Praxair Inc. recorded its first year-over-year rise in revenue since the third quarter of 2008, though North American sales still remained tepid.
Danbury-based Praxair is among the world”™s largest suppliers of industrial gases. In the fourth quarters, sales were up slightly from their levels of a year ago at $2.4 billion, and the company”™s profit ballooned to $340 million from $200 million a year ago.
Despite the stabilization of its business in the fourth quarter, Praxair closed 2009 with sales off 17 percent to under $9 billion, but the company expects sales to rebound back to the $10 billion mark this year.
“In North America and Europe our volumes are still sluggish in manufacturing, metal fabrication and non-residential construction markets,” said Steve Angel, CEO of Praxair. “While sales to our steel and chemical customers have begun to pick up, they are still well below 2008 levels. For 2010, we are cautiously optimistic that growth in the U.S. and Europe will continue to improve, but we expect the climb to be slow and deliberate.”
During the quarter, Praxair hiked prices on nitrogen and several other gases by 10 percent in the United States and Canada, and facility fees by the same amount, citing the slowdown in customer demand.
Also during the quarter, Praxair landed contracts to build and operate gas production plants for India Oil Corp. Ltd. in India, and this month the company started up a similar facility in San Jose, Costa Rica, with the plant able to supply distributors throughout the Caribbean and in Panama.
