SLOWER THAN expected cashflow and ongoing acquisition spending at CRH have prompted an international agency to review the Irish group's ability to pay up to €3.7 billion of its debts.
Moody's Investors Service, which rates organisations' ability to pay debts and meet financial obligations, said yesterday it was putting CRH's Baa1 rating, which classes it as a moderate credit risk, under review for a possible downgrade.
The rating applies to CRH's unsecured debts and affects approximately $4.8 billion (€3.74 billion) that it owes creditors.
Moody's said that if it did decide to downgrade the group's rating, it would be limited to "one notch".
This would leave it at Baa2, which means that the group's unsecured debts would remain in the moderate credit risk category.
A downgrade of an organisation's rating could potentially increase its borrowing costs.
Profit before tax at CRH was down 10 per cent at €606 million in the first half of this year. Cash inflow was €998 million during the first six months, compared with just over €1 billion last year.
