Dublin's building materials giant CRH shares jump 5% on positive outlook

CRH saw its share price jump by over 5% yesterday on the back of a strong third quarter update from the building materials giant.

The Dublin-headquartered group reported a 14% year-on-year jump in revenues for the three months to the end of September, with sales for the first nine months up 16% on the same period last year.

Both increases were driven by a strong showing in its Americas business, where overall economic recovery is boosting construction demand.

While mixed, CRH said conditions in its European businesses remain stable.

The group also said the integration of the assets acquired from the merger of peers Lafarge-Holcim, earlier this year, are “progressing well”.

The businesses, bought for a combined €6.5bn, are expected to contribute about €340m to CRH’s 2015 annual results, although that will be offset by one-off transaction costs of around €200m.

CRH also updated on its ongoing €1.5bn-€2bn non-core asset disposal programme, saying proceeds generated to date have reached €1.1bn.

Even after a record year for investment spend, CRH said it remains committed to restoring its debt metrics to normal levels in 2016.

Management also said that it remains confident 2015 will be a year of growth for the business.

CRH’s share price was up by just over 5%, yesterday, closing at €26.76 in Dublin.