| in € million | 2004 | 2003 | Change | |||||
| Share | ||||||||
| Closing price | € | 46.06 | 42.70 | 7.9 % | ||||
| Year high | € | 49.10 | 43.40 | 13.1 % | ||||
| Year low | € | 40.50 | 22.80 | 77.6 % | ||||
| Market capitalization | 5,496 | 5,092 | 7.9 % | |||||
| Per share | ||||||||
| Earnings | € | 2.30 | 0.91 | n/a | ||||
| Dividend | € | 1.25 | 1.13 | n/a | ||||
| Cash flow (Glossary) from operating activities | € | 10.47 | 10.74 | n/a | ||||
| No. of shares (in 000s) | 119,327 | 119,262 | n/a | |||||
| Group | ||||||||
| Sales | 9,421 | 8,992 | 4.8 % | |||||
| Incoming orders | 9,637 | 9,079 | 6.1 % | |||||
| EBITA (Glossary) before special items | 785 | 683 | 14.9 % | |||||
| EBITA | 785 | 556 | 41.2 % | |||||
| Earnings before taxes on income (EBT) | 518 | 287 | 80.5 % | |||||
| Net income | 274 | 108 | 153.7 % | |||||
| Return on capital employed (ROCE (Glossary)) before special items | 9.5 % | 7.7 % | n/a | |||||
| EBITA return on sales before special items | 8.3 % | 7.6 % | n/a | |||||
| Capital expenditure (excluding financial assets) |
987 | 856 | 15.3 % | |||||
| Cash flow from operating activities | 1,249 | 1,281 | –2.5 % | |||||
| Equity | 4,081 | 3,886 | 5.0 % | |||||
| Total assets | 11,591 | 11,915 | –2.7 % | |||||
| Number of employees at December 31 | 41,383 | 46,164 | –10.4 % |
| Business segments 2004 in € million |
Sales | Incoming orders | EBITA | Capital ex- penditure1) |
Number of employees | |||||
| Gas and Engineering | 5,406 | 5,394 | 684 | 511 | 21,787 | |||||
| Linde Gas | 4,003 | 4,007 | 640 | 528 | 17,570 | |||||
| Linde Engineering | 1,581 | 1,525 | 69 | 13 | 4,217 | |||||
| Material Handling | 3,372 | 3,442 | 191 | 428 | 18,878 | |||||
| Refrigeration | 578 | 733 | 9 | 17 | – |
| 1) | Excluding financial assets. |