By Joe Hoppe
CRH PLC said Thursday that 2020 pretax profit fell on the back of a decrease in revenue, but declared an increased dividend.
The Irish building-materials supplier posted a pretax profit from continuing operations of $1.66 billion for 2020, down from $2.18 billion in 2019.
Revenue was $27.59 billion, compared with $28.13 billion a year earlier. On a like-for-like basis, sales decreased 2% year-on-year.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization--one of the company's preferred metrics, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--rose to $4.63 billion, which compares with $4.48 billion the previous year. The company said this increase reflects a strong focus on cost rationalization and cost-cutting actions.
Last November, CRH said that it expected 2020 Ebitda to be in excess of $4.40 billion.
The board declared a final dividend of 93 cents, bring the total to 115.0 cents, up 25% compared to the previous year.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-04-21 0256ET