28th Feb 2019 08:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish building materials firm CRH PLC on Thursday reported strong earnings growth as it performed well in both the Americas and Europe.
CRH's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation for 2018 came in at EUR3.37 billion, 7% higher on 2017, and slightly ahead of its own EUR3.35 billion guidance.
The company's pretax profit was EUR1.86 billion, slightly lower than the EUR1.87 billion reported in 2017.
Sales revenue in 2018 rose 6% to EUR26.79 billion, with like-for-like sales rising 3%. In Europe, like-for-like sales increased 2%, in the Americas by 4%, and in Asia the figure climbed 8%.
CRH is paying a final dividend of 52.4 euro cents, taking the total to 2018 to 72 cents, up 5.9% from 68 cents paid in 2017.
A positive market helped operations in the Americas despite record rainfall during the year, as well as a harsh winter.
In Europe, CRH improved performance in key markets, though the UK was more challenging due to continued uncertainty over Brexit.
In Asia, CRH said domestic demand was overall strong, as was infrastructure spending, though volume and price growth was offset by cost increases, particularly in energy.
"2018 was another year of record profit delivery for CRH. We benefited from good demand and continued favourable market fundamentals in the Americas coupled with positive underlying momentum in Europe," said Chief Executive Albert Manifold.
"Both were experienced against a backdrop of energy-related input cost inflation and significant weather disruption throughout the year but with a continued focus on performance improvement and operational delivery, margins were ahead of last year."
Looking ahead, CRH expects the US economy to grow in 2019 at a similar pace to 2018, with continued expansion in the US housing market. Federal infrastructure spending is likewise expected to increase.
Europe's outlook is positive, despite UK worries, while in Asia, CRH expects things to continue doing well.
"With a relentless focus on continuous business improvement, margin expansion, cash generation and returns for shareholders, together with continued strong financial discipline and efficient allocation of capital, we believe 2019 will be a year of progress and further growth for the group," added Manifold.
Shares were 1.0% higher on Thursday at a price of 2,383.00 pence each.
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