Building materials company CRH has reported a 2% increase in revenues for the first quarter of 2024 to reach $6.5 billion after what it called a "solid" start to the year in the seasonally least significant quarter.
The Dublin-based group, which makes about 75% of its profits in the US, said its adjusted EBITDA rose by 15% to $445m, while it declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35.
CRH said that early-season project activity and favourable weather in certain regions of North America were further supported by pricing progress and contributions from acquisitions, which offset lower volumes in Europe.
CRH said its earnings per share was higher than the first quarter of 2023 at $0.16.
The company has transitioned to the US GAAP reporting standard as part of its move to the New York Stock Exchange last September.
Albert Manifold, CRH's chief executive, said the company was pleased to report a good first quarter performance in what is the seasonally least significant period for the business.
"That performance was supported by positive pricing momentum, early-season project activity, favourable
weather in certain regions and the contribution from acquisitions," the CEO said.
"We believe the strength of our balance sheet together with our relentless focus on the efficient allocation of our capital enables us to capitalise on the opportunities we see for further growth and value creation in 2024 and beyond," he said.
"Given this backdrop, we are pleased to reaffirm our previous guidance for 2024," he added.
CRH today also announced that it will continue with its share buy-back programme.
During the first three months of 2024, CRH said it completed eight acquisitions for a total consideration of $2.2 billion, compared with $0.2 billion the same time last year.
Its largest acquisition was in Americas Materials Solutions where it bought a portfolio of cement and readymixed concrete assets and operations in Texas for a total consideration of $2.1 billion.
CRH's Americas Materials Solutions completed a further two acquisitions, Americas Building Solutions completed three acquisitions and Europe Materials Solutions completed two deals.
In April, CRH also bought a materials solutions business, including two hard rock quarries, in California.
It said this represents an attractive entry point into California for Americas Materials Solutions, particularly due to its long-lived hard rock reserves and vertically integrated asphalt and readymixed concrete operations.
CRH in February also agreed a deal for majority stake in Adbri Ltd, a materials business in Australia. The proposed transaction will result in CRH buying about 53% of the issued share capital for $0.7 billion, increasing its total shareholding to approximately 57%.
Meanwhile, CRH said it realised proceeds from divestitures and disposals of long-lived assets of $0.7 billion, mainly related to the sale of its European Lime operations.
It said the deal was structured in three phases with two phases of the divestiture, comprising CRH's Lime operations in Germany, Czech Republic, Ireland and the UKnow complete.
The remaining phase, consisting of operations in Poland, is expected to complete in the second half of 2024.
Breaking down its divisional performances, CRH said that revenues in its Americas Materials Solutions' were 16% ahead of the same time last year, as early-season project activity and favourable weather in key markets supported activity along with price increases across all lines of business and good contributions from acquisitions.
Its Americas Building Solutions also delivered a positive performance with total revenues 2% ahead of last year, on the back of price improvements as well as contributions from acquisitions.
Meanwhile, Europe Materials Solutions' total revenues were 8% behind last year as positive price momentum was offset by lower activity levels due to unfavourable winter weather and the divestiture of the Lime operations.
Finally, revenues in CRH's Europe Building Solutions' total revenues were 10% behind the first quarter of 2023, as favourable pricing was offset by subdued demand in new-build residential markets as well as adverse winter weather conditions.
