Shareholders based in the US now account for almost two-thirds of investors in Irish building materials and services giant, CRH, after it moved to its main listing to New York in 2023 and secured a spot on the influential S&P 500 index in December, according to its chief executive.
“About 65 per cent of our shareholder base is now US based. That was probably mid-20s before we moved the listing,” chief executive Jim Mintern told reporters on the sidelines of the group’s annual general meeting (agm) in Dublin on Thursday.
The Dublin-headquartered group has been classified as a domestic US stock issuer since mid-2024, in accordance with securities laws in that country, after US residents grew to account for more than 50 per cent of all its shares.
North America accounted for 71 per cent of its $7.7 billion (€6.5 billion) adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation last year and three-quarters of its net profit.
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CRH, which ditched its Irish listing when it moved its main trading base to the US, also delisted last month from the London market. That market had shrunk in importance in recent years to a point where it accounted for only 2-3 per cent of daily trading of CRH shares “on a high day”, according to Mintern.
CRH reported last week that its total revenues rose 9 per cent in the first quarter to $7.4 billion, 4 per cent ahead of the consensus forecast of analysts who cover the group. Ebitda advanced 18 per cent to $586 million. That was almost 8 per cent ahead of market expectations.
The group announced at the time that it had entered a $700 million deal to buy a US water treatment solutions business to strengthen its position as a “leading water infrastructure player” in the world’s largest economy.
CRH said it had also agreed to sell three noncore businesses – in construction accessories, lawn and garden solutions, and composite decking – for a combined $1.9 billion, as Mintern continues a practice established by his predecessor, Albert Manifold, of recycling capital to boost investment returns.
Mintern said that CRH had raised over $14 billion over the past decade by selling unwanted assets. Asked if the group was nearing the end of big asset sales, he said: “I’d say maybe the more obvious stuff is done. But what you should expect us to do is continue to look at optimising the portfolio.”
“We have a saying in CRH, ‘We’ll never fall in love with a business’,” he said. “There’s always an opportunity to recycle capital into higher growth areas.”
Mintern set out a strategy last September for CRH to spend $40 billion on investment and cash returns to shareholders over the next five years as it continues to grow revenues and earnings apace.
CRH’s focus is on four key areas: aggregates, cement and sustainable alternatives, roads and water. It sees these benefiting from three infrastructure mega-trends: ongoing investment in the transport system, from roads to airports; a need to develop water management; and the re-industrialisation of the US.
Mintern noted on Thursday that the US, where CRH is the largest roadbuilder, is only halfway through a federal highway spending programme under the Biden administration’s so-called Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The act committed to over $350 billion of such funding.
The CEO said the European infrastructure sector is also “very busy”. He highlighted that CRH is benefiting as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) countries from Finland to Romania increase investment on defence infrastructure, including military airfields and logistic hubs.
CRH does not have any business in the Middle East. Mintern said that energy accounts for about 5 per cent of the group’s total sales costs. He said that CRH has a “good process” to recover rises energy costs.
