After the Annual General Meeting, eager to discuss with you further and to answer your questions, Benoît Potier visited Lille on May 12, accompanied by two members of the Executive Committee, Émilie Mouren-Renouard and Matthieu Giard.
Shaping the future together
This year’s Annual General Meeting marked a turning point in the Group’s history, as it was the starting point for a new era of governance: after 20 years as CEO of Air Liquide, Benoît Potier handed over his position to François Jackow while remaining Chairman of the Board of Directors. A standing ovation of the assembly acknowledged his speech on the Group’s 20 years of unprecedented growth under his leadership. It was also an opportunity to present Air Liquide’s new strategic plan for 2025, ADVANCE(1), to Shareholders.
For 120 years, Air Liquide has been inventing the future to meet both societal challenges and the changing expectations of its stakeholders, including you, our Shareholders, our Employees, our Customers and our Patients.
Over the last 20 years, the Group has profoundly transformed and modernized, confirming its leading role in providing products, services and technologies in the industrial and healthcare sectors. With ADVANCE, Air Liquide is ready to meet any major challenges ahead.
As Bertrand Piccard, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, reminded us at the Annual General Meeting, sustainable development offers opportunities for development and innovation is the key to creating promising solutions.
(1) See the Special Feature, pp. 6–8.
TESTIMONIAL FROM BERTRAND PICCARD
Hailing from Switzerland, Bertrand Piccard is an explorer, psychiatrist and Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation. A pioneer of clean technology, his explorations have always been driven by his commitment to protecting the planet. In partnership with Air Liquide, he made history when he achieved two great firsts in the aerospace sector: he completed a non-stop trip around the world in a hot air balloon and—more recently, in 2016—he circumnavigated the globe in Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered, zero‑fuel plane.
Our partnership has lasted all these years because we share a pursuit of excellence and have a common vision of a more sustainable world, one that accommodates both economic prosperity and a low-carbon society. Through its businesses, Air Liquide is involved in a number of vital sectors, and its leadership in the green transition is an example for the whole world to follow.
Air Liquide’s 20-year transformation under Benoît Potier
| Revenue as at 12/31/21 | Market capitalization as at 12/31/21 | Number of employees | Number of Shareholders | Number of customers | Geographical expansion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2022 Revenueas at 12/31/21 >€23bn |
2022 Market capitalizationas at 12/31/21 >€72bn |
2022 Number of employees66,400 |
2022 Number of Shareholders+500,000 |
2022 Number of customers3,8M |
2022 Geographical expansion75 countries |
| 2001 | 2001 Revenueas at 12/31/21 €8,3bn |
2001 Market capitalizationas at 12/31/21 €14bn |
2001 Number of employees30,800 |
2001 Number of Shareholders360,000 |
2001 Number of customers1 M |
2001 Geographical expansionVery strong development in China, the United States and the Middle East |