Building materials group CRH posted a better-than-expected 25 per cent rise in 2006 pretax profit today.
Pretax profit in the 12 months to the end of December rose to €1.602 billion from €1.279 billion in 2005, beating the €1.583 billion average of 11 analyst forecasts.
Sales rose 30 per cent in 2006 to €18.7 billion, and the Dublin-listed company predicted further growth as an improving European market offset sluggishness in the United States.
The company also raised its dividend for the year by 33 per cent, and said that by 2008 earnings would be about 3.5 times its dividend payment versus 4.3 times in 2006, meaning almost a third of available profits for next year will go to shareholders versus less than a quarter last year.
CRH financial director Myles Lee said: "We've doubled our dividend since 2002 and I think investors can probably expect further increases in the future." He repeated the company's overall guidance that it "expected progress" in 2007.
Last year CRH spent €2.1 billion on 31 acquisitions. The company said yesterday it is seeking to expand its business in Switzerland with the €340 million acquisition of Getaz Romang.
The company said it was submitting a public tender offer for the entire share capital of Getaz Romang and has the backing of the Swiss group's board.
The offer price of 1,125 Swiss francs (€698.80) per share represents an all-time high for Getaz's stock and is at a 22.5 per cent premium over the stock's average closing price of the past 30 trading days.