February 20, 2026 [Reuters]- French industrial gases group Air Liquide expects to increase its operating margin by 1 percentage point per year until 2027, it said on Friday, after its annual earnings narrowly beat market expectations.

The company, which supplies gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen to factories and hospitals, confirmed its 2026 goal for an increase of 100 basis points in its operating profit margin, and said it expected a similar jump in the following year.

That should lead to an overall rise of 560 basis points over the 2022-2027 period, it said. It had previously provided targets only until the end of this year.

Air Liquide reported slightly higher than expected recurring operating income of 5.58 billion euros ($6.56 billion) for 2025, while analysts polled by Vara Research were expecting 5.56 billion euros on average. That translated to an operating margin of 20.7%.

Shares of the company rose 3.6% by 0905 GMT, as J.P. Morgan analysts called the update reassuring and Jefferies highlighted a big beat for the annual dividend proposal in their first takes on the report.

Air Liquide said it would propose a dividend of 3.70 euros per share, up 12.1% from a year ago.

Industrial gases continue to look relatively resilient versus broader European chemicals, as the European Union’s chemical competitiveness remains under pressure from weak demand and high energy costs. Rival Linde’s annual results still reflected soft volumes in the EMEA region, underscoring the European weakness.

Sales in Air Liquide’s gas and services business, which accounts for 97% of the group total, grew 2% on a comparable basis to 26.09 billion euros last year.