Building materials company CRH has reported a positive start to the year with first quarter group sales, EBITDA and margins ahead of the same time last year.
In a trading update, CRH said its sales growth and performance were supported by improved activity levels and the continued execution of its integrated solutions strategy.
CRH is the world's second-largest building materials supplier.
The company said that sales for its Americas Materials operations were 13% ahead of the same time in 2021, on the back of commercial progress across all lines of business.
This more than offset the impact of unfavourable weather conditions on activity levels in the seasonally less significant quarter, the company said.
Sales for its Europe Materials operations were 11% ahead of 2021 in the first quarter, helped by strong demand and milder weather in most key markets.
It noted that its businesses in Ireland had a positive start to the year with volume increases in all key products compared to the previous year which had been impacted by Covid-19 restrictions.
Meanwhile, first quarter sales in its Building Materials division were 22% ahead of the same time in 2021.
It said this reflected continued delivery of its 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 acquisitions.
CRH said it spent about $0.6 billion on 11 acquisitions so far this year, the largest of which were the purchase of Rinker Materials - which expands its pipe and precast products offering in Texas - and the acquisition of Calstone Company in Architectural Products, a provider of outdoor living solutions in California.
On the divestment front, it completed about $30m of business and asset disposals. The divestment of its Building Envelope business for an enterprise value of $3.8 billion is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.
Albert Manifold, CRH's chief executive, said the continued delivery of its 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," the CEO added.
Last month CRH said it was withdrawing from the Russian market.
CRH said it will cease operating what it described as "infinitesimally small" Russian operations and has temporarily shut its much larger plants in Ukraine.
CRH first entered the Russian market in 1998 and supplies and operates a concrete panel production plant servicing St Petersburg as well as seven readymixed concrete plants through a joint venture.
It supplies the Russian building materials market through its Finnish based operating company Rudus. Rudus operates a concrete panel production plant servicing the city of St Petersburg.
The company also operates a number of ready mixed concrete plants through LujaBetomix, its joint venture with another large Finnish concrete producer, LujaBetoni.
CRH is also one of the largest cement producers in Ukraine.
"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" the company said in today's trading update.
"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," it added.
Shares in the company moved higher in Dublin trade today.
