23rd Aug 2018 07:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish building materials firm CRH PLC on Thursday reported a rise in both interim profit and revenue, despite poor weather and difficulties in the Philippines during the period.
For the six months to June, FTSE 100-listed CRH's pretax profit increased to EUR497 million from EUR475 million a year prior, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation rising 1% year-on-year to EUR1.13 billion.
CRH's like-for-like Ebitda increased by 1%, with Europe up 1%, the Americas 3%, though Asia plummeted 59%.
Revenue for the interim period was EUR11.94 billion, 1% higher year-on-year, while like-for-like sales were up 2%. In Europe, like-for-like sales rose 1%, the Americas by 3%, though in Asia they fell 2%.
CRH has lifted its interim dividend by 2% year-on-year to 19.6 cents a share. So far this year, it has bought back EUR350 million from shareholders under its previously announced EUR1.0 billion buyback programme.
CRH said the period was hit by "severe" weather early in 2018, but the European construction market continued to recover while business in the Americas was "satisfactory".
However, the company continued to face difficulty in the Philippines. There, volumes were in line year-on-year but price improvements were "more than" offset by higher fuel and power costs.
Chief Executive Albert Manifold said: "We have had a good first half despite significant weather disruption in Europe and North America in the first quarter.
"Construction markets continued to recover and pricing gathered momentum in key European markets while there was solid volume and price growth against a positive economic backdrop in the Americas."
Looking ahead, Manifold added: "For the second half of the year, despite continuing currency headwinds and challenging conditions in the Philippines, we expect an improvement in the momentum experienced in Europe in the first half of the year and further Ebitda growth in the Americas, which will result in another year of progress for the group."
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