CRH expects annual profits to rise 10% on a like-for-like basis, the world’s second-largest building materials supplier said today.
This comes after raising prices by double-digit percentages in the first half.
CRH reported a 13% increase in first-half core earnings to $2.2 billion and expected it to reach $5.5 billion for the year despite a ” still difficult cost environment”.
It said its profit margins rose 90 basis points to 14.7% at the end of June.
Its shares rose today as it said its revenue for the six months to the end of June rose 14% to $15 billion.
CRH said that despite adverse weather conditions impacting business levels in some regions, high prices across all product categories drove comparable sales in Americas Materials by 12% ahead of 2021.
It said its Building Products business benefited from good home repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) and utility infrastructure activity in North America and Europe, as well as contributions from acquisitions. completed in 2021.
In its Europe Materials, CRH said strong pricing momentum across all products and good demand in key markets drove comparable sales up 14% ahead of 2021.
The company also noted that its Irish business had a positive start to the year with strong demand for all key products compared to last year, which was affected by Covid-19 restrictions.
Operating profit was ahead of the same period last year, he added.
After selling its Building Envelope business in April, CRH said it had invested $2.8 billion in acquisitions so far this year, including the purchase of Barrette Outdoor Living for an enterprise value of 1. $9 billion.
“Our portfolio of acquisitions remains strong and our significant balance sheet capacity provides the flexibility to capitalize on these opportunities to deliver additional value to our shareholders,” the company said.
CRH also said it had decided to increase its interim dividend to 24 cents per share, an increase of 4% compared to the same period last year.
“CRH delivered another strong performance with further growth in sales, EBITDA and margin despite a challenging and volatile cost environment,” said the company’s chief executive, Albert Manifold.
“This performance reflects the continued execution of our integrated and sustainable solutions strategy. Looking ahead, despite some ongoing cost headwinds, the strength of our balance sheet and the resilience of our business positions us well to deliver superior value to all of our stakeholders,” he said. added.
Looking ahead, CRH said that in a challenging inflationary cost environment, its Americas Materials division should be supported by resilient underlying demand as well as commercial and operational excellence initiatives.
It said its building products division should benefit from positive underlying demand for residential RMI and utility infrastructure as well as contributions from recent acquisitions.
In Europe Materials, he said he expects the business environment to continue to face inflationary cost pressures, macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.
“Assuming normal weather conditions for the rest of the year and no major upheavals in the macroeconomic environment, we expect EBITDA for the full year to be around 5.5 billion. dollars in a still challenging cost environment,” he added.
CRH said resilient demand for infrastructure projects and repair, maintenance and improvement works would boost its business in the United States, which accounts for 75% of the group’s profits and where it is the largest producer of electricity. asphalt for highway construction.
While adding that macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and inflationary cost pressures would continue to test Europe, Chief Financial Officer Jim Mintern said publicly funded infrastructure projects – which account for 50% of CRH’s total revenues – would support the Eastern European business in the UK.
Residential projects in Europe are cooling but CRH is not experiencing a dramatic drop, Mintern added.
Shares of the company rose in Dublin trading today.
