Manifold was speaking after CRH revealed sales of €27.91bn (US$31bn) in the 2021 calendar year. Group EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation) of €4.77bn ($5.3bn) was up 16% on 2020.
"Our 2021 performance reflects the outstanding commitment and resilience of our people as well as the benefits of our integrated, customer-focused business strategy," said Manifold. "Despite an inflationary input cost environment, we expanded our margins and delivered good growth in profits, returns and cash generation. This further underpins our strong and flexible balance sheet, providing us with significant opportunities for future growth and value creation. While the demand backdrop remains favourable across our markets, there are a number of challenges and uncertainties which we must continue to manage carefully as we look to deliver further value for our shareholders in the year ahead."
A statement released by CRH alongside its 2021 trading figures said that continued strong cash generation underpins the Group's financial strength and flexibility.
Last year saw agreement reached on the $3.8bn sales of CRH's Building Envelope business, with $1.5bn invested across 20 bolt-on Group acquisitions. The Group says there is a strong pipeline of opportunities for further growth and value creation.
