CRH Annual Report 2007 PERFORMANCE AND GROWTH

Sales, profits and earnings increased for the 15th consecutive yearto new record levels. This continued year-in-year-out delivery oversuch an extended period is a striking testament to CRH’s strategy.• In Ukraine a €210 million wetto dry conversion giving a newstate-of-the-art 3 million tonneplant; planned to come on-streamin 2009.• In Poland a €200 million 1.8million tonne capacity expansionto meet growing demand; plannedto come on-stream in 2009.• In the United States, progressin the 50% joint venture cementplant announced in 2006; aUS$200 million, 1.1 million tonneplant in Florida, which is plannedto come on-stream towardsyear-end.The combination of our acquisitionand greenfield investment initiativescontinues to underpin CRH’s futureperformance and growth.Organisation and PeopleFollowing the significant evolutionin our organisation in recent years,when a number of senior executivesretired and were succeededfrom within, 2007 was a year forconsolidation. The new leadershave stepped up into their rolesextremely well and the organisationis functioning very effectively, allof which augurs well for the futureprogress of the Group.As mentioned in the 2006 Report,Declan Doyle, Managing DirectorEurope Materials, and TonyO’Loghlen, Chief Operating Officer,retired during the year and AlbertManifold and Henry Morris steppedup very successfully to succeedthem. Declan and Tony have beenat the heart of CRH for manyyears and we thank them for theirenormous contributions to oursuccess.Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR)CRH’s commitment to CSR, whichis embedded throughout the Group,is set out elsewhere in this Report,and in the separate CSR Reporton our website www.crh.com.The leading Socially ResponsibleInvestment Rating Agencies rankCRH as a sector leader, and weare a member of the FTSE4Goodand Dow Jones World and STOXXSustainability indexes.Our major cement investmentsoutlined earlier are a practicalexample of our commitment toreduce our specific cement CO 2emissions by 15% by 2015. In thisregard our Ukrainian investmentis the first project, JI-0001, tobe approved under the JointImplementation Protocol by theUnited Nations for any industryworldwide. We actively participate inthe Cement Sustainability Initiativewith the World Business Council forSustainable Development, whoseaim is to address the challengesof sustainable development andprovide a framework for workingwith the various stakeholders.StrategyAs set out elsewhere, we arefocused on the manufacture anddistribution of building materials,with balance being fundamentalto smooth-out cycles and providemultiple platforms for growth.Approximately 75% of our businessis heavy-side – cement, aggregates,asphalt, readymixed concreteand concrete products – with theremaining 25% split between othervalue-added building productsand distribution. This balancesIn April 2007 CRH Europe Materialsacquired 50% of Denizli Cement,the largest cement factory in theAegean region of Turkey. Denizli isan efficient, modern cement factorywith excellent limestone reservesand an annual cement productioncapacity of 1.8 million tonnes.CRH17