LINDE PLC

(a)See Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements.

Cash increased $206 million in 2025 versus 2024. The primary sources of cash in 2025 were cash flows from operations of $10,350 million and net debt borrowings of $2,911 million. The primary uses of cash included capital expenditures of $5,261 million, net purchases of ordinary shares of $4,578 million, and cash dividends to shareholders of $2,811 million.

2025 compared with 2024

Cash Flows From Operations

Cash flows from operations were $10,350 million, an increase of $927 million from 2024. The increase was driven primarily by higher net income adjusted for non-cash charges and lower net working capital requirements, including higher inflows for contract liabilities from engineering customer advance payments when compared with 2024.

Investing

Net cash used for investing activities was $5,721 million in 2025 compared to $4,644 million in 2024. The increase was primarily attributable to higher capital expenditures.

Capital expenditures in 2025 were $5,261 million, an increase of $764 million from 2024. Capital expenditures during 2025 related primarily to investments in new plant and production equipment for backlog growth requirements.

Approximately 60% of the capital expenditures were in the Americas segment with 21% in the APAC segment and the rest largely in the EMEA segment.

At December 31, 2025, Linde's sale of gas backlog of large projects under construction was approximately $7.3 billion. This represents the total estimated capital cost of large plants under construction.

Acquisitions, net of cash acquired for 2025 were $412 million, an increase of $95 million from 2024. In 2025, acquisitions were primarily related to the EMEA and APAC segments. Acquisitions in the prior year were $317 million, primarily related to packaged gas businesses in the Americas (see Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements).

Divestitures, net of cash divested and asset sales in 2025 were $42 million compared with $170 million in 2024. Divestiture proceeds in 2024 included $69 million in net proceeds for a divestiture in APAC and a settlement with a supplier in the Americas.

Other investing, net for 2025 was an outflow of $90 million and relates to the cash settlement of foreign exchange contracts designated in a net investment hedging relationship. There were no cash settlements in 2024.

Financing

Linde’s financing strategy is to secure long-term committed funding by issuing public notes and debentures and commercial paper backed by a long-term bank credit agreement. Linde’s international operations are funded through a combination of local borrowing and intercompany funding to minimize the total cost of funds and to manage and centralize currency exchange exposures. As deemed necessary, Linde manages its exposure to interest-rate changes through the use of financial derivatives (see Note 12 to the consolidated financial statements and Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk).

Cash used for financing activities was $4,554 million in 2025 as compared to $4,359 million in 2024. Cash provided by debt was $2,911 million in 2025 versus $3,167 million in 2024, driven primarily by lower net debt issuances in 2025 partially offset by higher commercial paper issuances. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2025, Linde issued €4,000 million Euro-denominated notes and CHF500 million Swiss-franc denominated notes, and redeemed or repaid $1,000 million U.S. dollar-denominated notes and €1,000 million Euro denominated notes (see Note 11).

Net purchases of ordinary shares were $4,578 million in 2025 versus $4,451 million in 2024. For additional information related to share repurchase programs, see Part II Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Cash dividends increased to $2,811 million in 2025 versus $2,655 million in 2024 driven primarily by an 8% increase in dividends per share to $6.00 per share from $5.56 per share, partially offset by lower shares outstanding. Cash used for Noncontrolling interest transactions and other was $76 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 versus cash used of $420 million for the respective 2024 period, driven primarily by cash inflows from financing related derivatives and the collection of notes receivable from the sale of the Company's GIST business (see Note 7).

Linde’s total net debt outstanding at December 31, 2025 was $21,933 million, $5,160 million higher than $16,773 million at December 31, 2024, and included higher foreign currency translation impacts of approximately $2,400 million. The December 31, 2025 net debt balance includes $26,388 million in public securities, and $601 million representing primarily worldwide bank borrowings, net of $5,056 million of cash. Linde’s global effective borrowing rate was approximately 2.3% for 2025.

The company believes that it has sufficient operating flexibility, cash reserves, and funding sources to maintain adequate amounts of liquidity to meet its business needs around the world. At December 31, 2025, Linde's credit ratings as reported by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s were A-1 and P-1 for short-term debt, respectively, and A and A2 for long-term debt, respectively. The company maintains a $5 billion and a $1.5 billion unsecured and undrawn revolving credit agreement with no associated financial covenants. No borrowings were outstanding under the credit agreements as of December 31, 2025. The company does not anticipate any limitations on its ability to access the debt capital markets and/or other external funding sources and remains committed to its strong ratings from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

Note 11 to the consolidated financial statements includes information with respect to the company’s debt activity, current debt position, debt covenants and the available credit facilities; and Note 12 includes information relating to derivative financial instruments. Linde's credit facilities are with major financial institutions and are non-cancelable until maturity. Therefore, the company believes the risk of the financial institutions being unable to make required loans under the credit facilities, if requested, to be low. Linde’s major bank credit and long-term debt agreements contain standard covenants. The company was in compliance with these covenants at December 31, 2025 and expects to remain in compliance for the foreseeable future.