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CRH positive on 2012 after weather boosts results

Mar, 01 2012

(Dublin, Ireland) -- Irish building materials group said full-year results came in ahead of guidance for its maiden results on the FTSE 100 index thanks to better weather at the end of the year boosting activity.

A major player in the U.S. market, where it is the leading producer of asphalt for highway construction, CRH said the outlook for 2012 is positive despite rising energy costs and an uncertain macroeconomic picture.

"Assuming no major economic or energy market dislocations, we expect to generate further like-for-like revenue growth in 2012 with the achievement of targeted price increases a key priority," Myles Lee, Chief Executive, said in a statement on Tuesday.

CRH, which moved its primary listing to London from Dublin at the end of last year to broaden its investor base, posted annual pretax profit of 711 million euros ($952.38 million), compared with 534 million a year ago.

Market expectations for CRH's full-year pretax profit ranged between 588.1 million euros and 733.0 million euros with the average at 653.5 million according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 20 analysts.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 1.65 billion euros, ahead of its guidance in November of approximately 1.6 billion. This was largely due to better weather at the end of 2011, said CRH.

The group said previously it spent 400 million euros on nearly two dozen acquisitions and investments in the second half of last year, ranging from cement plants in Ukraine to asphalt plants in New Jersey.

Shares in CRH closed at 16.15 euros on Monday, after climbing over 50 percent in the past half-year, valuing the group at approximately 11.7 billion euros.

$1 = 0.7466 euros

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