27th Aug 2015 06:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish building materials company CRH PLC on Thursday said its pretax profit for the first half rose slightly, held back by the cost of a bond repayment, but its earnings and revenue both surged, boosted by the weak euro, and it said it has struck a USD1.3 billion deal to acquire US group CR Laurence Co Inc.
The FTSE 100 company said its pretax profit for the first half to the end of June was EUR63.0 million, compared to EUR61.0 million a year earlier. The pretax figure was held back by a EUR38.0 million charge the company booked related to an early bond redemption during the half.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation in the half were up to EUR555.0 million from EUR505.0 million a year earlier, pushed higher by a 13% rise in sales revenue to EUR9.37 billion from EUR8.32 billion and by an improvement in the earnings margin for its continuing operations.
The sales revenue for the group was down 1.0% in Europe in the half, due to continued tough market conditions in the region, but Americas revenue rose by 26% as the group performed well against a mixed economic backdrop.
CRH said it will maintain its interim dividend at 18.5 euro cents per share.
In a separate announcement, CRH said it has agreed a USD1.3 billion deal to acquire CR Laurence from owners the Friese family. The company is a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of customer hardware and installation products for the professional glazing industry.
"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," said Chief Executive Albert Manifold.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
CRH