CRH says 2014 is ‘year of profit growth’

Building materials group CRH grew its sales by 3 per cent in the third quarter, and is forecasting earnings growth of 10 per cent for 2014 as the group expects to benefit from modest growth in Ireland.

According to an interim managment statement released this morning, CRH said that sales in Europe moderated in the third quarter, with like-for-like sales down 2 per cent on the same period in 2013. However after a strong first half, CRH is forecasting European earnings to be 10 per cent ahead of 2013.

In Ireland, the group noted that market conditions improving, and it is in a “strong position to benefit from the modest growth”, while in Ukraine, CRH noted that markets remain resilient despite political instability.

In America, CRH benefited in the third quarter from stronger underlying demand following the weather-impacted first half, as sales grew by 6 per cent. CRH is forecasting a 10 per cent boost to earnings for full-year 2014 for this region

During the third quarter, CRH completed a further six bolt-on acquisitions, bringing the cumulative acquisition spend to € 170 million by end-September. Its divestment programme is “well under way”with proceeds of €400m expected for 2014.

Looking ahead, CRH expects earnings for the foruth quarter to be broadly similar to the strong performance in the final quarter of 2013.

“Against this backdrop, we reiterate our expectation for second-half EBITDA to be somewhat ahead of last year (H2 2013: € 1.08 billion), resulting in expected full year EBITDA growth of c.10 per cent in 2014 (2013: € 1.475 billion)”.

The group expects profit on the sale of non-current assets (mainly property, plant and equipment) for 2014 to be similar to last year (2013: € 26 million).