CRH forecasts half-year earnings growth of 10%

International building materials group CRH forecast earnings growth of close to 10 per cent for its first half of the year on Wednesday, as it reported "modest growth" in Ireland.

In an interim management statement, CRH said that group sales from continuing operations for the first four months of 2015 rose by 2.5 per cent compared with the same period last year. This performance was largely driven by continued positive momentum in the Americas, CRH said, where the economic and business environment remains upbeat. Sales in the US rose by 8 per cent during the period.

In Europe, trends are improving across CRH’s main markets, but sales fell by 2 per cent.

In Ireland, the group reported a “continued recovery in market conditions” and said that it is “ well positioned to benefit from the modest growth”.

Looking to the first six months of the year, CRH said it expects earnings to be "close to 10 per cent ahead of last year on a constant currency basis", and further progress in H2, with earnings again ahead of last year. These forecasts don't take into consideration the impact of CRH's proposed acquisition of certain assets from Lafarge S.A. and Holcim Limited

CRH said its cost reduction programme remains on track to deliver a further € 75 million of savings in 2015.

In a note, Davy Stockbrokers said that the results represent “an impressive performance in the context of the difficult weather-related comps for the group’s European operations and also reflects ongoing positive momentum in the Americas divisions”. The broker said on Wednesday morning that it now expects a marginal upgrade to its FY 2015 EBITDA forecast.