After a strong first-half in Europe, building materials company CRH saw sales fall over the three months to the end of September.
But in an interim management statement, CRH said it is still seeing strong growth in the US where the economic recovery is driving construction demand.
So far this year, CRH said its like-for-like sales, excluding the impact of acquisitions and disposals, are up 4%.
It said it expects earnings for the full year to be 10% ahead of last year, with 10% earnings growth predicted for both its European and American operations.
Its shares were 1.4% lower in Dublin trade today.
During the third quarter, CRH said it completed another six bolt-on acquisitions, bringing its total acquisition and investment spend to €170m by the end of September.
In Europe, CRH said that after the encouraging start to the year due to good weather conditions, trading in the third quarter was hit by moderating trends in more recent months.
Like for like sales in the quarter were down 2% from the same time last year, although CRH said that very tight cost controls enabled it to keep EBITDA near last year's level.
It noted that market conditions in Ireland are improving and the company is in a strong position to benefit from the modest growth.
Its Americas operations were boosted in the third quarter by strong underlying demand after the weather-hit first half, and the continuing US recovery. Like for like sales for the quarter were up 6% compared to last year and overall EBITDA rose by 10% in dollar terms.
