CRH readies contingency plans for Ukrainian business

Irish building materials giant CRH, which is one of the largest cement producers in Ukraine, said that it is "closely monitoring" the situation in the eastern European country after it was invaded by Russia in the early hours of Thursday and that it has prepared contingency plans to deal with the fallout.

“The safety and security of our employees is our number one priority in CRH,” a spokesman for the company, which has the biggest Ukrainian exposure of any Irish business.

“We are closely monitoring the evolving security situation in Ukraine and have developed contingency plans which can be deployed where necessary to help protect our employees, their families, our assets, and the continuity of our operations.”

The spokesman declined to elaborate on the contingency plans.

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CRH entered the Ukraine in 1999 through the purchase of a company called PJSC Podilsky Cement, before taking a controlling stake in another cement plant in 2011 and buying a third two years later.

The Ukrainian operations, primarily in the west of the country, were rebranded under the name Cemark late last year. The unit employs about 800 people and is understood to account for less than 1 per cent of group sales.

Analysts estimate that CRH’s total revenues amounted to about $30 billion (€26.9 billion) last year, implying that Cemark’s sales amounted to under €270 million.

CRH does not split out revenues for its Ukrainian operations in its financial accounts.

Shares in CRH, which also has large operations in Poland and a presence in Russia, were down 6.7 per cent at €38.72, its lowest since March last year, in mid-afternoon trading in Dublin on Thursday.