Gases: an invisible industry with a hi-vis future

With successive waves of on-off tariffs battering stock portfolios, investors the world over are looking for sheltered spots. Industrial gases, used in construction, manufacturing and hospitals, fit the bill. Companies in this space, with €87bn in annual revenue, already live in a deglobalised world. Shunting the likes of oxygen, nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide around is expensive, so customers are served on-site or nearby. More than four-fifths of sales at each of the big three — Linde, registered in Ireland, France’s Air Liquide and Air Products of the US — are local, Bernstein analysts calculate; international sales are minimal. There is a lot of visibility in the “invisible industry”. Buyers and suppliers strike 15-20 year contracts, which are protected from political whims. These generate recurring income via kit rented out on a long-term basis at customer sites. Chunky backlogs, to the tune of $10bn-plus at Linde and €4.5bn at Air Liquide, provide ballast. A slowing economy, t

saved by

• Sarhaan Gulati