Rumours growof CRH break-up

Speculation grew yesterday that the biggest company on the Irish Stock Exchange could be broken up and part of it floated off.

Shares in building materials giant CRH jumped 3.2 per cent to €37.55 yesterday as investors speculated that the company could be broken up and its US business floated off, which accounts for more than half of its turnover and profits.

It had been suggested in the past that the Irish group would do this as a separate US listing would make its business over there more attractive to US investors.

However, the company yesterday said it does not comment on market speculation.

Almost two million shares in the company were traded on the Dublin market.

In London, investors bought more than 3.6 million shares in the stock, which added €1.40 or 3.86 per cent, to close at €37.70.

Over the previous month, the average number of CRH shares sold in London was 2.5 million a day. Yesterday's volume represented a 40 per cent increase on this.

Dealers put the activity down to reports that the company was considering a break-up. Some suggested that such a move would value the company at €45 a share.

However, one Dublin-based trader said the reports were simply repeating something that had been mooted for a while.

"There's nothing new in this," he said.

CRH had €1.6 billion in pretax profits last year, a 25 per cent increase on 2005. The group's turnover was close to €19 billion.

The group is Ireland's biggest listed company, has operations in the US and Europe, and recently began to move into China. It has spent €750 million so far this year on acquisitions.