Ireland’s CRH may spend up to €1.5 billion on acquisitions over the next 18 months, after the building-materials supplier reported a 27% rise in H1 2014 earnings. “We’ve got the capacity to do things, it’s just a question of seeing the right deals come in and doing them when we see them,” chief executive Albert Manifold said in an interview at Bloomberg’s London office. “We have over €4bn of available funds and we think over the next 12 to 18 months, we could easily spend €1.5bn on deals.” Earnings
Ireland’s CRH may spend up to €1.5 billion on acquisitions over the next 18 months, after the building-materials supplier reported a 27% rise in H1 2014 earnings.
“We’ve got the capacity to do things, it’s just a question of seeing the right deals come in and doing them when we see them,” chief executive Albert Manifold said in an interview at Bloomberg’s London office.
“We have over €4bn of available funds and we think over the next 12 to 18 months, we could easily spend €1.5bn on deals.”
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose to €505 million in the first half of 2014, matching the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales were up 4% to €8.3 billion.
The Dublin-based company is expanding as governments and companies in the US and Europe are increasing spending on new construction. CRH says that the economic recovery in the Americas helped boost sales in that region by 4% while revenue in Europe increased 6%. The company expects its second-half 2014 Ebitda to rise.
“We are encouraged by the operating leverage in European materials which bodes well for a recovery in earnings,” said Robert Eason, an analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin who has a buy rating on CRH shares.
Holcim and Lafarge, looking for antitrust support for their planned $40 billion merger, have outlined an initial list of assets for sale to cut the importance of Europe to 20% of their combined revenue. The assets may fetch as much as €5 billion euros.
Manifold declined to comment to Bloomberg on whether CRH is selling its business in Turkey. CRH and its Turkish partner Eren Holding AS have hired JPMorgan Chase & Co to help sell their cement joint venture in Turkey, people with knowledge of the matter said this month.
