The share price of construction materials group, CRH is up over 4% this morning following a very strong set of results for 2015 - a year in which it acquired global assets valued at €6.5bn and 15,000 additional employees arising from the merger of two of its competitors, Holcim and Lafarge.
CRH EBITDA – or operating profits before interest - tax and depreciation amounted to €2.2bn.
This was well ahead of market expectations and 35% more than the previous year.
The group’s operations in the US performed particularly well last year supported by Federal road building programmes and lower energy costs.
CRH’s newly-acquired former Holcim/Lafarge businesses contributed about one-sixth of overall profits and were particularly strong in the UK, Canada and the Philippines.
Chief executive Albert Manifold commented on the results:
"As a result of good performance from our heritage businesses and contributions from acquisitions, 2015 was a year of significant profit growth for CRH.
"Recently there has been some uncertainty about the pace of global growth. Our focus remains on consolidating and building on the gains made in 2015, and against this backdrop we believe 2016 will be a year of continued growth for the group."
