Scale brings its own insulation for a company when trading markets are particularly tough. Some might say just as well for a business such as CRH, the building materials supplier whose second-largest market of Europe contains the UK, with its construction sector in recession.
The Ireland-based blue-chip company has heavyweight operations in the United States, where construction is booming, to shield it. The group also boasts activities in a further 30 countries, supplemented by acquisitions, and a stock market value of a mighty £21.3 billion that adds to its heft.
CRH was formed in 1970 when two Irish businesses merged: Cement Limited, created in 1936, and Roadstone, established in 1949. The stalwart member of the FTSE 100 is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of