Strong first-half performance for CRH

International building materials group reports strong sales and EBITDA from continuing operations

CRH plc, the international building materials group, have reported a 13% increase in sales, to €9.4 billion, for the six months ended 30 June 2015. Operating profit was up €18 million to €189 million, and pre-tax profit was up €2 million to €63 million over the same period.

Sales from continuing operations increased by 17% (up 3% in Europe and up 32% in the Americas), while EBITDA from continuing operations was up 29% (up 4% in Europe and up 57% in the Americas).

More than half of CRH’s multi-year divestment programme of c.€1.5–2.0 billion is now complete, with first-half divestment/disposal proceeds amounting to €670 million, while the company’s first-half acquisition/investment spend reached €113 million.

With the acquisition of European and American assets from Lafarge and Holcim now complete, the company says its near-term focus will be strongly on integration, to maximize the potential of the acquired assets.

It added that incremental cost savings of €28 million to date in 2015 were on track with the full-year target of €75 million, while net debt of €1.2 billion was €2.5 billion lower than at 30 June 2014.

CRH’s chief executive, Albert Manifold (pictured), said: ‘We are on track to deliver another year of growth in 2015. Trading in the Americas has been good and, against a mixed macro-economic backdrop, underlying trading in Europe is broadly in line.

‘We have made good progress towards achieving our goal of restoring margins and returns to peak over the cycle, with further margin improvement in each operating division. We have also recycled capital from non-core divestments into value-creating acquisitions, while maintaining a disciplined, efficient balance sheet.

‘We are now applying CRH rigour to these new businesses to integrate them efficiently and to drive performance.’