Linde India Q1 FY26 + FY25 Recap: The Oxygen King Trading at 123x P/E

1. At a Glance

Linde India sells oxygen and nitrogen like they’re iPhones — indispensable, premium-priced, and with long waiting lists. But while the company generates 32% EBITDA margins, it’s also flaunting a P/E of 123 — higher than some AI stocks. This is the paradox: steady boring gases, priced like ChatGPT hype.

2. Introduction

When you think of oxygen, you think of survival. When you think of Linde India, you think of a company that literally made a fortune during COVID by supplying hospitals with medical oxygen. But don’t be fooled — 80% of their sales come from industrial gases for steel, refineries, chemicals, and glass. The other 20% is from building massive cryogenic plants (PED division) — basically, large steel pressure cookers for air.

The company is 75% owned by BOC UK (part of Linde Plc, the world’s largest industrial gas company). Which means strategy is global, but execution is desi: 14 plants across India, supplying to IOCL, BPCL, JSW, SAIL, Tata Steel. If there’s a blast furnace running in India, chances are Linde’s pipeline is connected to it like an umbilical cord.

So why the -22% 1-year stock fall? Because growth has slowed, order books look patchy, and SEBI probes into related-party transactions gave the stock a black eye. The result: high-quality, monopoly-like business, but trading like it already cured cancer.

Question: Would you pay 123x earnings for oxygen, when actual oxygen is free?

3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?

Linde India runs three cylinders of business:

Gases & Related Products (≈85%)
- Pipeline gases: captive supply agreements with steel & refineries. Think 15–20 year annuity contracts.
- Bulk liquid gases: delivered in cryogenic tankers — nitrogen, oxygen, argon.
- Packaged gases: cylinders for fabrication, welding, pharma.
- Healthcare: medical oxygen, nitrous oxide, synthetic air → hospitals are sticky clients.
Project Engineering Division (≈15%)
- EPC contractor for Air Separation Units (ASUs).
- Order book was ~₹1,100 Cr (2020), but project execution is lumpy.
- PED is less margin-rich, more cyclical.
New Energy Push
- Renewables sourcing for ASUs at Dahej/Taloja.
- Small equity JVs in solar SPVs.
- Green hydrogen buzzwords thrown in — still tiny compared to core gases.

Bottom line: A toll-collector model in gases (steady, predictable) + project-based EPC (cyclical, volatile).

4. Financials Overview

Source table

Metric	Latest Qtr (Jun’25)	YoY Qtr (Jun’24)	Prev Qtr (Mar’25)	YoY %	QoQ %
Revenue (₹ Cr)	571	653	592	-12.6%	-3.5%
EBITDA (₹ Cr)	197	184	210	7.1%	-6.2%
PAT (₹ Cr)	105	112	118	-6.3%	-11.0%
EPS (₹)	12.3	13.1	13.8	-6.3%	-11.0%

Commentary:

Top line shrank double-digits YoY.
Margins held strong at ~34%.
EPS annualized ≈ ₹49, matching FY25 actuals.
At CMP ₹6,379 → P/E 123x. That’s rarer air than Mount Everest.

5. Valuation Discussion – Fair Value Range Only

Method 1: P/E Multiple

EPS (TTM): ₹51.8.
Industry PE (industrial

To Read Full 16 Point

Join 10,000+ investors who read this every week.