CRH Q1 2025 TU Earnings Report

CRH EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.12
• Consensus EPS: -$0.06
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.06
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

CRH Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $6.76 billion
• Expected Revenue: $6.77 billion
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$12.78 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

CRH Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2025 TU
• Date: 5/5/2025
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 8:00AM ET

CRH (NYSE:CRH) is an international building materials group headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1970 through the merger of Cement Limited and Roadstone Holdings, the company has grown into one of the world’s largest suppliers of construction materials. CRH’s core activities encompass the production and distribution of aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete and cement, alongside a broad range of value-added building products such as precast concrete, architectural façades and construction accessories.

Operating in both North America and Europe, CRH’s portfolio is divided into four primary operating segments: Europe Materials, Europe Products, Americas Materials and Americas Products. This structure enables the company to serve diverse end markets, including residential and non-residential construction, infrastructure, repair and maintenance, and specialty applications. CRH maintains an extensive network of quarries, manufacturing plants and distribution centres to support project needs from small renovations to large-scale infrastructure developments.

Growth at CRH has been driven by a disciplined acquisition strategy stretching back decades, complemented by ongoing investment in innovation and sustainability initiatives. The company emphasizes responsible resource management and environmental stewardship, seeking to reduce carbon intensity across its operations. Supported by a seasoned executive leadership team, CRH continues to leverage its global scale and local expertise to meet evolving customer requirements in the construction industry.

CRH Q1 2025 TU Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Strong Q1 performance: Revenues grew 3% to $6.8 billion, adjusted EBITDA increased 11% to $495 million, and margins expanded by 50 basis points year-on-year.
• Weather challenges weighed on volumes, with Essential Materials down 3% and Outdoor Living Solutions revenues 3% below prior year due to delayed season starts.
• Strategic acquisitions: Completed eight bolt-on deals totaling $600 million across core segments like Road Solutions and Critical Infrastructure to accelerate growth.
• Reaffirmed full-year guidance: Adjusted EBITDA of $7.3 billion–$7.7 billion, net income of $3.7 billion–$4.1 billion, and EPS of $5.34–$5.80 expected assuming normal weather and no major dislocations.
• Capital return initiatives include a 6% dividend increase to $0.37 per share and a $300 million share buyback tranche, underscoring strong cash flow and balance sheet discipline.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, and welcome to the CRH First Quarter twenty twenty five Results Presentation. My name is Krista, and I will be your operator today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Jim Mintern, CRH Chief Executive Officer to begin the conference. Please go ahead, sir.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Hello, everyone. Jim Mintern here, CEO of CRH, and you're all very welcome to our Q1 twenty twenty five results presentation and conference call. Joining me on the call is Alan Connolly, our Interim CFO Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer and Tom Holmes, Head of Investor Relations. Before we get started, I'll hand over to Tom for some brief opening remarks.

[Tom Holmes, Head - Investor Relations at CRH]

Thanks, Jim. Hello, everyone. Before we begin, I'd like to draw your attention to Slide one shown here on screen. During our presentation, we'll be making some forward looking statements relating to our future plans and expectations. These are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results and outcomes could differ materially due to the factors outlined on this slide.

[Tom Holmes, Head - Investor Relations at CRH]

For more details, please refer to this slide, our annual report and other SEC filings, which are available on our website.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Will now hand you back to Jim, Alan and Randy to deliver some prepared remarks. Thanks, Tom. Over the next fifteen minutes or so, we will take you through a brief presentation of our first quarter results, highlighting the key components of our operating performance for the first three months of the year, our recent capital allocation activities as well as providing you with an update on our expectations for the year as a whole. First on Slide three, some key messages from our results announcement. Overall, we had a good start to the year in what is the seasonally least significant quarter for our business.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Despite contending with some unfavorable weather across many parts of our business, we delivered further growth in revenues, adjusted EBITDA and margin compared to the prior year period, supported by the continued benefits of our differentiated strategy, positive pricing momentum and good contributions from acquisitions. We remain focused on allocating capital towards higher growth markets, benefiting from secular growth tailwinds. And in the first three months of the year, we completed eight value accretive bolt on acquisitions for approximately $600,000,000 across the areas of Essential Materials, Road Solutions, Critical Infrastructure and Outdoor Living. Notwithstanding the current macroeconomic uncertainty, the underlying demand environment across our key end markets remains positive, and we are pleased to reaffirm our previous financial guidance for 2025. Assuming normal seasonal weather patterns for the remainder of the year and no major dislocations in the political or macroeconomic environment, we expect the full year adjusted EBITDA to be between $7,300,000,000 and $7,700,000,000 representing another strong year of growth and value creation for CRH.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Turning to Slide four and our financial highlights for the first three months of the year. Overall, a good performance with revenues, adjusted EBITDA and margin all ahead of the prior year period. Total revenues of $6,800,000,000 were 3% ahead. This translated into adjusted EBITDA of $495,000,000 11 percent ahead and the further 50 basis points of margin expansion, reflecting continued operational improvements and strong discipline across our business. As you can see on the slide, we reported a small loss in our diluted earnings per share, which is not unusual for the first quarter of the year and reflects the seasonal nature of our business.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Now at this point, I will hand you over to Randy to take you through the operating performance of each of our businesses.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

Thanks, Jim. Hello, everyone. Turning to Slide six and starting with Americas Materials Solutions, which had a good start to the year despite adverse weather conditions impacting activity levels across many parts of our business. Total revenues were 2% ahead of the prior year period, supported by positive pricing momentum across all lines of business, further operational efficiencies and good contributions from acquisitions. In Essential Materials, first quarter revenues were 3% behind the prior year driven by lower weather impacted volumes in most regions.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

Our aggregates pricing increased by 8%, while cement pricing increased by 4%. In Road Solutions, increased paving activity along with growth in both asphalt and ready mix concrete volumes resulted in Q1 revenues 5% ahead of the prior year period. Of course, it's worth noting that this is the seasonally least significant quarter for our Americas Materials Solutions business, typically only representing 10% to 15% of our annual volumes. Combined with the timing of our annual maintenance programs, you can also see how seasonally insignificant this period is from an adjusted EBITDA and margin perspective. In terms of the demand environment, I'm pleased to report that the underlying backdrop across our key markets remains positive.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

Infrastructure, our largest end market continues to be underpinned by state and federal funding through the IIJA. Only onethree of IIJA highway funding has been deployed to date, highlighting the significant runway we have ahead of us. We also continue to see good levels of reindustrialization activity, particularly in manufacturing and data centers. Looking ahead, as the construction season gets fully underway across many of our markets, I'm also encouraged by the positive momentum we're seeing in our bidding activity and indeed our backlogs, which are ahead of the prior year in both volume and margin. Next to Americas Building Solutions on Slide seven, where our business delivered a resilient performance in the first quarter supported by solid underlying demand, which was offset by challenging weather conditions and subdued residential activity.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

First quarter revenues in our Building and Infrastructure Solutions business were 4% ahead of the prior year, supported by good demand in the manufacturing sector and significant funding for critical water and energy infrastructure. In Outdoor Living Solutions, although the underlying demand environment for residential repair and remodel activity remains resilient, a weather delayed start to the season resulted in Q1 revenues 3% below the prior year. Moving to International Solutions now on Slide eight, where our business delivered a strong first quarter performance supported by further pricing progress and good contributions from acquisitions, particularly our investment in Adbri. Total revenue growth of 7% translated into a 22% increase in adjusted EBITDA and a further 70 basis points of margin improvement, reflecting strong cost control and further operational efficiencies across our business. In Central And Eastern Europe, we continue to experience positive underlying demand despite adverse weather in certain regions.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

While in Western Europe, activity levels are improving supported by infrastructure and non residential demand. So overall, a good start to the year for our business. And at this point, I'll hand you over to Alan to take you through our financial performance and recent capital allocation activities in further detail.

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

Thanks, Randy. Hello, everyone. Turning to Slide 10 and the key components of our adjusted EBITDA performance. Starting with organic growth of $8,000,000 2 percent ahead on a like for like basis, a good performance in the context of unfavorable weather conditions impacting activity levels during the quarter. Acquisitions net of divestitures delivered a further $43,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA, reflecting good contributions from acquisitions as well as the impact of last year's divestiture of the European Lyme operations.

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

Overall, we delivered $495,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA, 11% ahead of the prior year period and representing a good start to the year in what is our seasonally least significant period. Next to Slide 11, where I will take you through some of the key components of our net debt movements and our strong and flexible balance sheet. Firstly, on the left hand side, you can see we ended 2024 with a net debt position of 10,500,000,000 Turning to our cash flow performance. We reported a cash outflow of approximately $700,000,000 in the first quarter. An outflow at this stage of the year is to be expected given the seasonal nature of our business as it reflects the buildup in working capital in advance of second and third quarter trading, which are seasonally our most important periods.

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

Acquisitions net of divestitures and other items resulted in an outflow of approximately $600,000,000 during the first three months of the year. We also invested $600,000,000 in capital expenditure to support further growth in our existing business, and we returned $300,000,000 in the form of share buybacks, demonstrating our commitment to returning cash to our shareholders. Taking all of this into account, results in a net debt position of $12,700,000,000 at the end of the first quarter, representing a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of approximately 1.8x on a trailing twelve month basis. Turning to Slide 12. And at this stage, we would like to briefly update you on our recent capital allocation activities.

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

Building upon our proven track record of value creation, which is underpinned by our unmatched scale, breadth and financial capacity. During the first quarter of the year, we completed eight value accretive bolt on acquisitions for approximately $600,000,000 This includes the acquisition of Tally Construction, a vertically integrated asphalt and paving business with operations in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina, complementing our existing operations and enhancing our capability to serve our customers in these markets. This was followed by our acquisition of Weaver and Sons, an integrated provider of asphalt, paving and construction services, representing our strategic entry into the Southern Alabama market. These are examples of the continued development of our customer connected solutions strategy and our commitment to allocating capital into attractive, higher growth markets. We have a strong and active pipeline of opportunities in front of us, thanks to our differentiated strategy and the fragmented nature of our markets.

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

And we will continue our disciplined and value focused approach when it comes to the allocation of our shareholders' capital. We also continue to return significant amounts of cash to our shareholders. Our ongoing share buyback program has returned approximately $500,000,000 so far this year. And today, we are commencing a further quarterly tranche of $300,000,000 to be completed no later than August 5. I'm also pleased to report that the Board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.37 per share, representing an increase of 6% on the prior year, in line with our strong financial position and policy of consistent long term dividend growth.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Thanks, Alan. A good demonstration there of our relentless focus on the disciplined and efficient allocation of our shareholders' capital. Now before I provide an update on our financial expectations for the full year, let me share our latest thoughts on the outlook across our markets. Turning to Slide fourteen and first to Infrastructure, our largest end market. Here, we expect demand in The United States to be underpinned by the continued rollout of state and federal funding.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

As Randy mentioned earlier, only a third of IIJA highway funds have been deployed so far, highlighting the significant runway that lies ahead. In our international markets, we expect robust demand in infrastructure activity to continue, supported by significant investment from government and EU funding programs. In nonresidential, we expect continued positive momentum across our key markets supported by large scale manufacturing and data center activity. In the residential sector, we expect newbuild activity in The U. S.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

To remain subdued, while repair and remodel activity remains resilient. In our international markets, we expect residential activity to stabilize with structural demand fundamentals supporting a gradual recovery. As we have said in the past, we believe the long term fundamentals for residential construction remain very attractive, supported by favorable demographics and significant levels of underbuild. Regarding the pricing environment, we expect positive momentum to continue across our markets, supported by disciplined commercial management as well as the benefits of our differentiated strategy. Due to the localized nature of our operations, we do not expect a material direct impact from recent changes in global trade policies on our business.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

In terms of the impact of the wider macroeconomic uncertainty, it is clearly very fluid, but we continue to monitor the situation closely, and we are confident in our ability to navigate our way through it. So in summary, despite the current macroeconomic uncertainty, we believe the overall trend is positive for our business. Our differentiated strategy and leading positions of scale in attractive higher growth markets, together with our strong and flexible balance sheet, leave us well positioned to capitalize on the strong growth opportunities that lie ahead. Turning to Slide 15 and against that backdrop, we have reaffirmed our financial guidance for 2025. Assuming normal seasonal weather patterns for the remainder of the year and no major dislocations in the political or macroeconomic environment, we expect full year group adjusted EBITDA to be between 7,300,000,000.0 and $7,700,000,000 net income between $3,700,000,000 and $4,100,000,000 and diluted earnings per share between 5.34 and $5.8 representing another strong year of growth and value creation for CRH.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

It's still very early in the construction season across our markets, but we will update you on our expectation as the year unfolds and the season gets fully underway. So that concludes our presentation today. I will now hand you back to the moderator to coordinate the Q and A session of our call.

[Operator]

Thank you. And we'll take our first question from Trey Grooms with Stephens. Please go ahead.

[Trey Grooms, Managing Director at Stephens Inc]

Good morning, everyone. If you could maybe elaborate a little more on the 25 guidance in light of the macro uncertainty that we have here and also maybe in pluses and minuses you've assumed in the guide? Thank you.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Good morning, Trey. Jim here. Maybe I'll ask Alan to come back on some of the puts and takes on the detail on the guidance. But listen, very happy this morning. Pleased to reaffirm the full year guidance, and it really reflects a good and a strong start to the year for us.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

And that reflects the positive underlying demand that we have that we're seeing across our key markets and indeed the continued execution of our differentiated strategy. It's early in the season, Trey, but, you know, we're feeling positive on 2025. And most importantly for me, a lot of the key building blocks that we need to put in place around pricing, you know, what we're seeing on our backlogs and what we're seeing on our level of bidding, you know, that gives us that encouragement in terms of the guidance for the year. Now whilst the wider clearly, the the wider macroeconomic situation remains fluid, particularly in the foreign exchange market, right, which is volatile and changing by the week, you know, we're continuing to monitor that very closely. But I'm confident, you know, in the resilience of our business model and also particularly the the experienced nature of the management team.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

You know, we have an experienced team which is managed through, has a proven track record of navigating periods of uncertainty, most recently in the pandemic. So kind of putting all that together, that's what gives us that confidence and been able to reaffirm, the guidance, for the year and, you know, looking forward to giving further updates when we report on q two, in early August. Maybe, Alan, do you want to give some of the puts and takes?

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

Sure, Jim. Thanks for that, and Trey. With regard to the underlying assumptions underpinning our guidance, I might just address the three key items. Firstly, as pointed out earlier, we had a good start to the year from an M and A perspective: eight acquisitions, approximately GBP 600,000,000. Now based on last year's acquisitions, we had previously guided to a positive net contribution of about CHF $280,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA for 2025.

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

Now including the partial year contribution from this year's activity, we expect a slightly higher net contribution of about CHF $320,000,000. Next, on FX. As Jim said, it's very hard to predict, but we continue to monitor the ongoing volatility very closely. And finally, you'll recall that in 2024, we benefited from higher than normal levels of land sales. We continue to expect a more normalized year in 2025, somewhere in the region of about $75,000,000 as we'd indicated previously.

[Trey Grooms, Managing Director at Stephens Inc]

Got it. Thank you both very much, Jim and Alan, and I will pass it on. Thank you and good luck.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Jerry Revich with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

[Jerry Revich, Senior Investment Leader & Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, Sustainable Tech franchise at Goldman Sachs]

Yes. Hi. Good morning, everyone. I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind just talking about volume trends that you've seen in March and April, if you're willing to comment. And separately, can you just update us on your pricing expectations in aggregates and cement over the course of this year?

[Jerry Revich, Senior Investment Leader & Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, Sustainable Tech franchise at Goldman Sachs]

And any volume comments? Was impressed with the aggregates pricing in the first quarter.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

Yes. Thanks, Gerry. This is Randy. I'll take that on. I guess, for us, as we look forward, our biggest indicator future work is the backlogs.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

And that typically gives us, you know, six to nine months view of work. And that would be everything from kind of typical maintenance work to capacity expansion in the roads and highways. And the backlog also is inclusive of of our critical infrastructure business. And and as I look at that, it may be three things. One, the quantum of work that we continue to to bid on a weekly basis is increasing, which is encouraging.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

The volumes are up versus last year in all product lines, but more importantly, the margins are improving as well. So that gives us really the confidence as we look forward to really just reaffirm, I guess, what we had said back in March around low single digit growth in terms of underlying aggregate volumes and mid to high single digits on pricing. Q1, '8 percent off to a good start, but I think that that really bodes well for for the balance of the year. I I think as others have called out, not surprising, the weather impacted January and and February, but when we saw the weather moderating and getting back to somewhat normal conditions, we saw a nice pickup in activities in March and April, kind of high single digits. So what you would expect really reflective of the backlog and kind of our overall outlook.

[Jerry Revich, Senior Investment Leader & Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, Sustainable Tech franchise at Goldman Sachs]

Super. Thank you, Andy. And can I just ask separately, International Solutions had good margin expansion in the quarter on strong cost control given the pricing cadence? Can you just expand on the drivers of cost improvement? And how are you thinking about costs in coming quarters?

[Jerry Revich, Senior Investment Leader & Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, Sustainable Tech franchise at Goldman Sachs]

I know it's not a seasonally high quarter, obviously, but the cost performance was quite good.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Yes. Sure, Gerry. A good strong performance from the international business in Q1, really a number of things coming together. We kind of called it out towards the end of last year that we're beginning to see kind of a trough in a lot of our key Western European markets. And certainly, we saw good activity in some of our key markets in Q1, right?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Now they were lapping against Q1 last year, had it was tough weather wise in Europe West, but in particular, we had a good performance in Europe West. Europe East actually had quite a challenging weather performance. But again, as we kind of got through that, the continued strong volume kind of outlook in Europe East underpinned by infrastructure, really seen that moving into April, right? And across Europe, generally, a good pricing environment, too, looking for kind of mid single digits across Europe. That, together with the contribution from Adbri, which was bought in July, it's going well.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

As we said, the integration is going well and ahead of where we expected to in terms of opportunity, in terms of synergies. So those factors coming together really explain the good performance in international in Q1.

[Jerry Revich, Senior Investment Leader & Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, Sustainable Tech franchise at Goldman Sachs]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Anthony Pettinari with Citi. Please go ahead.

[Anthony Pettinari, Analyst at Citigroup]

Morning. Given some of the recent macro uncertainty, have you seen any project delays or even cancellations, I guess, especially on kind of the private non res commercial side? Can you just talk about kind of what you've seen there in terms of project progress post Deliberation Day?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Sure. Anthony, yes, listen, we're not seeing any, at this point in time, any cancellations or delays. Now clearly, it's still very early in the season. But as Randy mentioned, our backlogs are positive, and that's really reflected in the guidance that we're reaffirming again today. We continue to see positive momentum in our major private non res categories, and that's been supported by the reindustrialization and the onshoring activities.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Now these projects tend to be, as we said, typically quite large and very highly spec'd and highly technical projects, which, of course, really falls into our sweet spot from that perspective. And we're talking things like data centers and also some of the high spec manufacturing. We also called it out in the full year earnings. We're seeing some recovery on warehousing also. Now, you know, so we're not seeing any cancellations, any delays, but also maybe just highlight that it's not just about the individual projects as well, right?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

There's a substantial knock on effect in terms of increased demand for broader building materials and broader infrastructure build out as well, meaning that the total kind of construction requirement is often a multiple of the actual core project itself. So no cancellations, no delays, and the backlogs are positive.

[Anthony Pettinari, Analyst at Citigroup]

Okay. That's helpful. I'll turn it over.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Ross Harvey with Davy. Please go ahead.

[Ross Harvey, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Davy]

Hi all. Thanks for taking my question. I'm wondering, can you provide an update on the energy and the more general input cost environment?

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

Good morning, Ross. I might take that one. Alan here. Just touching on the more general cost input. Obviously, firstly, energy is a key part of it, but you must also consider the other significant cost items, CRH, which you've called out previously labor, raw materials, subcontractors, etcetera.

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

There's a lot of moving parts depending on the market and the cost category, as you could well imagine. And overall, we're still operating in an inflationary cost environment, and we would see a mid single digit inflation expected for the full year of 'twenty five. I suppose most notably for me, and it's already been highlighted by Randy earlier, this really shows the importance of continued pricing momentum across the business as we target another year of margin expansion, as you know.

[Ross Harvey, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Davy]

Many thanks. Thank you.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Kathryn Thompson with Thompson Research Group. Please go ahead.

[Kathryn Thompson, Founding Partner & CEO at Thompson Research Group]

Hi, thank you for taking my question today. Really two parts, one on M and A and then one on infrastructure as a mirror for each other. Just given the macro uncertainty, could you give an update on your M and A pipeline and any change in capital allocation priorities in light of the broad macro outlook? And then on the the flip side of that, when we do our work here at TRG with our our state lettings, we're we are finding, a building and momentum, a snowball effect that we've been tracking for the couple of years for, solid mid teens increases and lettings from key states, including many years in. Are you seeing that work show up?

[Kathryn Thompson, Founding Partner & CEO at Thompson Research Group]

And how does that impact what is that impacting in terms of your infrastructure outlook, not just for 2025 but beyond? Thank you very much.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Thank you, Catherine, good morning. Two questions there. I might ask Randy maybe to pick infrastructure one. Maybe firstly talk about M and A and capital allocations. Well, firstly, no change to capital allocation priorities, Catherine, overall.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Really good start to M and A and development in the first quarter, right? And in particular, eight deals in the in the quarter, which, you know, typical CRH deals, kind of a lot of bolt on deals. What was really encouraging for us actually is that seven of the eight were were one on one negotiations, right, which really strikes to the kind of national footprint and those close relationships we have across the the industry. So eight deals, 600,000,000. We have a full, I'd say, pipeline as we look out.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

We've good optionality as we look out to the remainder of year, both in terms of bolt ons, but also some interesting mid sized deals as well. But, you know, we're not going to lose that financial control and discipline. I think that's what you get from CRH, right, when you look at it. And I think given the kind of connected nature of the portfolio, we really have multiple avenues for how we invest, right, and how we deploy capital. And that together with the unmatched scales and those kind of local relationships and local positions really kind of keeps that, M and A pipeline good for us.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

In terms of growth CapEx, we're continuing to invest in what are low risk and high returning opportunities, right, in many of our fastest growing markets. And this morning, as you saw, we've announced a 6% increase in the quarterly dividend and also a continuation of our share buyback program, another CHF 300,000,000. And that's running at an annualized rate of CHF 1,200,000,000.0. And in fact, since we started that program over six years ago, we've now retired nearly 22% of our stock at about $47 a share, right? So really good stewardship of capital from that perspective.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

So overall, I think given the scale of the business and the continued execution of our differentiated strategy and the optionality we have in terms of multiple avenues of growth, it really that, together with the strength of the balance sheet, gives us our financial capacity to support the continued growth of the business. Maybe, Randy, do you want to pick up the infrastructure Yeah.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

Maybe just a couple of quick comments on that. I think your intuition and research is correct. So what I think we called out maybe at the beginning of the IIJ that it was a five year bill, but we thought it was gonna take seven years to deploy the quantum of capital and just to be able to to get the engineering and design work done to to let those projects bid. And and that's where we see it today. You know, there's been obviously, it's it's a particular area that has broad support on either side of the aisle and and and which is encouraging.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

I called out our backlogs, and I think the backlogs are interesting for a couple of reasons. One, obviously, it gives us a picture for the balance of the year, but it's also kind of the mix of work that we're seeing. So there is certainly a combination of that maintenance, but also multiyear projects, which, again, states have the confidence in long term funding, whether that's IIJA or even call out the work or the work that's going to begin and starting to to kick on in regards to the next evolution of the highway bill. And you saw Chairman Graves come out with concepts in around a new revenue stream. As you know, the gas tax hasn't been raised since 1993, not even indexed for inflation.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

So the conversation at least around a continuation of funding is happening early, which which is encouraging. And I think for us in particular, if you look at where we operate geographically, we're we're the beneficiary of a significant amount of that funding. So I think we're in the right places to take advantage of that, and the pipeline is strong. And to your point, I think we're we're seeing the bidding activity on a weekly basis kinda align with what you're calling out in terms of overall opportunities.

[Kathryn Thompson, Founding Partner & CEO at Thompson Research Group]

Great. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Brent Thielman with D. A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

[Brent Thielman, MD & Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Hey, great. Thank you. Good morning. It seems as though you have a relatively constructive outlook for the international solutions portion of the business, especially as we kind of move beyond the seasonally slow period. And I'm wondering if you can just expand upon some of the things that you're seeing today and maybe especially since Liberation Day that might inform that view?

[Brent Thielman, MD & Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Again, just looking for some more color on how you see the rest of the year play out for international. Thank you.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Yes. Sure, Brent. I think what we saw in the first quarter was really what we began to highlight on the full year results. Particularly, if you look at the Western European market, it's had a tough number of years, right? When you take it from Brexit into the pandemic, into the war and energy crisis, and we started to see a troughing out of activity levels in some of our key markets towards the second half of twenty twenty four.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

And we're beginning to see that recovery, right, in some of those key markets. That kind of together with another a number of other factors, right, the really continued or rather the continuation of the good growth that underpins Central And Eastern Europe, right? That is a region in some of our key markets, which is really heavily underpinned by EU infrastructure funding, but also good activity on the non res side. And, you know, we saw it last year and we called it out with the kind of more aggressive and accelerated cut of the euro interest rates. We're beginning to see some green shoots on the residential activity too in some of our markets there.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

So that, together with all the self help measures we took and good kind of commercial excellence, is really what's driving the performance in the international division and gives us that outlook, positive outlook for 2025 and indeed for a number of years to come. I think we're going to see that because, particularly in the Western European markets, kind of recovering from troughing levels of activity.

[Brent Thielman, MD & Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Garik Shmois with Loop Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Garik Shmois, Managing Director at Loop Capital Markets LLC]

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Two follow-up items for me. First, on the M and A side, are you seeing any change in sellers' attitudes, expectations or the type of assets that are for sale just given the uncertain macro? And then follow-up on the cost piece.

[Garik Shmois, Managing Director at Loop Capital Markets LLC]

Was there any maintenance or contracting services costs that were pulled forward into the first quarter just given the weather headwinds perhaps taking advantage of slower shipments to accelerate repairs?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Yes. Thanks, Garek. I might get Randy to come back on the cost one. But in terms of M and A, we're not yet, Garek. We've eight deals done in the first quarter.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

The pipeline is good. We're not seeing any amelioration in terms of aspirations from the sellers yet. Clearly, as this maybe uncertainty is out there, may impact that later, but we're not seeing it in terms of multiples or entry multiples. I think the eight deals we did in the first quarter were very much kind of typical kind of CRH average entry multiple deals. But again, I think that reflects kind of our unique position.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

We operate in quite a fragmented industry. There's plenty of opportunity there. But really, that connected nature of our portfolio, as I mentioned earlier, just gives us kind of multiple options and levers where to deploy capital. And that's what we continue to do in Q1, and that's what's been driving a lot of the performance in recent years. Randy, maybe do you want to comment on the cost side of it?

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

Yes. I would say certainly, in the winter months, with or without kind of the extent of the weather we called out, that's when we typically would perform our maintenance activities to get ready for the season, whether that's within our aggregate business, within the cement plants in terms of shutdown and performing maintenance. I'd say most importantly is that we match that maintenance with the expected demand environment for the year ahead. So to your point, we take advantage of those times with the expect expectation that once the season started in March that we'd be we'd we'd be well prepared. So but I wouldn't call it out as anything unusual. Nothing on that we ever do differently on a on a year to year basis.

[Garik Shmois, Managing Director at Loop Capital Markets LLC]

Understood. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Keith Hughes with Truist Securities. Please go ahead.

[Keith Hughes, Managing Director at Truist Securities]

Thank you. My question is in American Building Solutions. What are you expecting for the remainder of this year, both within the two product groups and for margins?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Yes. Hi, Keith. Good morning. I think, first, in terms of the American Building Solutions, it's really a division which is coming off the back of a number of very strong performances over the last number of years. Right?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

In '24 and indeed in the first quarter, I described the performance really as resilience right now. Quarter one was impacted by a combination of challenging weather and also kind of it is the bit of our business which is most exposed to the residential cycle as well. But if you look at it, it's made up of two parts, our outdoor living business. What we saw really was significantly weather impacted Q1, but and really, as we got into kind of late March and into April, we really saw kind of a delayed spring season in our outdoor living business, and we saw good recovery in April and into early in May as well. Right?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

So expecting that trend to continue. The other side of the business is our building and infrastructure. Right? And that's a business which is primarily exposed to water infrastructure and indeed energy infrastructure. Right?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

And I think, for the remainder of this year, the backlogs are good. You know, it whether it did impact it a bit in q one, but as we're through that now and we get more normalized, we're seeing the work that is there to be done. And I think the outlook for 2025 and indeed for a number of years to come, particularly in that water and energy infrastructure space, is quite positive for that business.

[Keith Hughes, Managing Director at Truist Securities]

Okay. Thank you. Just one quick one. I think you said earlier land sales are going be about 75,000,000 add to EBITDA in twenty twenty five million What were they in 2024? I think they were a good bit higher.

[Alan Connolly, Interim CFO at CRH]

Yes. Just on that, were $237,000,000 was the 2024 comparative, so quite an exceptional year for Shay. But the ongoing average is about £75,000,000

[Keith Hughes, Managing Director at Truist Securities]

Okay. Thank you.

[Operator]

And we have time for one last question. And that last question comes from the line of Will Jones with Redburn Atlantic. Please go ahead.

[Will Jones, Analyst at Redburn Atlantic]

Thank you. Good morning. Two parts, if I could, please. The first just around the asphalt business in The U. S.

[Will Jones, Analyst at Redburn Atlantic]

Perhaps you could just update us on the winter fill process, how that went? And to what extent you think the drop in the oil price of late might have implications for pricing needs over the summer? And then the second is just actually around Canada. Clearly, that's in the eye of the storm around tariffs at the moment. But to what extent are the trends there, if at all, against The U. S?

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Yes. Two questions there. Will, I might ask Randy maybe to take the first one on the just the winter fill in asphalt, I'll come back in Canada.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

Yeah. Absolutely. The winter fill, yeah, as you know, a significant competitive advantage for us across the country, kind of the network of tank storage. I'd say it's a very consistent year in terms of the quantum that we have as well as kind of the underlying cost position. I think important for us, probably the number one driver as to why we're in that business is really access to bitumen liquid asphalt during the peak of the season.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

And so for us, we can store roughly half of the the amount that we consume in any one given year. So it's important to have access to that. So that scale and that reach of that business is significant competitive advantage. No one will ever be able to duplicate kind of that position that we have. So that's the primary reason why we're in that business.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

I think what we've also seen is that we run that asphalt business on a margin basis. So we do see fluctuations in various points in times in terms of the underlying market. But when we look at the backlog of work that we have combined with what we have in storage, we we have expectations for another year of margin progression in that asphalt business. I think also what it does, I've often said this about the one of the other advantages of having that storage is, you know, every road has a unique specification. And our capability to take that material, that off spec material in some markets to be able to blend to a specific specification for a state DOT is is creates a competitive advantage for us.

[Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer at CRH]

So we have not only storage, but also the technical capability to deliver a unique solution for every road. So I feel good about where we are at this time of year and would expect another year of margin progression in that line of business.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

Yes. I will. And maybe just in Canada. We have a firstly, a fully integrated business. It's mainly a Toronto based business, kind of local business.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

It's very early season, as you can imagine, just about to get going up there at this stage. Encouragingly, some really good pricing environment. So very happy with the pricing performance and broadly similar trends, I think, in Canada that we're seeing elsewhere. So think set up nicely and a nice asset base for the season ahead. And now I'm now turning the conference over.

[Jim Mintern, CEO at CRH]

That's all we have time for today. Thank you all for your attention. And as always, if you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to contact our Investor Relations team. We look forward to take to talking to you again in August when we will report our results for the second quarter of twenty twenty five. Thank you and have a good day.

[Operator]

Thank you. Your conference call has now ended and you may disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Jim Mintern, CEO
• Tom Holmes, Head - Investor Relations
• Randy Lake, Chief Operating Officer
• Alan Connolly, Interim CFO

Analysts

• Trey Grooms, Managing Director at Stephens Inc
• Jerry Revich, Senior Investment Leader & Head of US Machinery, Infrastructure, Sustainable Tech franchise at Goldman Sachs
• Anthony Pettinari, Analyst at Citigroup
• Ross Harvey, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Davy
• Kathryn Thompson, Founding Partner & CEO at Thompson Research Group
• Brent Thielman, MD & Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson
• Garik Shmois, Managing Director at Loop Capital Markets LLC
• Keith Hughes, Managing Director at Truist Securities
• Will Jones, Analyst at Redburn Atlantic