Building materials group CRH has reported pre-tax profits of €534m for last year, down 27% from 2009.
Total sales at the group fell by just 1% to €17.2 billion, though there was a fall of 7% when acquisitions and currency movements were stripped out.
Earnings per share dropped by 31% to 61.3 cent. An unchanged final dividend of 44 cent is being proposed, giving 62.5 cent for the full year.
Chief executive Myles Lee said demand across the group appeared to have stabilised over the past three months. He said it was 'reasonable' to expect revenue for 2011 to return to growth, though this would depend on prices as raw material costs were rising.
CRH spent €567m on acquisitions during the year, including €408m in the second half.
The company said the outlook for its Irish market remained tough. It said activity fell 'steeply' last year, with cement volumes down 23%. There were also big falls in its Spanish and Portuguese businesses.
But CRH said it expected good growth in other continental European markets, though the outlook was 'flatter' in the UK. In the US, CRH said there was evidence that new house building activity had reached a bottom, and recent indicators suggested a return to non-residential growth in 2012.
CRH shares closed 2.8% lower at €16.31 in Dublin this evening.
