INDUSTRIAL gases group BOC said it was looking for steady progress after a strong first half.
The FTSE 100-listed company, which employs about 80 people on Teesside, recently agreed to a takeover by German chemicals company Linde.
Profits in the three months to the end of March rose by six per cent.
"Our gases business continued to grow strongly throughout the first half year, with better volumes overall and good recovery of higher energy costs in selling prices," chief executive Tony Isaac said in a statement.
Linde said in March it was to buy BOC for £8.2bn in a bid to become the market leader in the industrial gases sector.
The acquisition is expected to be complete by October at the latest.
BOC, which began in 1886 when brothers Arthur and Leon Brin set up Brin's Oxygen Company, employs 30,000 people and serves two million customers in more than 50 countries.
The combined group will have annual sales of about £8.16bn, with the regional strength of BOC in Asia complementing the presence of Linde in Europe and South America.
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