Building materials supplier CRH (CRH) made a positive start to 2020, with like-for-like sales increasing by 3 per cent year on year in the first quarter. This includes 8 per cent growth from its materials division in the Americas. The group is a major player in the US where it is the largest producer of asphalt for highways construction.
But with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic rearing its head in mid-March, the group is now moving to conserve cash, cutting costs and capital expenditure and taking “significant” restructuring actions. It has temporarily laid off and furloughed workers in areas where demand has been weakest.
Western European operations have seen the most disruption to date amid nationwide lockdowns. Of more significance, however, is the picture in the US, given that it accounted for more than 50 per cent of revenue from continuing operations last year. While certain states, such as New York, have been more heavily affected, the group has benefited from construction being deemed an ‘essential activity’. North American operations are running at around 80-85 per cent of normal levels. It says it has a healthy backlog of orders and is still seeing a favourable bidding environment right now.
While most other companies are taking a scythe to shareholder payouts, CRH is sticking with its €0.63 (55p) final dividend for 2019. The share buyback programme has been postponed, although €200m of repurchases were conducted in March. Having drawn down a €3.5bn revolving credit facility, it now has over $6bn (£4.8bn) of cash. The group says this is enough to meet its debt obligations for the next four-and-a-half years.
Buys | ||||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
Fevertree Drinks | Jeff Popkin | 22 Apr 20 | 5,000 | 1,519.84 | 75,992 | Purchased at an average price of US $18.86 per ordinary share |
Diversified Gas & Oil | David Turner | 22 Apr 20 | 177,000 | 88.8 | 157,176 | Beneficial holding 247,000m shares, or 0.04 per cent |
Redde Northgate | Philip Vincent (cfo) | 22 Apr 20 | 19,971 | 149.4 | 29,837 | |
CRH | Richard Boucher | 22 Apr 20 | 4,000 | 2,251 | 90,040 | Converted from € |
Team17 | Mark Crawford (cfo) | 23 Apr 20 | 5,357 | 560 | 29,999 | |
Xaar | John Mills(ce) | 23 Apr 20 | 125,000 | 39.35 | 49,189 | Beneficial holding 0.16 per cent |
Xaar | Ian Tichias (cfo) | 23 Apr 20 | 50,000 | 39.35 | 19,675 | |
Xaar | Andrew Herbert (ch) | 23 Apr 20 | 100,000 | 39.35 | 39,351 | |
Mortgage Advice Bureau | Ben Thompson (dce) | 23 Apr 20 | 4,770 | 524 | 24,995 | Beneficial holding 1.34m shares, or 0.23 per cent |
PCI-PAL | Geoffrey Forsyth | 23 Apr 20 | 31,652 | 40 | 12,661 | Beneficial holding 118,054 shares, or 2.27 per cent |
William Hill | Matt Ashley | 23 Apr 20 | 220,802 | 92.55 | 204,352 | |
Telit Communications | Simon Duffy (ch) | 23 Apr 20 | 16,772 | 119.1 | 19,975 | |
Telit Communications | Harald Rösch | 24 Apr 20 | 185,000 | 122.1 | 225,885 | |
EnQuest | Amjad Bseisu (ceo) | 24 Apr 20 | 474,962 | 9.85 | 46,784 | The Amjad & Suha Bseisu Foundation |
Rotala | Graham Spooner | 24 Apr 20 | 100,000 | 36.5 | 36,500 | |
Brickability | Andrew John Wilson | 24 Apr 20 | 217,361 | 46 | 99,986 | |
Sells | ||||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | No. of shares | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) | Comments |
CRH | Neil Colgan | 22 Apr 20 | 3,370 | 2,246 | 75,690 | Converted from € |
CRH | Neil Colgan | 23 Apr 20 | 6,992 | 2,247 | 157,110 |