25th Aug 2016 06:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish building materials company CRH PLC on Thursday said its profit came in six times higher than a year earlier in its first half reflecting continued positive momentum in the Americas and the inclusion of acquisitions made in the second half of 2015
The FTSE 100 company said pretax profit for the six months ended June 30 came in at EUR407.0 million, a huge rise from the EUR63.0 million posted a year earlier.
This was thanks to revenue rising 35% to EUR12.7 billion from EUR9.4 billion, driven by the contribution from the LafargeHolcim assets CRH acquired last year. On a proforma basis, sales were 8.0% higher than a year earlier, reflecting a 13% increase in the Americas, a 3.0% rise in Europe and a 4.0% rise in Asia.
CRH said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation more than doubled in the first half to EUR1.12 billion, a 20% rise on a proforma basis. CRH said this reflected the good operating leverage.
CRH said trading conditions in the first half in Europe reflected the modest impact of early-stage economic recovery. While CRH said the impact of the recent UK vote to leave the European Union "remains unclear for the medium term", the company said the outlook for its European operations for the remainder of this year is for a continuation of first half trends.
In the Americas, CRH said it expects the positive momentum seen in construction markets during the first half of the year to continue into the second, while in Asia the positive demand backdrop experienced in the Philippines looks to continue for the rest of the year.
Overall, CRH said it expects further progress in the second half and to post full year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in excess of EUR3.00 billion, assuming normal weather conditions.
The company declared an interim dividend of 18.8 cents per share, ahead of the 18.5 cents per share offered a year earlier.
"We have had a very satisfactory first half, with good performance from our heritage businesses and contributions from 2015 acquisitions delivering significant profit growth for CRH," said Chief Executive Albert Manifold.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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