CRH on track for decent year of growth

The FTSE 100 company said it saw continued underlying growth in the Americas, despite adverse weather conditions in certain markets, with its momentum remaining positive in Europe, and demand improving in Asia.

It said it was experiencing “another year” of progress, with 2018’s EBITDA expected to be approximately €3.35bn.

“Based on the momentum we see in our businesses and including the benefit of acquisitions, full-year EBITDA is expected to be approximately €3.35bn, [up from] €3.15bn,” the CRH board said in its statement.

“As we look forward to 2019, we expect favourable market fundamentals to continue across our key markets.”

It also announced the next phase of its €1bn share buyback, with €700m completed to date.

“As part of the 12 month €1bn share buyback programme announced on 25 April, the group has, to date, returned €700m to shareholders through the repurchase of 23.8 million shares across two phases.

“The group remains committed to the programme and today announced the next phase.”

CRH said it was continuing to focus on “strong” financial discipline, with its debt metrics maintained as year-end net debt was expected to be around €7bn.

That would result in a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of about 2.1x, based on a forecast year-end dollar-to-euro exchange rate of 1.14 and including development and buyback activity to date.

The board said it had an “aggressive” growth plan in place to 2021, with around €100m of structural cost savings identified.

“Our plan to deliver 300 basis points of EBITDA margin improvement and €7bn of financial capacity by 2021 is progressing as planned and we expect to see early signs of delivery in 2019,” the board said in its statement.

“As part of this growth plan, we have identified approximately €100m of structural cost savings, primarily in the areas of overhead reductions, back office rationalisation and the consolidation of certain regional support functions into central and more coordinated hubs.”