Ireland: CRH’s sales in Asia dropped by 12% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017. The building materials producer blamed the fall on a slow start to the year in the Philippines due to poor weather, high competition and low prices. No exact figures were provided in the company’s April 2017 trading update.
Overall, across all business lines, the group’s sales rose by 3% on a like-for-like basis. It reported that in the Americas sales were ‘in line’ with the prior year. In Europe sales rose by 6% due to stabilising markets with rises in cement sale volumes noted in Poland, Finland and France. Cement volumes were reported as ‘marginally behind’ in the UK.