CRH sees US market for low-carbon cement alternatives doubling by 2050

Irish Times

4 days ago

CRH
expects the market for supplementary cementitious materials, a low-carbon alternative to cement, to double in the United States by 2050, the head of the largest building materials producer in the US said on Wednesday.
CRH chief executive
Jim Mintern
made the comments after the industrial giant reported a better than expected 9 per cent rise in second quarter core profit and forecast full-year earnings of $7.5 billion to $7.7 billion (€6.4 billion-€6.6 billion), versus a prior range of $7.3 billion to $7.7 billion.
The Irish-based, US-listed company, which makes about 75 per cent of its profit in North America, agreed to acquire US supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) supplier Eco Material Technologies for $2.1 billion last month to meet growing demand for the alternative ash-based products.
'In particular, what attracted us [to the deal] is that when you look out in the US, we estimate that the SCM market is going to double between now and 2050,' Mr Mintern said.
'This deal puts us right up there in terms of size and leadership levels in the US [and] gives us a very good growth platform.'
The acquisition will boost CRH's capacity in the 135 million metric ton US supplementary cementitious materials market to about 25 million tons, he added. CRH is the third largest cement manufacturer in both North America and Europe.
CRH's second quarter adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $2.5 billion were ahead of the $2.4 billion expected by an average of seven analysts polled by LSEG SmartEstimate.
Mr Mintern said the increase in the lower end of its full year guidance range was based on trading in the seasonally important month of July and a year-on-year increase in the volume and margins of contracted work across all major US product lines. – Reuters