CRH boasts major increases

Irish-based building materials group CRH has said its 35% increase in year-on-year revenues for the first six months of 2016 came as a result of growth in its underlying businesses, as well as the positive performance of CRLaurence and LafargeHolcim assets, which it acquired a year ago.

The company recorded revenues of £12.69 billion (€14.87 billion) for the half-year period, compared to £9.37 billion (€10.98 billion) a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 102% to £1.12 billion (€1.31 billion), compared to the same period a year ago.

Albert Manifold, CEO, said, “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.”

He added that the company expected further progress in the second half of the year, with full-year EBITDA forecasted to total more than £2.56 billion (€3 billion).

CRH said that growth would be driven by market strength, as it believed the construction cycle in Europe was in the early stages of recovery, while the US was yet to reach its peak.