CRH plc
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| CRH, Plc | |
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| Type | Public - NYSE, ISEQ and LSE |
| Founded | Irish Cement Limited (1936), Roadstone Limited (1949) & merger (1970) |
| Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland |
| Key people | Kieran McGowan - Chairman W.I. O’Mahony - Chief Executive |
| Products | Various building materials |
| Employees | 92,000 (2008) |
| Website | www.crh.ie |
- CRH is also the acronym for Irish company Celtic Resources Holdings plc, a mining company
CRH plc, ISEQ: CRH, LSE: CRH, NYSE: CRHCY, FWB: CRH, is an Irish building material group, formerly called Cement-Roadstone Holdings plc. CRH was formed through a merger in 1970 of Irish Cement Limited and the Roadstone group of companies. It is quoted on the Official Lists of the Irish and London Stock Exchanges.
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[edit] Financials
The company has long been one of the leading companies on the Irish Stock Exchange[citation needed], it is currently the largest industrial group on the ISEQ index.
It had €14.4 billion in turnover in the financial year ending 31st December 2005, the highest of any Irish company and up from €1.3 billion ten years ago. Pre-tax profits were €1.3 billion, again, one of the highest of an Irish company. Growth has been rapid and organic in its main market, the US, and also due to the successful acquisition and integration of a steady stream of small and medium size building material companies.
[edit] Markets
Geographical revenue sources are split almost 50/50 between Europe and the US, product revenues are split evenly between finished building products and raw building products and in type-of-business revenue between new construction and renovation of existing buildings.
[edit] Competition
CRH is now the largest company of its type in the US[citation needed]. In Europe, its other market, it is the third-largest producer of concrete and of building materials overall[citation needed]. Unlike Lafarge, Saint-Gobain and Holcim, the only three building material companies larger than CRH, it has stuck doggedly to its Euro-US corporate axis. The other companies have moved into Asian and African markets. One emerging market for CRH is Latin America; the company has become a pre-eminent supplier in Argentina, Peru and Chile[citation needed]. It is the largest Irish corporate investor in the continent, another of its corporate milestones[citation needed].
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Operation of a private bank without licence
A tribunal of inquiry set up by the Irish Government to investigate corrupt payments to politicians, discovered that between 1987 and 1994, a private, unlicenced bank had been operated from the registered offices of CRH by its chairman, Des Traynor. It was further found that eight directors of CRH had control of accounts in this bank. These directors were:Tony Barry, James Culliton, Michael Dargan, Gerald Hickey, Diarmuid Quirke, Desmond Traynor, Robert Willis and Richard Wood. The scheme was run in conjunction with Guinness Mahon Bank and Ansbacher Cayman Bank. Its founding purpose was to avoid currency exchange controls, but was later used to facilitate personal tax evasion.
[edit] Recent Developments
CRH has recently struck out from its two-continent strategy and invested in a cement factory in the Heilongjiang region in China. This move perhaps is an insurance against a possible slow-down in its US housing business.
CRH has announced a further investment in the Chinese market, shifting its focus even further east-ward. CRH has acquired a 26% stake in an estate of 8 cement production plants in China, with an option to acquire 49% in the future.[1]
The company which it invested in is called Jilin Yatai Group.
CRH has recently purchased four US companies, worth a total of $350 million (€251 million) to add to its US materials division. These companies are Conrad Yelvington Distributors Inc. (CYDI), Eugene Sand & Gravel, Cessford Construction and McMinn's Asphalt and Prospect Agrregates.
CRH Plc, recently agreed to buy a 50 percent stake in Indian cement company My Home Industries Ltd. for 290 million euros ($452 million)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- CRH press release detailing holdings in Nesher Cement
- Office facilitator CRH emerges with business reputation crushed, Irish Independent, 8/July/2002
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