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CRH to miss earnings forecasts
Irish building materials group CRH said yesterday it would miss analysts’ expectations for earnings growth of 11 per cent this year as it grapples with high raw materials costs and poor economic growth prospects. A major player in the US market, where it is the leading producer of asphalt for highway construction, CRH’s first-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 10 per cent to €574m (£504m). That was below the average €590m forecast by seven analysts. CRH’s chief operating officer Albert Manifold said that although the group looked forward to a year of earnings progress, analysts had been expecting too much.