CRH plc 2010 Interim Results - Six months ended 30th June 2011

	2011 € m	2010 € m	% change
Sales revenue	8,166	7,658	Up 7%
EBITDA*	574	520	Up 10%
EBIT	184	118	Up 56%
Profit before tax	95	25	Up 280%
	€ cent	€ cent
Earnings per share	10.7	2.6	Up 312%
Cash earnings per share	67.1	59.9	Up 12%
Dividend per share	18.5	18.5	No change
	€ m	€ m
Net debt at 30 June	3,942	4,762	Down 17%

* EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and impairment charges) excludes profit on disposals and CRH's share of associates' profit after tax.

• Profit increase driven by CRH’s Products and Distribution operations in Europe and the Americas
  
  
• First-half EBITDA of €574 million, ahead of 2010 as indicated in the May trading update guidance
  
  
• EBIT +56% ahead of 2010; EBITDA and EBIT margins ahead of last year
  
  
• Profit before tax of €95 million, €70 million ahead of H1 2010
  
  
• Earnings per share well ahead of last year at 10.7c (H1 2010: 2.6c)
  
  
• Dividend per share unchanged at 18.5c
  
  
• Year-to-date acquisition and investment spend of €380 million, including 7 transactions completed since end-June; cash spend in the first six months amounted to €163 million
  
  
• First-half proceeds from disposals amounted to €392 million
  
  
• Net debt of €3.9 billion at end-June was €0.8 billion lower than at end-June 2010
  
  
• EBITDA/net interest for the 12 months to June improved to 7.0x, compared with 6.5x at both June and December 2010, with net debt/EBITDA of 2.4x (June 2010: 2.8x)
  
  
• Balance sheet remains one of the strongest in the sector
  
  

Myles Lee, Chief Executive, said today:

"The positive outcome for the first half of 2011 clearly demonstrates the advantages of CRH’s product and sectoral end-use balance and the benefits of the extensive reorganisation and restructuring measures implemented in response to the exceptionally difficult markets of recent years.

Looking to the second half, downward revisions to economic growth estimates over recent months, combined with the extreme turbulence evident in world financial markets over the past few weeks, have added to market risks and uncertainties. Against this background we continue to focus on operational and commercial excellence, on delivering the price increases necessary to recover higher input costs in our businesses and on delivering a year of progress for CRH in 2011."

Source CRH