Recently, Praxair China, a unit of Praxair Inc. (PX), signed a contract with Hainan China Aviation Special Glass Materials Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China Aviation Sanxin Co. Ltd. (CAS) to supply oxygen and high purity nitrogen for a 100% oxy-fuel float glass furnace, the first of its kind in China.
Praxair China will construct an air separation plant for China Aviation Special Glass at its glass production site in Hainan province, South China. It will be the second Praxair facility in the province. A nitrogen plant was built at Haikou in 2005.
China Aviation is a leading manufacturer of specialty glass products such as Low-E energy-saving glass, solar energy glass and curtain walls in China. By introducing the world-class oxy-fuel furnace as well as online Low-E technology from PPG Industries in the U.S. to produce Low-E float glass, China Aviation will be operating the most advanced high-end float glass site in China.
Praxair (China) Investment Co. Ltd is a leading industrial gas provider in China. Headquartered in Shanghai, it has 18 wholly owned companies, 10 joint ventures and over 1200 employees in the country. Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide. However, low natural gas prices have hurt the company’s top-and bottom-line results in the third quarter of 2009, which is likely to continue for the next couple of quarters.
Nevertheless, the auto, steel and chemical industries have announced a significant number of plant start-ups in the second half. Moreover, going forward, management expects its pipeline of new business to remain strong. For the fourth quarter, Praxair expects earnings per share in the range of $1.05 to $1.10. For the full year, Praxair expects sales to be about $9 billion and adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.96 to $4.01. Full-year capital expenditures are expected to be about $1.4 billion. Thus, the company will be in a better position in the medium term.
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