CRH PLC (LON:CRH) has maintained its interim dividend in a half-year where sales fell slightly due to coronavirus lockdowns but underlying profits improved.
The FTSE 100-listed building materials group reported record levels of cash generation of £1.3bn, leading to £1bn of cash flow, which along with a €2bn bond issue helped cut net debt by US$3.8bn to US$7.8bn.
Revenues of US$12.2bn were generated in the first six months of the year, down 3% on a year ago.
Like-for-like (LFL) sales from its Americas Materials fell 1%, those in the European arm dropped 11%, while the Building Products division increased LFL sales 2% thanks to strong demand from residential repair, maintenance & improvement (RMI) in North America.
A “strong focus” on cost-cutting to offset the effects of the pandemic enabled underlying earnings (EBITDA) to be lifted by 2% to US$1.6bn, despite a 28% plunge in Europe.
Reported profit before tax, however, dropped 27.8% to US$518mln, which was primarily blamed on lower profit from divestments compared with the first half of last year.
Although it paused its share-buyback programme in April, the interim dividend is held at 22 US cents, in line with the prior year.
As at the end of June, the group had US$10bn of cash, which it said was sufficient liquidity to meet all maturing debt obligations for the next five years.
The near-term outlook is felt to be uncertain and dependent on the pandemic situation, with recent trading trends suggesting like-for-like sales in the third quarter to be “slightly behind” and EBITDA in line with last year.
“There is limited visibility for the fourth quarter of the year and as a result the group is not in a position to provide full-year guidance at this time,” CRH added in the half-year (LFL results statement.