Building materials group CRH had said that earnings in the first three months of the year have been hit by weakness in Europe.
In a trading update ahead of its AGM today, CRH said its operations in the Americas has benefited from favourable weather conditions and a ''firmer tone'' in US construction markets.
But trading in its European operations in the first four months of 2012 has been affected by the severe weather conditions seen in February.
The ongoing euro zone crisis is also hitting its European markets.
CRH said that overall, like for like sales to the end of April were up 2% head of 2011, although earnings before interest and tax were behind 2011 levels due to the tough start for its European markets.
It said that its operations in the European countries who are implementing austerity measures - Ireland, Spain, and Portugal - continued to face challenging market conditions.
It said that given normal seasonal weather in May and June in the US as the construction sector gears up, it expects overall EBITDA in the less significant first half of the year to be close to last year level of €574m.
''With incrementally more positive US economic and construction prospects for 2012 mitigating a more cautious view on the outlook in Europe, we continue to expect overall like-for-like sales growth in 2012 and a year of progress for CRH,'' today's statement sad.
Shares in CRH closed 7.63% lower this evening at €14.29.
