2019 Interim Results

Key Highlights

• Record H1 EBITDA¹ of €1.54bn, 36% ahead of 2018 (19% ahead excluding IFRS 16 Leases)
• Sales of €13.2bn, ahead 11%
• Good margin progress in H1
• EPS 51% ahead of 2018
• Continued portfolio refinement: c. €2bn divestments; c. €0.5bn acquisitions
• Strong financial discipline; expect Net Debt/EBITDA <2x at year end
• Share buyback €550m year-to-date; further €350m planned by year end
• Group-wide profit improvement programme progressing well

CEO Statement

Albert Manifold, Chief Executive, said today:

“On the back of our strategic initiatives, CRH has delivered significant profit growth in the first half of 2019, with a good performance in our heritage business and strong contributions from recent acquisitions. We are pleased to report that the Board plans to continue our share buyback programme with a further tranche of €350 million to be completed by year end. This will bring our total share repurchases in 2019 to €900 million. With our continued strong cash generation and financial discipline, we expect year-end debt metrics to be below normalised levels. We anticipate further progress in the second half of the year with benefits from positive underlying momentum in all Divisions as well as good contributions from acquisitions.”

Announced Thursday, 22 August 2019

¹ See pages 37 to 39 for glossary of alternative performance measures used throughout this interim report.

DISCLAIMER
In order to utilise the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, CRH public limited company (the “Company”), and its subsidiaries (collectively, “CRH” or the “Group”) is providing the following cautionary statement.

This document contains statements that are, or may be deemed to be forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations, business, viability and future performance of CRH and certain of the plans and objectives of CRH. These forward-looking statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as "will", "anticipates", "should", "could", "would", "targets", "aims", "may", "continues", "expects", "is expected to", "estimates", "believes", "intends" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts or matters of fact at the date of this document.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and reflect the Company's current expectations and assumptions as to such future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate.

A number of material factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, certain of which are beyond our control, as detailed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in our 2018 Annual Report on Form 20-F as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements other than as required by applicable law.

The forward-looking statements in this document do not constitute reports or statements published in compliance with any of Regulations 6 to 8 of the Transparency (Directive 2004/109/EC) Regulations 2007.

CRH will host a webcast and conference call at 8.30am BST, 22 August 2019, to discuss this announcement. Registration details can be found on the Results Centre section of the website.