CRH's interest in Scancem, the Nordic cement and building materials company which is up for sale, has been confirmed by a member of the Scancem board. Meanwhile, British building materials firm RMC Group confirmed yesterday it was in contact with Scancem over the sale .

Scancem board member, Mr Lennart Johansson said that RMC was interested in buying all or part of the company. "It feels like RMC is willing to buy the whole company. That's the perception we've had from the beginning," Mr Johansson said.

Mr Johansson also said CRH may be interested in Scancem and newspaper reports this week speculated that France's Lafarge could join the fray with a bid approach. Last month CRH said it would be interested in parts of the Scancem business, believed to be mainly its Finncementi operation in Finland and the Castle Cement operation in Britain.