US company Air Products & Chemicals Inc. is to build an air separation unit in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, through a further joint venture which is to be part of Southern Air Products (Guang…
US company Air Products & Chemicals Inc. is to build an air separation unit in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, through a further joint venture which is to be part of Southern Air Products (Guangzhou). The US$ 29 million deal is Air Products“ fifth investment in China, which will produce more than 300 tonnes per day of liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon and is expected to come on stream in 1997. It has also been announced that Air Products, along with fellow US company, have acquired licences for a novel technology for the production of water-based polyurethane coatings and polyurethane adhesives from Hart Laboratories in Irvine, California, US. The new process enables the production of solvent-free, two-component polyurethane systems that exhibit properties comparable to solvent-based formulations. Air Product acquired the exclusive rights for application of the new process in coatings and paint. Furthermore, the US company has announced that it has achieved record income from operations of US$ 94 million for the second quarter ended March 1996. This compares to last year“s net income of US$ 88 million. Sales of US$ 1 billion were up 3% on the previous year“s figure of US$ 983 million last year. These results exclude an after-tax gain in the current quarter of US$ 41 million from the settlement of certain derivative-related claims. Industrial gas sales for the quarter rose 8%. While operating income was down 9%, gas equity affiliate income was US$ 8 million higher in the quarter.