Credit Ratings

Overview

The Linde Group is rated by the rating agencies Moody's, Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Scope Ratings (Scope). An external credit rating is a key prerequisite to access international debt capital markets at attractive funding costs. Linde has publicly communicated a target credit rating in the "strong investment grade" area to investors. This goal is based on, among others, the Group’s stable business model, its solid financial position and very conservative liquidity management. 

In December 2017 S&P affirmed its A+/A-1 long-term and short-term issuer ratings with stable outlooks. The ratings of Moody’s (A2/P-1) and of the European agency Scope (A+/S-1+) remain unchanged with stable outlooks.

The positive rating trend over the last years was primarily based on Linde's excellent business risk profile in terms of stability and profitability as well as the Group's conservative financial policy. The "stable" outlook on all three credit ratings reflects rating agencies' expectation that Linde will continue to balance investment spending and shareholder / bondholder interests. 

Linde Group's current senior credit ratings / issuer ratings:

Rating Agency	Long- term	Short- term	Outlook	Latest publication	Primary Analyst
Moody's	A2	P-1	stable	19.06.2017	Hubert Allemani hubert.allemani@moodys.com Phone +44 (0)20 7772-1785
Standard & Poor's	A+	A-1	stable	01.12.2017	Oliver Kroemker oliver.kroemker@spglobal.com Phone +49 69 33 999-160
Scope Ratings	A+	S-1+	stable	12.07.2017	Olaf Tölke o.toelke@scoperatings.com Phone +49 69 6677389-11

Moody's rating history
 

Standard & Poor's rating history