CRH weighs more buybacks as it returns €200m to shareholders

€1bn in cash raised over the last 12 months with 35.6 million shares repurchased

CRH has said it is considering expanding its share buyback programme as it returned a further €200 million in cash back to shareholders.

The company said 7.6 million shares were repurchased on the London and Dublin stock exchanges between January and March at an average discount of 0.6 per cent.

This brings total cash returned under the company’s share buyback programme to €1 billion over the last 12 months with a total of 35.6 million shares purchased since May 2018.

The group moved last April against the backdrop of a weak share price to initiate its first share buyback programme since 2008, committing to repurchasing €1 billon of stock within a year, in the belief that it was trading at a discount to its “intrinsic value”.

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CRH says it will again seek authority to purchase up to 10 per cent of its shares at its annual general meeting (agm) later this month, making another buyback increasingly likely.

“Further share buybacks are under active consideration,” the company said on Tuesday.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist