CRH revenues rise to US$22bn on stronger US construction activity

In a trading update covering the first nine months of 2016, CRH announced that its sales revenues had reached EUR20.4bn (US$21.9bn) with improved performances in its European, Asian and American operations.

On a pro forma basis, accounting for new revenues generated by acquisitions from LafargeHolcim, sales were six per cent higher in the year to September 2016 than they had been in the same period in 2015. The firm’s EBITDA improved by a greater margin – 14 per cent – reaching EUR2.4bn for the first nine months of 2016.

Much of CRH’s gains comes from the construction market in the United States. The Americas is expected to generate two-thirds of the group’s projected full-year EBITDA of more than EUR3bn, with the US as a key market. By contrast, CRH’s cement operations in the region, in Canada and Brazil, have seen a less-positive performance. Canadian volumes were up just one per cent for 9M2016, although prices were up four per cent. Brazilian sales were hit by that country’s recession, with volumes down 14 per cent and prices 10 per cent lower than the same period in 2015.

In Europe most countries showed strong volume growth, while the picture for prices was less positive.

Cement demand strengthened in Ireland (up 16 per cent), Finland (15 per cent), Serbia (13 per cent), Germany (12 per cent), Ukraine (11 per cent) and UK (10 per cent), Spain (nine per cent), and France (five per cent) while Poland saw CRH volumes fall by 14 per cent.

CRH described the pricing environment in Europe as “challenging”, with many countries seeing small declines and some – notably Spain (seven per cent) and Switzerland (seven per cent) seeing more substantial falls.

In Asia CRH saw cement volumes in the Philippines fall by three per cent, while prices were four per cent up.