28th Feb 2020 08:52
(Alliance News) - Irish building materials firm CRH PLC on Friday reported a notably higher annual profit, helped especially by its Europe Materials market performance.
The Dublin-based company posted a EUR2.12 billion pretax profit for 2019, 22% higher than 2018's profit of EUR1.74 billion, as revenue rose 8.1% to EUR25.13 billion from EUR23.24 billion.
The improved revenue performance was strongest in the Europe Materials segment, where revenue was 16% higher at EUR10.39 billion from EUR8.95 billion. Americas Materials also performed well, with revenue 5.6% higher at EUR8.49 billion from EUR8.04 billion.
CRH hiked its dividend for 2019 by 15% to 83.0 euro cents per share from 72.0 cents.
Chief Executive Albert Manifold said: "CRH delivered good profit growth in 2019 supported by positive momentum in our heritage businesses and strong contributions from recent acquisitions. With a continuing focus on margin expansion, cash generation and enhanced returns for shareholders, we believe that 2020 will be a year of further progress for the group."
The stock was down 3.7% in early trading in London on Friday at 2,595.00 pence.
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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