Ireland: Poor sales in the UK and Switzerland have reduced the sales of CRH’s Europe Heavyside division, which includes its European cement operations. The division’s sales revenue fell slightly to Euro6.90bn in 2017 from Euro6.95bn in 2016. Despite this the division reported market recovery in Ireland, France, Poland and Finland. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 7% year-on-year to Euro839m from Euro781m.

Overall, the group’s sales for its continuing operations rose by 1.7% to Euro25.2bn from Euro24.8bn. Its EBITDA rose by 5.6% to Euro3.15bn from Euro2.98bn.

“2017 was a year of continued profit growth for CRH. We benefited from increases in underlying demand in the Americas and positive momentum in Europe, and with focus on performance improvement and operational delivery, margins and returns were ahead of last year in our American and European Divisions,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Manifold.

The group’s Americas Materials division’s sales rose by 5% to Euro7.97bn from Euro7.60bn and earnings rose similarly. The division said that its cement business in North America saw total volumes rise by 3% ahead with ‘marginal’ price increases, supported by stronger demand in the US. It added that the division has continued to optimise its terminal network and market penetration by repositioning more volumes to the US from Canada, where competitive market conditions remain, especially in Quebec.