Building materials group CRH is expecting full-year profit for 2007 to rise by more than 18 per cent and growth to continue in 2008.
In a trading statement, the company predicted profit before tax would be €1.9 billion, up from €1.6 billion in 2006. The board is planning to buy backup to 5 per cent of the firm's shares
A strong trading performance in Europe led to predicted operating profit of about €1.1 billion, while in the Americas, profit is expected to rise to €985 million, despite the troubled housing market, CRH said.
Although CRH is expecting further growth in 2008, it said this will be at a slower pace than in 2007. In Europe, strong growth in central and eastern parts of the continent is expected, with more moderate growth in the rest of the euro zone.
The US residential market is expected to put pressure on the firm, but non-residential and infrastructure businesses are set to continue to perform well, CRH added.
"Our goal is to broadly maintain like-for-like US profitability through our balanced exposure to the US residential, non-residential and infrastructure sectors, while delivering expected returns from the €1.2 billion of acquisitions completed in the Americas during 2007," the company said.
