The Ireland-headquartered global building materials heavyweight also saw its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rise by 15% to $3.9bn.
Commenting on the new trading announcement, Albert Manifold, CRH chief executive, said: “CRH continues to perform well with good underlying demand and pricing progress across our key markets. Our uniquely integrated and solutions-focused business model has supported further margin expansion across our businesses, while our strong cash generation and disciplined approach to capital allocation provides further opportunities to create value for all of our stakeholders. Looking ahead to the remainder of the year, we expect to deliver another record performance for the Group, with full-year EBITDA in excess of US$5.25 billion.”
CRH third-quarter sales remained ahead of the prior year across all divisions, with good demand in key markets. Americas Materials was mainly driven by improved pricing as inclement weather impacted volume growth. Europe Materials continued to benefit from improved activity levels in Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom (UK). Building Products delivered further growth in the third quarter against a strong comparative prior year.
Looking ahead to 2022, CRH expects the positive underlying demand and pricing backdrop to continue, albeit against an inflationary input cost environment. The Group is encouraged by the passing of the $1.2trn infrastructure package by the U.S. Congress, which significantly increases the commitment to future infrastructure investment in America.
