Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is a world-leading industrial gases company that produces and sells atmospheric gases — oxygen, nitrogen, and argon — and process gases including hydrogen, helium, carbon monoxide, and syngas to customers in refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, medical, and food industries across roughly 50 countries, generating $12.0 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025. Founded in Detroit in 1940, the company operates through five reportable segments — Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East and India, and Corporate — and supplies gases through three modes: long-term on-site contracts that account for roughly half of sales, shorter-cycle merchant deliveries, and equipment sales.

This is a story about an industrial franchise in transition. For almost a decade, Air Products pursued an ambitious clean-hydrogen strategy — committing billions to mega-projects, accumulating $17.7 billion in debt, and running deeply negative free cash flow — under former CEO Seifi Ghasemi. In February 2025, the board replaced him with Eduardo Menezes, a 30-year Praxair/Linde veteran, following a bruising proxy contest with activist Mantle Ridge. Menezes promptly initiated a portfolio review that has produced $6.6 billion in cumulative pre-tax charges for cancelled and descoped projects through June 2026, including a further $2.9 billion in the most recent quarter. The core industrial gas business, meanwhile, generates roughly $5 billion in adjusted EBITDA with margins north of 40% — a franchise-quality earnings stream obscured by non-cash write-downs.

The file turns on a single question: whether Menezes can import the capital discipline of his Praxair/Linde background fast enough to restore free cash flow and preserve the dividend before the balance sheet forces more difficult choices.