CRH generate disposal proceeds of nearly €1bn in 2015

723 CRH, the global building materials group, has confirmed total disposal proceeds of nearly €1 billion in 2015. The figure comprises the previously announced sale of its clay and concrete products operations in the UK and the Group’s clay business in the US (€0.43 billion) plus several additional divestments across Europe and the Americas for total proceeds of around €0.53 billion.

During 2015, the Dublin, Ireland-headquartered Group also completed 20 bolt-on acquisition and investment transactions. These deals, together with the acquisition of assets from 725 Lafarge and 680 Holcim, the C.R. Laurence acquisition and net deferred consideration payments, bring development spend for 2015 to around €8 billion.

Commenting on the figures, Albert Manifold, CRH chief executive, said: “Portfolio management, and in particular the reallocation of capital from lower growth areas into core businesses for growth, is a cornerstone of our value creation model. We are pleased with our progress in 2015, which brought cumulative proceeds from our multi-year divestment programme to almost €1.4 billion, while our targeted bolt-on investments strengthened our existing businesses and complemented the major acquisition activity which saw total acquisition spend of approximately €8 billion in 2015.”