CRH profits won’t shift focus from European outlook

CRH will post higher first-half profits next week, but the focus will be on the outlook for weak European construction markets, its acquisition strategy and cost controls after a trading update last month.

The company, one of the world’s biggest suppliers to the building trade, said in July it expected to report “high-teens” percentage growth in first-half pretax profit and make further progress in the busier final six months of the year.

“No major surprises are therefore likely in relation to first-half trading,” NCB analyst John Sheehan wrote in a preview to the results, forecasting pretax profit growth of 17.7% to e375.9 million.