By Joe Hoppe

CRH PLC said Tuesday that Ebitda for the first nine months of the year rose 2% on year and that it expects the full-year figure to be more than $4.4 billion.

The Ireland-based building-materials group generated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the period of $3.4 billion, up 2% on a like-for-like basis.

Sales for the period slipped 3% on year to $20.6 billion, maintaining the decline level reported at the half-year.

Ebitda rose despite a slip in sales due to a strong focus on cost rationalization, and mitigating actions to minimize financial disruption driven by the coronavirus, the company said.

CRH said it expects pretax profit for the year to be ahead of last year's pretax profit of $2.2 billion.

Visibility over the coming year was still limited given market uncertainty, but its longer-term prospects remain positive, the company said. Net debt at the end of 2020 is expected to narrow to around $6 billion from $7.5 billion a year prior.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-24-20 0238ET