CRH plc, the global building materials group, issues the following Trading Update for the period 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022.
CRH plc, the global building materials group, issues the following Trading Update for the period 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022.
Albert Manifold, Chief Executive, said today:
“The continued delivery of our solutions strategy resulted in a good start to the year. Although a number of challenges and uncertainties continue, our demand backdrop remains favourable and absent any major dislocations in the macroeconomic environment, we expect first-half sales, EBITDA and margin to be ahead of the prior year period.”
Announced Wednesday, 20 April 2022
As the conflict in Ukraine continues to unfold and many of our markets continue to be affected by the impact of COVID-19, the health and safety of our people remains our number one priority. Our approach is to ensure that we provide a safe working environment for our employees, contractors and customers, enabling them to carry out their activities in accordance with the various health and safety protocols currently in place across our markets.
Sustainability is deeply embedded in all aspects of our business and we recognise the importance of our role in the delivery of a more resilient built environment. Through our integrated solutions strategy we are uniquely positioned to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable building practices across the value chain. We recently announced our target to deliver a 25% reduction in absolute Group-wide carbon emissions1 by 2030 (on a 2020 baseline), as validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Our ambition remains to become a net zero business by 2050.
A positive start to the year with first quarter Group sales, EBITDA and margin ahead of the same period last year. Sales growth and performance were supported by improved activity levels and the continued execution of our integrated solutions strategy.
Sales for our Americas Materials operations were 13% ahead of the same period in 2021, driven by commercial progress across all lines of business which more than offset the impact of unfavourable weather conditions on activity levels in this seasonally less significant quarter.
Sales for our Europe Materials operations were 11% ahead of 2021 in the first quarter aided by strong demand and milder weather in most key markets.
First quarter sales were 22% ahead of the same period in 2021, reflecting continued delivery of our integrated solutions strategy, strong demand for residential construction, particularly in North America, along with continued recovery in certain non-residential segments and positive contributions from prior year acquisitions.
As announced on 17 March 2022, reflecting our strong financial position and commitment to returning cash to shareholders, the Group continued its share buyback programme with a further $0.3 billion to be completed no later than 27 June 2022 bringing the total for the six months ending 30 June 2022, to $0.6 billion.
The Group has spent c. $0.6 billion on 11 acquisitions in the year-to-date, the largest of which were the acquisition of Rinker Materials within Infrastructure Products, expanding our pipe and precast products offering in Texas and the acquisition of Calstone Company in Architectural Products, a leading provider of outdoor living solutions in California. On the divestment front, the Group completed c. $30 million of business and asset disposals. The divestment of our Building Envelope business for an enterprise value of $3.8 billion is expected to close in Q2 2022.
Overall, assuming normal seasonal weather patterns and absent any major dislocations in the macroeconomic environment, we expect Group sales, EBITDA and margin for the first half of the year to be ahead of 2021 (H1 2021 EBITDA: $2.0 billion). We expect the positive demand environment in North America to continue, which, in addition to the continued delivery of our integrated solutions strategy and good commercial management, should positively impact both our Americas Materials and Building Products businesses. Despite the challenges of significant energy cost volatility and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, we expect like-for-like2 EBITDA in our Europe Materials business to be ahead of the prior year period.
CRH will report its interim results for the six months ending 30 June on Thursday, 25 August 2022.
| Appendix 1 | ||||
| Sales change versus 2021 | Americas Materials | Europe Materials | Building Products | Group |
| Reported Sales | +13% | +11% | +22% | +15% |
| Like-for-like Sales2 | +9% | +18% | +12% | +13% |
1. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
2. Like-for-like movements exclude the impact of currency exchange, acquisitions and divestments.
CRH plc will host an analysts’ conference call at 14:00 BST on Wednesday, 20 April 2022 to discuss the Trading Update. To join this call please dial: +353 (0) 1 506 0650, confirmation code 9145599 (further international numbers are available here). A recording of the conference call will be available on the Results & Presentations page of the CRH website.
| Contact CRH at Dublin 404 1000 (+353 1 404 1000) | |
| Albert Manifold | Chief Executive |
| Jim Mintern | Finance Director |
| Frank Heisterkamp | Director of Capital Markets & ESG |
| Tom Holmes | Head of Investor Relations |
Disclaimer
Further information, including cautionary statements in order to utilise the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to forward-looking statements is set out in the full release linked below.