Air Products and Chemicals Inc. APD reported preliminary first-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings per share (EPS) of $2.77 and adjusted EPS of $2.86. The preliminary adjusted EPS exceeds the upper end of the company's previous guidance of $2.

Activist investor Mantle Ridge on Monday won support from a second proxy advisory firm as it battles for board seats at industrial gases company Air Products and Chemicals with an eye to changing strategy and finding a successor for its CEO.

Air Products (NYSE:APD) +2.5% in Monday's trading as proxy advisory firm ISS recommended shareholders elect three of activist investor Mantle Ridge's four director candidates to the company's board, citing concerns with the board's strategy oversight and succession planning for CEO Seifi Ghasemi.