CRH shares rise on last day on Irish stock market as Wall Street beckons

CRH shares rose on the building materials giant’s last day of trading on the Irish market on Wednesday, drawing to an end an association with the exchange that goes back 87 years.

The long-standing largest company on the Irish market, known as Euronext Dublin, decided earlier this year to quit Dublin as part of an overhaul of its stock market quotations, which will see its main listing move from London to the New York Stock Exchange from Monday.

Its shares closed 1.5 per cent higher at €50.34, giving it a market value of €35.8 billion.

The building materials giant will remain headquartered and tax resident in Ireland. However, it is believed its advisers concluded it would be easier to ultimately secure inclusion on the keenly-followed S&P 500 if it were not also listed in Dublin, where most of the trading volume in the stock had been

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The hope is that the group would also trade at a premium relative to profits by being listed in the US, where companies are traditionally valued on higher earnings multiples compared to Europe.

However, CRH’s departure is a seminal moment for the Irish market, where it routinely is the most traded stock by value. CRH was formed in 1970 through the merger of the already publicly quoted Irish Cement, which floated in 1936, and Roadstone companies.

Davy analysts Ross Harvey and Andrea Collins said in a note to clients on Wednesday that the move of the primary listing to New York “is a significant event for the share”.

“Over the past 10 years the existing management team [led by chief executive Albert Manifold] has reshaped the portfolio around a clear and consistent strategy, all the while evolving hallmark characteristics of the business – commercial execution, efficiency and prudent capital allocation,” they said.

Mr Manifold said earlier this year that CRH was now “a de facto” US company, with its North American unit having grown from accounting for about half of group profits a decade ago to make up 75 per cent of its $5.6 billion (€5.1bn) of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation last year.

The US listing is also aimed at improving CRH’s chances of securing lucrative contracts under a $1.2 trillion US infrastructure programme to run until 2026.