CRH Q1 Like-for-like Group Sales Drops; Plans EUR 1 Bln Buyback

(RTTNews) - CRH Plc. (CRH, CRH.L), a building materials group, reported Wednesday that its first-quarter like-for-like Group sales decreased 2%, mainly reflecting prolonged winter weather conditions and the timing of Easter holidays, which occurred in the second quarter of 2017.

In Europe, like-for-like sales were 2% behind, with recovery in certain key markets offset by adverse weather conditions and the timing of Easter holidays.

In the Americas, unfavourable weather conditions impacted a number of key regions and like-for-like sales were down 3%. Competitive market conditions prevailed in the Philippines with like-for-like sales 5% behind the first quarter of 2017.

Looking ahead, the company said Group EBITDA, for the seasonally less significant first half of the year, is expected to be in line with the first half of 2017 on a like-for-like basis. Like-for-like EBITDA in the second half of the year is anticipated to be ahead of last year.

As part of the Group's ongoing commitment to active portfolio management, the company is targeting a further about 1.5 billion euros to 2 billion euros of divestments over the medium term.

CRH will report its Interim Results for the six months ending June 30 on August 23.

Separately, CRH announced that the Board of Directors intends to introduce a share repurchase program to repurchase ordinary shares of up to 1.0 billion euros to be completed over the next 12 months.