Financial Instruments and Derivative Financial Instruments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Financial Instruments and Derivative Financial Instruments

Financial Instruments and Derivative Financial Instruments

Concentrations of Credit Risks:  We sell our products to gas producers, distributors and end-users across the industrial gas, hydrocarbon, chemical processing, respiratory therapy, and cryobiological storage industries in countries all over the world. Approximately 44%, 44%, and 48% of sales were to customers in foreign countries in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Sales to Praxair and Linde, which combined in 2018, exceeded 10% of consolidated sales in 2018 on a combined basis and represented approximately $121.6 or 11.2% of consolidated sales in 2018 (attributable to all of our segments). Sales to Air Liquide, exceeded 10% of consolidated sales in 2016, and represented approximately $90.6 or 12.5% of consolidated sales in 2016 (attributable to all of our segments). In 2017, no single customer accounted for more than 10% of consolidated sales. Sales to our top ten customers accounted for 39%, 38% and 41% of consolidated sales in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Our sales to particular customers fluctuate from period to period, but the large industrial gas producer and distributor customers of ours tend to be a consistently large source of revenue for us.

We are subject to concentrations of credit risk with respect to our cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents and forward foreign currency exchange contracts. To minimize credit risk from these financial instruments, we enter into arrangements with major banks and other quality financial institutions and invest only in high-quality instruments. We do not expect any counterparties to fail to meet their obligations.

The changes in fair value with respect to our foreign currency forward contracts generated a net loss of $0.8 for the year ended December 31, 2018, a net gain of $0.5 for the year ended December 31, 2017 and a net loss of $0.8 for the year ended December 31, 2016.