CRH has raised its full-year earnings guidance slightly, helped by the purchase of a US provider of sustainable cement alternatives for the construction market.
The Dublin-based, but New York-listed building materials giant has nudged the midpoint of its full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) guidance up $50 million to $7.65 billion (€6.65 billion), it said in a statement late on Wednesday.
The group also committed to repurchasing a further $300 million of its own stock, which will bring total repurchases since it started the programme in 2018 to $9.7 billion.
Adjusted Ebitda for the third quarter rose 10 per cent to $2.7 billion, as a result of continued pricing momentum, good contributions from acquisitions and further operational efficiencies, executives said on an analysts call on Thursday afternoon.
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The raised full-year projection partially takes into account earnings contributions from recently acquired Eco Material Technologies, which has developed technologies to utilise materials such as fly ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, to partly replace cement used in the construction sector. The $2.1 billion deal was completed in September.
During the quarter, CRH completed nine acquisitions for a total consideration of $2.5 billion. It has carried out 27 deals so far this year, led by the purchase of Eco Material Technologies.
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“CRH delivered a strong third quarter performance driven by favourable underlying demand, positive pricing momentum and further contributions from acquisitions,” chief executive Jim Mintern said. “Looking ahead to 2026, we expect favourable market dynamics and the continued execution of our strategy to underpin another year of growth and shareholder value creation.”
Mr Mintern, who took over as chief executive in January, unveiled a medium-term strategy in late September, which includes plans to spend $40 billion on investment and cash returns to shareholders over the next five years as it continues to grow revenues and earnings apace.
The CEO is also targeting annual revenue growth of 7-9 per cent out to 2030 and aiming for the group to post adjusted Ebitda margins of 22-24 per cent over the period.
The margin goal would mark a step up from the rate of 19.5 per cent posted last year. The company’s margins have doubled over the 11-year period in which CRH was led by Albert Manifold, driven as the group moved from largely being a seller of cement and other base materials into full-scale construction services, with higher pricing power.
CRH’s focus is on four key areas: aggregates, cement and sustainable alternatives, roads, and water. It sees these benefiting from three infrastructure mega-trends: ongoing investment in the transport system, from roads to airports; a need to develop water management; and the re-industrialisation of the US.
The company has seen no impact to date on the business from the ongoing US government shutdown, a spokesman told The Irish Times in response to questions.
“[We] are not experiencing any delays to highway projects, and transport programmes under the Federal Highway Administration continue to operate,” he said.
Most federal motorway and bridge projects, including those that come under the Infrastructural Investment and Jobs Act 2021 that CRH often refers to as a major business driver, are unaffected as they are supported by funds that have already been approved.
