Ireland: CRH has reported improved results for the first half of 2015. It reported that sales increased by 13% year-on-year to Euro9.4bn over its global operations. Although sales fell by 1% in Europe, they rose by 32% in the Americas. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from continuing operations were up by 29% globally, by 4% in Europe and by 57% in the Americas. CRH's profit before tax was Euro63m, a 3% improvement on its Euro61m pre-tax profit it made in the first half of 2014.

CRH reported that the acquisition of assets from Lafarge and Holcim were now fully integrated into CRH. It has also announced a further Euro1.15bn acquisition of US-based glass manufacturer C R Lawrence.

"We are on track to deliver another year of growth in 2015," said Albert Manifold, CEO of CRH. "Trading in the Americas has been good and, against a mixed macro-economic backdrop, underlying trading in Europe is broadly in line. We have made good progress towards achieving our goal of restoring margins and returns to peak over the cycle, with further margin improvement in each operating division. We are now applying CRH rigour to (our) new businesses to integrate them efficiently and to drive performance."