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CRH brushes aside fears of huge impact of virus on US economy
CRH has said it has seen no impact from the coronavirus on its business and it is "way too early" to say if it will hit its balance sheet this year.However, shares in the Irish-based building materials group fell by over 3% as fears of the virus decimating the global economy continued to grow.
The US is CRH's largest market, closely followed by Europe, while it also has operations in China and Asia.Speaking as the group announced record earnings for 2019, CRH's finance director Senan Murphy said it is "very very early days" in terms of being able to guage any impact from the virus on trade or GDP in CRH's key geographical markets; namely North America and mainland Europe.Mr Murphy said CRH's "relatively small" operation in China - where the group owns a 26% stake in a joint-venture - has seen low levels of activity, of late, but mainly due to it being a traditionally quiet time of year for that market.CRH said it generated record earnings, of €4.2bn, last year; 25% up on the previous year. Organic earnings grew by 7%. Group revenue was ahead by 6% at €28.3bn.The group also announced a 15% rise in full-year dividend - to 83c per share - way up on the 6% increase in pay-outs it announced on the strength of its 2018 performance.
The 15% dividend rise was prompted by strong cash generation of €3.5bn, which Mr Murphy said gives the group a number of options for boosting value for shareholders.He suggested CRH's share buyback programme will continue after the current €200m tranche completes at the end of next month, with a further extension likely to be announced ahead of the group's annual shareholders' meeting in April."With a continuing focus on margin expansion, cash generation and enhanced returns for
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