Wiesbaden, February 22, 2006 - The Executive Board of Linde AG (ISINDE0006483001) today agreed the financial statements of Linde AG and Linde Group for the fiscal year 2005 and recommended that they be approved by the Supervisory Board. The meeting of the Supervisory Board to approve the financial statements is on March 3.
The key audited financial figures of the Group for fiscal 2005: Sales increased by 7.3 percent to 9.501 billion euro (2004: 8.856 billion euro). Operating profit (EBITA) improved by 18.0 percent to 913 million euro (2004: 774 million euro). Earnings before taxes on income (EBT) rose from 622 million euro to 789 million euro and net income after minority interests was 501 million euro (2004: 380 million euro). Earnings per share increased as a result to 4.19 euro (2004: 3.19 euro). Cash flow from operating activities of 1.435 billion euro was 14.3 percent higher than the prior year figure of 1.255 billion euro. Free cash flow improved by 16.8 percent to 612 million euro (2004: 524 million euro).
Against the background of these overall positive business trends, the Executive Board of Linde AG recommends to the Supervisory Board that it proposes a resolution at the Shareholders' Meeting on May 4, 2006 to increase the dividend from 1.25 euro to 1.40 euro per share.
Linde will be presenting detailed information about the 2005 fiscal year and the performance of the individual business segments at its press conference on the annual results on March 6, 2006 in Frankfurt am Main.]