CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) Q3 2023 Results Conference Call November 21, 2023 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Albert Manifold - Chief Executive

Jim Mintern - Group CFO

Tom Holmes - Head of Investor Relations

Conference Call Participants

Ross Harvey - Davy Research

Gregor Kuglitsch - UBS

Anthony Pettinari - Citigroup

David O'Brien - Goodbody

Kathryn Thompson - Thompson Research Group

Elodie Rall - JPMorgan

Will Jones - Redburn Atlantic

Harry Goad - Berenberg

Operator

Good day. My name is [Mandeep], and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the CRH Earnings Update Conference Call [Operator Instructions].

I will now hand the call over to Albert Manifold, CRH Chief Executive to begin the conference.

Albert Manifold

Hello, everyone. Albert Manifold here, CRH Group Chief Executive and you’re all very welcome to our conference call and webcast presentation, which accompanies the release of our earnings update earlier today. Joining me on the call is Jim Mintern, our Group CFO; and Tom Holmes, Head of Investor Relations. Over the next 20 minutes or so, Jim and I will take you through some of the main points of this morning's announcement, highlighting the key drivers of our trade performance for the first nine months of the year, providing you with an update on recent portfolio activity as well as an indication of our expectations for the year as a whole. Based on the visibility that we have at this moment in time, we’ll also share our thoughts on some trends we're seeing across our markets as we look ahead to 2024. Afterwards, we'll be available to take any questions that you may have. And all told, we should be done in 45 minutes or so. First, on Slide 1. I'd like to take a moment to mention a few of the key highlights from this morning's statement. Following overwhelming support from our shareholders earlier this year, we successfully completed the transition of our primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange in September. This is an important milestone in our development and one that will enable CRHto fully participate in the significant growth opportunities that lie ahead.

With regard to trading performance, I'm pleased to report that the positive momentum we experienced in the first half has continued into the third quarter. And for the first nine months of the year, our business has delivered further growth in sales, EBITDA and margin. Total group sales of $26.3 billion were 8% ahead, reflecting good underlying demand and further commercial progress across our businesses. This translates into EBITDA of $4.8 billion, 14% ahead and a further 100 basis points of margin improvement, a strong performance despite [containing] but some inflationary cost pressures. This morning, we've announced an agreement to acquire an attractive portfolio cement and readymix concrete assets in Texas for $2.1 billion, a significant investment which will deliver further growth and value creation for our shareholders. I'll take you through that in further a little later presentation. We also continue to return significant amounts of cash to our shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Our ongoing share buyback program is on track to return approximately $3 billion in 2023 and the current tranche of the program will be completed before the end of the year. In advance of our intented transition to quarterly dividends in 2024 and consistent with our progressive dividend policy and strong financial position, this morning, we have announced an accelerated payment of our 2023 dividend, representing a 5% increase compared to the prior year. Looking ahead to the remainder of the year and based on current trading conditions at the momentum we see across our businesses, I'm pleased to report that we are raising our previous guidance and expect to deliver full year group EBITDA of approximately $6.3 billion well ahead of the prior year and representing another record year for CRH.