00:00I first want to start with earnings and just kind of talk a little bit about what happened in the most recent quarter and whether that continues for the next couple of quarters going forward.
00:10Yeah, we put our quarter three results last night, this morning.
00:14So a strong Q3 for us, revenue up 5 percent, EBITDA up 10 percent and 100 basis points margin expansion.
00:21We actually upped our guidance for the full year, so tightened the range and we upped it to 7.65 billion.
00:28That's a double digit growth year for us remain coming off an excellent 2024 as well.
00:33So it's a record year for us in 2025 and our 12th consecutive year of margin expansion.
00:39Now, what's driving that? What's behind that? Infrastructure is busy.
00:43You said it where the biggest one of the biggest infrastructure plays in the U.S., particularly when you think CRH, think roads, think think water and roads infrastructure and then reindustrialization data centers.
00:53So that's what's really underlying that. We're going to get to data centers in a second.
00:56I do want to talk about roads just because we are in the middle of a federal government shutdown.
01:01And I would assume most road projects, you know, at the state and local level at some point originates with federal dollars.
01:07Does that affect you at all the shutdown? Yeah.
01:10The federal funding, we're still in the double IJA bill just right now.
01:14About 60 percent of the double IJA bill has not yet been spent.
01:18However, the highway trust fund is a separate revenue stream into the local state.
01:23So actually, we've been through a few government shutdowns before.
01:26Obviously, this is the longest.
01:27So it doesn't actually impact the funds of federal flow into the states for the road program.
01:32So, no, it doesn't impact us.
01:34Let's talk a little bit about data centers, because obviously that was a hot topic when it comes to your earnings call.
01:40And I wonder, I mean, what has the shift been like, the shift in focus?
01:45Because data centers, I don't think we were having these conversations two years ago.
01:48Even at the pace that we're having them, I don't know if we were having them a year ago at this time.
01:53So give us some color on what that conversation internally at CRH sounds like.
01:57Yeah, it's exciting, Katie.
01:59I mean, we have a national footprint from 48 states.
02:02We have 2,000 locations across the U.S.
02:05So, in fact, every single data center in the U.S. is within 50 miles of a CRH location.
02:11Right today, we're actually active on 98 individual data centers just right now.
02:16Now, they're all at different stages of completion.
02:19But for us, and this is where it might be slightly different, we're often one of the first people on site.
02:24So we put in initially all the kind of water, the energy, and the communications infrastructure subterranean.
02:29And then we come on top of it with our aggregates or cement and concrete.
02:32So, you know, it's that connected nature of our portfolio really plays into the sweet spot of data centers.
02:38And I think, you know, if you're building a data center right now, what matters is quality and speed.
02:42And that's what we can offer, give our national footprint.
02:45The big question when it comes to data center, and really when it comes to the whole AI build out, is whether or not it's sustainable.
02:51So if you take a look into 2026, how big of a contribution will the data center build out be to your business?
02:58How does that compare to what we've seen in 2025?
03:01I think 2026 is still going to be very strong for us on the whole reindustrialization data center.
03:06We see that in terms of the kind of the backlogs we have into that.
03:09So 26, from our perspective, looks good.
03:12And building off a very good 25, we saw it ramp up in 25, and it will continue into 26.
03:16I am curious about just other areas outside of data centers.
03:20And, I mean, you have other things, you know, a couple big chip plants.
03:23I know one down in Texas and another one somewhere out west somewhere that I'm probably forgetting.
03:27Boise, Idaho.
03:28But there's been this whole, obviously, this whole push, particularly under this administration in Washington, to reshore a lot of manufacturing capacity.
03:36And I know it's kind of come in fits and starts.
03:38Without getting into the politics of it, are you anticipating that we will see a meaningful uptick in demand for new manufacturing facilities, whether it's something as high level as chips or maybe even something that's just more pedestrian, like a warehouse?
03:52Yes, Roman, we are.
03:53Yeah, and we see it, right?
03:54Whether it's data centers, chip plants, right, into EV battery plants.
03:58We see that, right?
04:00And, you know, I think these are multi-year projects.
04:04Now, what excites us most, we've seen this time and time again across our portfolio, a chip plant is wonderful, right?
04:09It's a super big project.
04:11But, actually, the whole infrastructure that goes in around that can drive construction for kind of three, five years.
04:16You think of the residential, the kind of road network, you know, into retail networks.
04:20So, you know, we get many years post the initial chip plant, and that's what makes it particularly exciting for us.
04:26When I go through a list of all the big projects going on around this country, and I think about the people power needed to build those things.
04:33Even before this big boom, we were seeing a labor crunch in the construction sector.
04:39I am curious as to how you're finding the workers, and more importantly, if you're having to pay them materially more than what you would have maybe a couple of years ago.
04:46Again, it's probably not so much for us, because we have 2,000 locations, but we tend to be in rural locations, so we're big employers in local communities.
04:53So we have a very low turnover of employees.
04:56It's probably more for a customer's customer where we see it, right?
04:59And, yeah, there is some impact, but not directly on us, per se.
05:03And it's interesting.
05:04Obviously, the government is shut down, so we're not getting non-farm payrolls figures.
05:08But for the last several prints, what about the farm payrolls?
05:12I still don't have an answer for you.
05:13I tell her that joke every day.
05:14She never laughs.
05:15It never gets old, though.
05:16But you had seen just this continued contraction when it comes to manufacturing sector jobs.
05:22So really interesting to hear some color there.
05:24I do want to talk about M&A, because, boy, you have been active.
05:28I was taking a look at this stat that your CFO gave on the earnings call that so far in 2025, you have 27 deals so far.
05:38Yeah.
05:39Are we going to see 27 more in 2026?
05:41What's the plan?
05:42That's not unusual, Katie.
05:43Last year we did 40, right?
05:45We did 27 years to date.
05:46So you're behind, is what you're saying.
05:47Well, yeah, but the pipeline is good for the remainder of this year and into 26.
05:51It's an interesting stat, right?
05:53We've done over 850 acquisitions in the U.S., right, in the last.
05:57So we typically would do, you know, maybe 30 deals a year.
06:00It's a real core part of who we are in terms of CRH.
06:03And it goes back to actually the connected nature of the portfolio.
06:06We have a lot of optionality of where we deploy capital.
06:08And that kind of, you know, we've got a lot of local brands across CRH.
06:12And what's interesting, those deals, most of them bubble up from the local brands.
06:15We're here in New York, we're Tilcom, right?
06:17That's the local brand name here.
06:19Those deals come from the kind of bubble up from the local operating business.
06:22It's fascinating.
06:23And, you know, while we have you, one of the reasons that I like to follow CRH is because
06:28I feel like you guys started a trend of switching your listings from overseas to the U.S.
06:33You were CFO when CRH completed that transfer to the New York Stock Exchange in 2023.
06:40And again, I feel like you were at the forefront here.
06:42So take me back to 2023 and that decision.
06:46In hindsight, the logic makes sense.
06:48But I wonder how it was perceived at the time.
06:51Yeah, it was the logical move for us, right?
06:5375% of our business is in the U.S.
06:56You know, we are number one globally.
06:57We're number one in the U.S.
06:58And, you know, number one in infrastructure.
07:00So if you were starting today, you would have always listed CRH in the U.S.
07:03from that perspective.
07:04But it's been an interesting process.
07:07And I think that's probably the key word.
07:08It wasn't an event.
07:10It's a process and it's still ongoing, right?
07:12I mean, two years later, we're still working our way through the process.
07:15It's been very successful, both from kind of a talent attraction, you know, a business commercial aspect side of it as well.
07:22In terms of M&A, right?
07:24Yeah.
07:24People want to deal and sell their businesses to U.S. listed, New York listed companies.
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