German industrial gas maker Linde’s 1st-half profit down 34 percent

Linde 1H net profit down 34 percent

FRANKFURT — German industrial gas company Linde AG said Monday that its net profit for the first six months of the year fell 34 percent, citing a difficult market environment and falling business volumes in the recession.

The Munich-based company earned euro248 million ($354 million) in the January-June period, compared with euro375 million in the first half of 2008. Linde did not immediately release earnings for the second quarter.

Linde said sales in the first half fell nearly 13 percent, dropping to euro5.5 billion from euro6.3 billion.