Local issue dominates meeting of CRH

THE past week has been more than usually active for building materials group CRH, which has spent £23.2 million on a clutch of acquisitions on the US and Britain in March the group paid £55 million for the US aggregates business of J.B. Parson of Utah and last month spent £7 million on a 50 per cent interest in French builders' merchants business Materiaux Service. Earlier this month the group paid £12 million for two Dutch builders' merchants.

However, it was more parochial issues which concerned shareholders attending the group's annual general meeting this week. A special interest group dominated the hour long proceedings, with criticisms of plans by the CRH subsidiary,

Roadstone, to operate a gravel pit at Blessington, Co Wicklow, and claims that the group was using its muscle to interfere in local politics.

The board was pressed not to proceed with planning permission. The chairman, Tony Barry, said that, while the group wished to be a good neighbour", withdrawal from the proposed project would not be in shareholders' best interests.

Returning to the wider canvas of the group's global businesses, the meeting was told that domestic demand for cement and concrete products was showing a "significant advance" so far this year, mirroring the general increase in construction activity. Further afield, North American is expected to perform well but activity Britain and Europe remains depressed. Nevertheless, CRH anticipates further growth this year following the 38 per cent growth in profits to £160 million last year.