CRH shareholders approve listing switch from London to New York

CRH shareholders have today approved a plan to move the building materials company's primary stock market listing to New York from London, with CEO Albert Manifold predicting "significant benefits" from the switch.

More than 95% of shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting in Dublin backed the move by the company.

CRH is the largest building materials supplier in the US and generated about 75% of its core earnings there last year.

The company's chief executive Albert Manifold said the move would help CRH benefit from large US government spending programmes and open up tax advantages in future mergers and acquisitions, helping it achieve a "higher vector of growth".

"We see significant benefits by representing ourselves to be truly an American company," Manifold told journalists after the meeting.

"This leaves us at last on a level playing field with our competitors over there in what is a very competitive market," he added.

The company switched its primary listing to London from Dublin more than a decade ago and will now de-list from Dublin completely.

As part of the New York move, the company's shares will migrate from premium to a standard listing on the LSE.

Britain's appeal as a global financial centre has lost its lustre as companies, such as UK chip designer ARM, have sought listings in rival hubs such as New York and after the country was largely cut off from the European Union by Brexit.

British biopharmaceutical company OKYO Pharma in April announced plans to scrap its London listing and move its shares to New York.

Shareholders at betting company Flutter Entertainment have also backed plans for an extra listing in the US. Its primary listing will remain in London and the company has said it wants to remain on Euronext in Dublin as well.

Kathryn Hannon, Head of Private Clients at Gresham House, said there are different reasons why companies would consider moving their primary listing.

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"The US is an incredibly developed market, it has deep pools of investor capital that ambitious companies like CRH would want to access," she said.

"It would put them on brand recognition with their global peers, and even from a logistics point of view, 75% of its earnings are driven in North America so from an investor relations and a stake holder engagement perspective, even being on the same time zone would be a positive for the company," she added.

Ms Hannon said that CRH trades on about 15 times perspective earnings.

"Its smaller peers in the US trade on about 25 times earnings so that gap in valuation would give material upside to shareholders and that would be reflected in the share price, and the management team in CRH would be aware of that and it would be received very well in the US," she added.

Flutter Entertainment has also announced its intention to seek a listing in the US.

The operator of the Irish stock exchange - Euronext - has contacted government departments and ministers over fears that some of the biggest companies quoted on the index might be about to de-list.

Ms Hannon said it is concerning for Euronext but Euronext is not alone, the London Stock Exchange has seen a number of their companies make significant decisions recently.

"Their indigenous chip maker, Arm, has moved to the US; BHP has followed. Royal Dutch Shell has also considered making a move to the US. These are all very significant names looking at their primary listing options and considering listing outside their jurisdiction, so it is not just Euronext, it is happening to other exchanges," she said.

"It isn't positive for Ireland plc, having an indigenous exchange was a very attractive point for developing companies, early listed PLCs, and if we don't have that in Ireland, you would ask well where are we going to get the next Kerry or the next Kingspan from," she stated.

CRH shares moved higher in Dublin trade today.