CRH appoints Lee to replace O'Mahony

Irish building materials giant CRH has appointed finance director Myles Lee (55) as chief executive-designate, to take over when Liam O'Mahony retires at the end of the year.

Albert Manifold will become chief operating officer-designate, CRH said today in a statement.

Mr Lee, a civil engineer and accountant joined CRH in 1982 and was appointed finance director in 2003 and joined the board.

Analysts regard Mr Lee as one of most impressive financial directors within Irish firms and the global building materials sector.

He will take over an organisation with revenues of just under €21 billion and more than 100,000 employees. CRH has doubled in size over the last five years and Mr Lee's task will be growing the business at a similar rate over the next five years. CRH has a market capitalisation of €12.9 billion.

To achieve that, CRH is expected to look increasingly at expanding its operations in emerging markets such as China and India.

Mr Manifold's role is a new one and in a statement today the company said it "reflects a natural evolution of the organisational structure in CRH".

They will take up their positions in a challenging time for the company. In a statement issued on May 7th, CRH said profits in many of its main markets were falling although it still hoped to meet growth forecasts. CRH has delivered 16 years of profits and earnings growth.

The group also warned that it may have to cut jobs in the US to stem losses there.

In 2007, the group's profit before tax rose by almost 20 per cent to €1.9 billion, while revenues grew to €21 billion with much of the growth emanating from Europe.

At 10.10am CRH shares were trading down 15 cents or 0.6 per cent at €24. This compares with a 12 month high of €39.95 on June 18th, 2007.