German industrial gases company Linde AG said Tuesday that net profit for 2008 fell by a quarter as demand dropped, particularly in the final months of the year, due to the global economic crisis.
The Munich-based company said net profit for the full year fell to euro717 million ($903 million) from euro952 million in the same period a year ago.
Sales in 2008 rose nearly 3 percent to euro13 billion from euro12.3 billion in 2007.
Linde engineers and builds chemical and gas plants and produces gases, including hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and argon, for the medical, industrial and scientific fields.
Linde did not provide fourth quarter earnings figures in its statement, nor did it give an outlook for the current year, but said it would provide more earnings information on March 16.
"We have achieved our targets in full, although even we began to feel the effects of the global recession at the end of the year," Wolfgang Reitzle, the company's chief executive, said in a statement.
Despite the downturn late last year, Reitzle noted the company saw good demand for its products and services in emerging markets, especially Asia, as well as in parts of Europe.
The company has said in the past it aims to have operating profit of more than euro3 billion by 2010, though that goal may be difficult to achieve now as building and production sector businesses are particularly hard hit by the global recession.
Linde shares were 2.3 percent higher to euro51.12 in Frankfurt afternoon trading.
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