Will CRH have the right materials to rebuild its stock price following Thursday’s half year results?
The first few months of the year weren’t kind to the Irish FTSE 100 firm, with it tumbling from an opening price of £26.42 to a 20 month low of £23.24 by the end of March. Things did dramatically pick up as April got underway, with the company’s Q1 update helping send the stock to a peak of £28.70 in mid-June. However since then it has struggled once again, falling back below £25 by the middle of August. CRH PLC (LON:CRH) now sits at a current trading price of £25.67.
The company’s last statement was that aforementioned first quarter report towards the end of April. There CRH revealed a 2% drop in Q1 like-for-like sales, with the firm blaming the ‘prolonged winter weather conditions and the timing of Easter holidays’. However, that wasn’t the main takeaway.
No, that was the announcement of a €1 billion share buyback to be completed over the next 12 months, alongside news that CRH was targeting a further €1.5 billion to €2 billion of divestments over the medium term as part of the Group’s ‘ongoing commitment to active portfolio management’.
As for Thursday’s half year results, analysts at UBS are expecting CRH to post a 1.4% rise in like-for-likes to €11.98 billion alongside a 1.3% increase in underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to €1.096 billion.
Investors will also be after a further update on its portfolio management, the most recent news being the divestment of its Benelux DIY business in the Netherlands and Belgium for a total consideration of €510 million.
CRH PLC has a consensus rating of ‘Buy’ alongside an average target price of £30.61.
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