Markets await big three’s results

THREE of Ireland’s largest publicly-quoted companies CRH, Kerry Group and Eircom are expected to announce bottom-line increases later this week.

CRH and Kerry both report next Tuesday. NCB analyst Stuart Draper expects CRH’s results for the 6 months to June 30 to deliver profit before tax and earnings per share (EPS) of €261 million and 45c and year-on-year increases of 62% and 55% respectively.

His colleague Paul Meade expects earnings growth of 8% at Kerry in the first half of 2004.