CRH has used a string of takeovers in Britain, Europe, Asia and the United States to become a global construction industry leader. While it doesn’t actually slap cement on bricks, it is Europe and America’s largest building materials supplier, with about 3,200 operating locations in 29 countries, employing 73,000 people.
That makes its shares an effective bet on how construction will cope with next year’s expected international recession. Richard Branch, chief economist of the US-based Dodge Construction Network, an industry observer, expects the cash value of commercial building of all sorts to have mushroomed by 24 per cent this year but thinks it may shrink by 3 per cent in 2023. “We’re walking the razor’s edge,” he said.
Nevertheless, last month CRH affirmed its $5.5
