Air Products & Chemicals (APD) swung to a net profit for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2017. The company has made a net profit of $2,130 million, or $ 9.70 a share in the quarter, against a net loss of $473.30 million, or $2.17 a share in the last year period. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $314.20 million, or $1.43 a share compared with $297.90 million or $1.37 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 11.40 percent to $1,980.10 million from $1,777.40 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 265 basis points over the previous year period to 29.10 percent. Total expenses were 80.24 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 79.09 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 115 basis points in operating margin to 19.76 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $391.20 million, compared with $371.60 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter stood at $405.60 million compared to $391.70 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin contracted 155 basis points in the quarter to 20.48 percent from 22.04 percent in the last year period.

Commenting on the results for the quarter, Seifi Ghasemi, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, "For the twelfth consecutive quarter, Air Products reported higher adjusted EPS growth versus prior year. This performance is entirely due to the commitment and dedication of our people around the world as they continue implementing our strategic Five-Point Plan. We had excellent safety performance, and despite the margin decline, our adjusted EPS increased four percent versus prior year and adjusted ROCE increased 70 basis points to 12.3 percent," he said.

For the third-quarter 2017, On an adjusted basis, the company expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $1.55 to $1.60.

For fiscal year 2017, the company expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $6 to $6.25 on adjusted basis.

Air Products & Chemicals has generated cash of $861.20 million from operating activities during the first half, down 3.24 percent or $28.80 million, when compared with the last year period.

The company has spent $1,952.40 million cash to meet investing activities during the first six months as against cash outgo of $436.40 million in the last year period. It has incurred net capital expenditure of $518.70 million on net basis during the first six months, up 19.54 percent or $84.80 million from year ago period.

The company has spent $1,661.80 million cash to carry out financing activities during the first six months as against cash outgo of $401.80 million in the last year period.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $1,869.30 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, up 497.03 percent or $1,556.20 million from $313.10 million on Mar. 31, 2016.

Working capital turns positive

Working capital of Air Products & Chemicals has turned positive to $2,691.80 million on Mar. 31, 2017 from negative $807.90 million on Mar. 31, 2016. Current ratio was at 2.03 as on Mar. 31, 2017, up from 0.79 on Mar. 31, 2016.

Days sales outstanding went down to 56 days for the quarter compared with 68 days for the same period last year.

Days inventory outstanding has decreased to 10 days for the quarter compared with 49 days for the previous year period.