Further cost-cutting planned as Irish materials group suffers slump in orders over past six months

CRH, the Ireland-based materials group, has said its pre-tax profit for the first six months of 2008 will be approximately one-sixth of last year's figure.

In a trading update, the firm said pre-tax profit would be in the region of 鈧�100m, down 83% from 鈧�600m in the same period last year. This had been affected by 鈧�75m in restructuring costs and 鈧�20m from an 鈥渁dverse translation impact鈥�.

CRH said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first six months would be 40% lower than last year.

New measures would be introduced to make cumulative savings of 鈧�555m in 2009 and 2010, said the statement. This is in addition to 鈧�895m savings announced in January, and will bring total savings over the two-year period to 鈧�1.45bn.

Overall trading conditions would remain 鈥渆xtremely challenging鈥�, said the firm, but it hoped to benefit from aggressive cost reduction measures and improving infrastructure spend in the US and some European markets.

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