CRH CRH Plc

By Joe Hoppe

CRH PLC said Thursday that 2020 pretax profit fell on the back of a decrease in revenue, but declared an increased dividend.

The Irish building-materials supplier posted a pretax profit from continuing operations of $1.66 billion for 2020, down from $2.18 billion in 2019.

Revenue was $27.59 billion, compared with $28.13 billion a year earlier. On a like-for-like basis, sales decreased 2% year-on-year.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization--one of the company's preferred metrics, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--rose to $4.63 billion, which compares with $4.48 billion the previous year. The company said this increase reflects a strong focus on cost rationalization and cost-cutting actions.

Last November, CRH said that it expected 2020 Ebitda to be in excess of $4.40 billion.

The board declared a final dividend of 93 cents, bring the total to 115.0 cents, up 25% compared to the previous year.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 04, 2021 02:56 ET (07:56 GMT)

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