumers with industrial gases from plants installed directly on the customer’s own site.

As a leading international supplier of industrial and medical gases, we are also focusing on expanding our fast-growing Healthcare section and are in the vanguard of the development of environment-friendly hydrogen technology.

Linde Engineering, with its technological focus on promising market segments such as hydrogen, oxygen and olefin plants and natural gas processing plants, is successful throughout the world. In contrast to virtually all our competitors, we have extensive process engineering know-how in the planning, project development and construction of turnkey industrial plants.

Material Handling
With its three brands, Linde, STILL and OM Pimespo, as well as its strategic partner Komatsu, our Material Handling business segment is one of the biggest manufacturers of industrial trucks in the world. Very few of our competitors are able to offer, as we do, a complete range of products: engine-powered forklift trucks, electric trucks and warehouse equipment. Our business success in this segment is based on products at the cutting edge of technology and an extensive range of service options from financing to full fleet management, and we are strengthening our position as a leading service provider in all areas of intralogistics.