Now that investing in the S&P 500 is going out of fashion, I want to highlight a European alternative with a deep moat. The industrial gases business is steadily growing and monopolistic in nature. There are a few significant players in the world, of which Linde and Air Liquide are clearly the largest. One could even speak of a duopoly, where this duo shares the market and enjoys good margins. It is very difficult for others to challenge their position.
Air Liquide’s valuation is high, with the P/E ratio hovering above thirty, but at this price, you get a high-quality and steadily growing business. As a joker, let’s mention the HYDROGEN card, which is also in the company’s deck.
Wikipedia:
Air Liquide S.A. is a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, after Linde it is the second largest supplier of industrial gases by revenues and has operations in over 70 countries. It has headquarters at the 7th arrondissement of Paris. Air Liquide owned the patent for Aqua-Lung until it expired. Air Liquide’s headquarters are in Paris. It also has major sites in Japan, Houston, Newark, Delaware, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Dubai. The company’s research and development targets the creation of industrial gases, and gases that are used in products such as healthcare items, electronic chips, foods, and chemicals. The major R&D groups within Air Liquide focus on analysis, bioresources, combustion, membranes, modeling, and the production of hydrogen gas.
2024: Building on record margin improvement and major commercial successes fueling future growth, Air Liquide is once again raising its margin ambition
Q4 and full-year 2025 results were released yesterday. They seemed to align quite well with the estimates.
Do you own Kryptoniitti shares? I would be interested to know how much dividend tax a Finnish investor has paid, given that the stock’s domicile is Paris.
Thanks for the info! I wonder if that 25% taken by IB was at source, i.e., withheld in France, and then on top of that, there is the tax withheld by the Finnish tax authorities once you report the dividends on your tax return (which IB presumably doesn’t do automatically)? In which case the total tax would be around 50% (see the table copied from Nordnet below).
On the other hand, if the total tax on the dividend you paid is only 25%, that would be a great thing!
Below is the tax % reported by Nordnet for French dividends. A new tax treaty was indeed signed between Finland and France in 2023. Its implementation has reportedly been delayed and it may come into force in 2027 at the earliest. Since Nordnet is also a company registered in Sweden, I don’t know how that further affects the situation. These are complex matters. The motivation to invest in these Paris-listed stocks increases significantly if the dividend tax is handled correctly, and that’s why I’m checking with you owners to see how it has worked out.
It seems that IB withholds 25% and it stays in baguette land. According to the tax treaty, the tax should be 0%, so Finland then taxes it on top as if no withholding had been made at all—meaning an extra 25.5% on top of that, I guess. It didn’t really become clear from the tax decision either.
