CRH Q3 Sales Up, Backs Second-Half Earnings View

(RTTNews) - UK-based building materials group CRH Plc (CRH.L, CRH) Tuesday said its third-quarter sales revenue, as well as like-for-like sales increased 2 percent from last year. The company also reiterated its EBITDA guidance for the second half to be in line with last year.

CRH noted that it has identified additional cost savings, and the program is now expected to deliver savings of 195 million euros in 2013 which will bring cumulative savings to 2.6 billion euros by end 2015.

The Group said review of its portfolio, and business divestments and other asset disposals since 2007 have generated cumulative proceeds of about 2 billion euros.

The firm is likely to make further disposals of non-core businesses which, together with the impact of the continuing difficult environment in Europe, could give rise to a non-cash impairment charge in its 2013 financial statements.

In the third quarter, overall sales revenue was 5.4 billion euros, up 2 percent from restated sales of 5.3 billion euros last year. Sales revenue included net impact of acquisitions, divestments and exchange rate movements.

Like-for-like sales growth was 2 percent, reflecting European sales close to 2012 levels and a 4 percent improvement in the Americas.

In Europe, like-for-like sales declined by less than 1 percent in the third quarter, a significant improvement on the weather-impacted decline of 10 percent in the first half. In the Americas, like-for-like sales for the quarter were 4 percent ahead of last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA for the quarter, which included negative currency translation effects, totaled 0.66 billion euros, up 3 percent from last year.

Further, assuming normal weather patterns for the remainder of this year, the company anticipates that EBITDA for the last three months of the year will be similar to 2012.

Against this backdrop, the company reiterated the guidance provided in August of second-half EBITDA in line with last year's restated second-half EBITDA of 1.04 billion euros.

The Group is scheduled to announce its preliminary results for the year-ending December 31, 2013, on February 25, 2014.

CRH.L is currently trading at 1,609 pence, up 50 pence or 3.21 percent, on a volume of 2.88 million shares.