We increased our profitability still further in the financial year, with Group operating profit (EBITDA (Glossary)) growing at an even faster rate than sales by 18.1 percent to EUR 2.424bn (2006: EUR 2.053bn).

The prior year figures in the Group income statement relate to the continuing operations of The Linde Group. In other words, KION and the BOC Edwards components business have been excluded from the figures and the remaining BOC companies have been included with effect from September 2006. Included in the figures for the 2007 financial year are the earnings of those companies which we have sold as a result of the conditions imposed by the competition authorities on The BOC Group acquisition which relate to the period before the companies were sold.

Earnings before taxes on income (EBT) were EUR 1.375bn, almost four times the comparable figure for the previous year of EUR 363m. Earnings after tax showed a corresponding increase from EUR 219m to EUR 996m. A number of non-recurring items should be taken into account here. On the one hand, EBT and earnings after tax were positively affected by the book profit of EUR 607m on the sale of businesses, while on the other hand they were reduced by the additional amortisation of EUR 446m relating to the purchase price allocation on The BOC Group acquisition. The prior year figures were also adversely affected by transformation costs of EUR 198m.

Earnings per share decreased from EUR 13.30 to EUR 5.87. After adjusting for the amortisation of the fair value adjustments identified in the course of the purchase price allocation and for other non-recurring items, earnings per share rose from EUR 4.66 to EUR 5.02.

The income statement prepared using the cost of sales method shows that The Linde Group made a gross profit of EUR 4.030bn in the 2007 financial year (2006: EUR 2.721bn) after deducting cost of sales.

The income tax rate fell from 39.7 percent in 2006 to 27.6 percent in 2007.

The net financial result (financial income less financial expenses) was a loss of EUR 377m, a greater loss than in 2006 (net financial loss of EUR 242m) as a result of the financing costs of the BOC acquisition relating to the whole year.