CRH sales rise to €19.9bn in first nine months

723 CRH says that sales from continuing operations rose 16% to €15.5 billion in the nine months to the end of September.

The Irish building materials group said in an interim statement, following its acquisition of 725 Lafarge and 680 Holcim assets (as part of the 8161 LafargeHolcim merger), that third-quarter sales were up 14% versus the same period a year earlier. This was boosted by a positive impact from the group’s Americas business, where sales rose 23% in the July-September period.

During the first nine months of 2015, sales from continuing operations rose 28% in the Americas and by 2% in the group’s European division.

EBITDA from continuing operations was €1.5 billion, up 34% on the same period a year earlier, and CRH said that 2015 will be a year of growth. Assuming normal weather conditions for the remainder of 2015, it expected fourth-quarter EBITDA to be ahead of last year resulting in a full-year 2015 EBIDA contribution which would be 25% ahead of 2014’s €1.58 billion.

CRH said sales for the third-quarter in the Americas were 7% ahead of 2014 with EBITDA improving by 30%. For the full year it expects EBITDA from continuing operations to be more than 17% ahead of last year in constant currency terms.

Results from the group’s European operations matched the first half with full-year EBITDA expected to be marginally ahead of last year’s €664 million.

CRH said integration of the businesses acquired from LafargeHolcim earlier this year was progressing well, and the businesses are forecast to contribute EBITDA of €0.34 billion to the group’s full-year results, before taking into account one-off transaction costs and accounting adjustments totalling €0.2 billion.