25th Feb 2014 12:13
(An item published at 0948 GMT, and headlines published at 0709 GMT, misstated some profit and revenue figures. The correct version follows.)
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish building-materials group CRH PLC Tuesday said it swung to a loss in 2013, as bad weather hurt trading and it progressed with a review of the business.
Last year CRH said it would embark on a detailed review of its portfolio which could see a number of its assets sold. It said this will allow it to focus on the assets that deliver better returns to shareholders and to help it prioritise where it spends its capital to ensure profitable growth across its network of businesses
"We believe that 2013 represents the trough in our profits, and that 2014 will be a year of profit growth," Chief Executive Albert Manifold said in a statement Tuesday. "We are encouraged by second-half activity levels in 2013 and by the fact that, while it is still early in the season, trading so far in 2014 has been ahead of last year."
The company posted a pretax loss of EUR215 million for the period ended December 31, 2013, compared with profit of EUR646 million a year earlier.
Revenue dipped only slightly to EUR18.03 billion from EUR18.08 billion in 2012, as the translation impact of the weaker US dollar more than offset contributions from new acquisitions.
CRH said that following a first-half decline of 6%, like-for-like sales were ahead by 2% in the second half, reducing the full-year like-for-like decline to 2%.
CRH said its results were hit by severe and prolonged winter conditions which delayed the start of the construction season in its major markets, along with weaker trading in Europe.
Material sales in Europe fell 5% to EUR2.27 billion from EUR2.38 billion a year earlier, while in the US sales dipped 3% to EUR4.70 billion from EUR4.89 billion in 2012. A total of 10 US acquisitions were completed in 2013 within the Materials division at a cost of EUR77 million, adding 13 operating quarries, 6 asphalt plants, and 7 readymixed concrete plants.
Overall, CRH said it made acquisitions and investments of EUR730 million in 2013.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation for the year amounted to EUR1.48 billion, ahead of its guidance in November 2013.
Year-end net debt of EUR2.97 billion was similar to December 2012 and lower than the guidance provided last year by the company as "cash management continued to be a major focus for the group as the year drew to a close."
The company declared an unchanged dividend of 62.5 cents per share.
CRH shares were trading at 1,761.00 pence Tuesday morning, up 77.00 pence or 4.6%.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
Copyright © 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
CRH