CRH has announced a range of development initiatives, amounting to €339 million (£267 million), undertaken in the first six months of 2000. These, together with the four large acquisitions, already announced, brings the total spending so far this year to €943 million (£743 million).
Chief executive Mr Liam O'Mahony said he was pleased with "the success of the continuing programme of small and mid-sized deals across all our product and regional groups. Twenty-seven such deals have been completed in the first half of 2000" as well as the larger acquisitions of the Shelly Company, the Yule Catto Rooflights division, the Dolomite Group and Northern Ohio Paving Company.
All the deals, he said, "add considerably to the strength of CRH and play an important role in continuing the strategic thrust of the group".
The latest deals involved an expenditure of €103.6 million in Europe and €235.2 million in North America.
The European acquisitions included Ballintra Concrete, a producer of blocks and concrete in Ireland and asphalt production and contracting businesses in Finland. There were four add-on acquisitions in the Netherlands and Belgium, together with a buyout of Remacle and the installation of a new paver plant by Marlux. Two EPS insulation producers in Poland and Britain were acquired and CRH increased its shareholding in Materiaux Service in France.
In the west of the US, there were five bolt-on acquisitions with combined sales of €40 million. Its Staker and Parson operations were strengthened and expanded by the acquisition in January of England Construction in Tooele, Utah, an aggregates, asphalt and readymix business with 40 million tons of reserves. Owen Excavation, an aggregates and paving contractor based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was acquired in May. Other acquisitions included Basalt Construction, Telluride Sand and Gravel, and Jensen Paving. In the north-east of US, Tilcon Connecticut acquired the construction materials assets of Soneco, and Tilcon New York acquired the assets of Port Dock and Stone.
In the US mid-west, the Shelly Company acquired Bluestone Paving and Waco Stone & Paving. Combined sales of the two companies amounted to €17 million.
The pre-cast group in the north-east made three acquisitions with annual sales of €32 million. These included the assets of Strescon Industries, Sabatini Concrete, and Chase Precast. The pre-cast group also acquired the assets of Thorn-Orwick with two locations in Kentucky and Indiana with annual sales of €9 million.
The architectural products group, acquired Domine Builders Supply and American Stone Mix and it has commenced construction of a large paver plant near Boston. The distribution group acquired Prestige Wholesale Supply of Wisconsin and Sinclair Supply Company.
