CRH - Earnings Call - Q3 2025 TU

Executive Summary

• Record Q3 with revenue $11.07B (+5% y/y), Adjusted EBITDA $2.70B (+10% y/y), and diluted EPS $2.21 (+12% y/y), driven by pricing, solid demand, and M&A; margins expanded 100 bps (Adj. EBITDA) and 50 bps (net income) y/y.
• Mixed vs S&P Global consensus: slight revenue miss ($11.14B est.) but slight EPS beat ($2.21 est.); management raised FY25 Adjusted EBITDA midpoint to $7.65B and reaffirmed net income and EPS ranges. Values with asterisks are from S&P Global.
• Guidance change: FY25 Adjusted EBITDA midpoint raised (to $7.60–$7.70B from $7.50–$7.70B), capital expenditure tightened lower ($2.7–$2.8B vs $2.8–$3.0B), net income and EPS maintained; dividend declared at $0.37 (+6% y/y) and new $0.3B buyback tranche.
• 2026 setup constructive: strong U.S. infrastructure funding runway (IIJA 60% yet to be deployed), robust reindustrialization/data center activity, ongoing pricing discipline; CFO flagged Eco Material timing/financing costs make Q4 EPS dilutive, with ~$200M of net incremental M&A EBITDA expected in 2026.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Broad-based outperformance: Q3 revenue +5% y/y to $11.07B, Adjusted EBITDA +10% to $2.70B, diluted EPS +12% to $2.21; Adj. EBITDA margin +100 bps to 24.3% on pricing and acquisitions.
• Segment execution: Americas Building Solutions Adjusted EBITDA +22% y/y with notable margin expansion, aided by asset optimization and land disposals; International Solutions Adjusted EBITDA +15% y/y with +170 bps margin expansion on pricing and efficiencies.
• Positive forward narrative and guidance: FY25 Adjusted EBITDA midpoint raised; CEO emphasized “record third quarter performance” and confidence in benefiting from transportation, water, and reindustrialization megatrends.

What Went Wrong

• Financing headwind and leverage up: Interest expense rose to $209M in Q3 (from $164M), and Net Debt increased to $15.0B, reflecting acquisitions and capital returns; gross debt was $18.7B at quarter-end.
• EPS dilution in Q4 from Eco Material transaction timing and related costs; management flagged this near‑term drag despite positive strategic fit.
• Revenue modestly below S&P Global consensus while Adjusted EBITDA benefited in part from $110M gains on disposal of long‑lived assets in Q3, tempering pure operating leverage optics.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day and welcome to the CRH third quarter 2025 results presentation. My name is Krista, and I will be your operator today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad at any time. And if you would like to withdraw your question, it's star followed by the number one again. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Jim Mintern, CRH Chief Executive Officer, to begin the conference. Please go ahead, sir.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Hello everyone, Jim Mintern here, CEO of CRH, and you're all very welcome to our Q3 2025 results presentation and conference call. Joining me on the call is Nancy Buese, our CFO, Randy Lake, our COO, and Tom Holmes, Head of Investor Relations. Before we get started, I'll hand over to Tom for some brief opening remarks.

Thanks, Jim. Hello everyone. I'd like to draw your attention to slide two shown here on screen. During our presentation, we'll be making some forward-looking statements relating to our future plans and expectations. These are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results and outcomes could differ materially due to the factors outlined on this slide. For more details, please refer to our annual report and other SEC filings, which are available on our website. I'll now hand you back to Jim, Nancy, and Randy.

Thanks, Tom. We'll now take you through a brief presentation of our results for the third quarter of the year, highlighting the key drivers of our performance, our recent capital allocation activities, as well as our expectations for the year as a whole. We will also share our thoughts on some of the trends we are seeing across our markets as we look ahead to 2026. So at the outset on slide four, let me take you through some of the key messages from our results. We are pleased to report a record third quarter performance and raise the midpoint of our Adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2025, reflecting the continued execution of our strategy, our unmatched scale, and Connected Portfolio of businesses.

Assuming normal seasonal weather patterns and no major dislocations in the political or macroeconomic environment, we expect full year Adjusted EBITDA to be between 7.6 and $7.7 billion, representing 10% growth at the midpoint and another record year for CRH. Supported by our Growth algorithm and the CRH Winning Way, we delivered double-digit Adjusted EBITDA growth in Q3, reflecting our leading performance mindset. We have also been busy investing for future growth and value creation across our four connected platforms of aggregates, cementitious, roads, and water. Our ability to deploy capital in high-growth markets, integrate at scale, and deliver unique synergies through our Connected Portfolio is a real differentiator for our business. In the year to date, we have invested $3.5 billion in 27 value-accretive acquisitions, and we have a strong pipeline of further growth opportunities in front of us, supported by our proven growth capabilities.

Looking ahead to 2026 and based on the visibility we have across our key markets, the outlook for our business is positive, and I will take you through that in more detail later in the presentation. Turning now to slide five in our financial highlights for the third quarter, a record performance with revenues, adjusted EBITDA, margin, and diluted EPS all well ahead of the prior year period. Total revenues of $11.1 billion represent a 5% increase over the prior year, supported by positive underlying demand, continued pricing momentum, and contributions from acquisitions. This enabled us to deliver $2.7 billion of adjusted EBITDA in the quarter, a record for CRH and a 10% increase over the prior year. I'm also pleased to report a further 100 basis points of margin expansion in the quarter, demonstrating our relentless focus on performance across our business.

All of this translated into further growth in our diluted earnings per share, up 12% year-on-year. So what is driving the consistency of our financial delivery? Outlined here on slide six is our growth algorithm, which we presented during our investor day in September. As the leading infrastructure player in North America, we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on three large and growing mega trends: transportation, water, and reindustrialization, which we believe will support significant above-market growth and value creation for our business going forward. Next, the CRH Winning Way, core to who we are, deeply embedded in our culture and the engine behind everything we do. Through our Winning Way, we execute our superior strategy with discipline and focus. We drive leading performance across 4,000 locations through a culture of continuous improvement. We are responsible stewards of our shareholders' capital.

Every dollar we deploy is rigorously assessed to ensure that it drives maximum long-term value, and we leverage our proven growth capabilities to build leadership positions in high-growth markets. All of this is supported by four key enablers: customer centricity, empower teams, unmatched scale, and our Connected Portfolio of businesses. Our Winning Way is what really sets CRH apart. It is the multiplier that enables us to fully capitalize on growing infrastructure mega trends. It underpins our proven track record of delivering consistent double-digit earnings growth and being the leading compounder of capital in our industry. Now, at this point, I will hand you over to Randy to take you through the performance of each of our businesses.

Randy Lake (COO)

Thanks, Jim. Hello everyone. Turning to slide eight and first to Americas Materials Solutions, which delivered a robust performance in the third quarter against a strong prior year comparative. Total revenues and Adjusted EBITDA were 6% and 5% ahead, driven by good underlying demand, positive pricing momentum, and contributions from acquisitions. Aggregates pricing increased by 4% or 6% on a mix-adjusted basis. Cement pricing increased by 1%, reflecting regional variances across our operating footprint and supporting another year of margin expansion. In our roads business, Q3 revenues were 5% ahead, supported by good levels of activity in transportation infrastructure, which continues to be underpinned by strong state and federal funding. We also continue to see significant growth in reindustrialization, particularly in large-scale manufacturing and data centers. I'm also pleased to see continued strength in our margin at approximately 28%, reflecting strong cost discipline and operational efficiency across our business.

Overall, a strong performance for our Americas Materials Solutions business. As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, I'm encouraged by the positive momentum in our backlogs. Next to Americas Building Solutions on slide nine, where our business delivered strong profit growth and further margin expansion driven by favorable underlying demand and good commercial management. We continue to experience robust data center demand, which is a key focus for our business. In addition to being very materials intensive, these highly specified facilities require state-of-the-art water, energy, and communications infrastructure, which fits very well with how we've strategically positioned our business and our customer offering. By leveraging our unmatched scale and Connected Portfolio, we're able to deliver more value to our customers and generate higher profits, cash, and returns on these types of projects.

In our outdoor living business, where we continue to experience resilient underlying demand and residential repair and remodel activity, Q3 revenues were 2% ahead of the prior year. For Americas Building Solutions overall, total revenue growth of 2% translated into a 22% increase in Adjusted EBITDA and a further 380 basis points of margin expansion, reflecting the benefits of ongoing business and asset optimization initiatives, including the disposal of certain land assets across our operations. Moving to International Solutions on slide 10, where our business delivered a strong third quarter supported by continued pricing momentum, ongoing performance improvement initiatives, and contributions from acquisitions. On top of a 5% increase in revenue, we delivered a 15% increase in Adjusted EBITDA and a further 170 basis points of margin expansion.

In Central and Eastern Europe, we experienced positive underlying demand across our key end markets and early signs of recovery in new-build residential activity. While in Western Europe, activity levels continue to be supported by infrastructure and non-residential demand. In Australia, our business is performing well, benefiting from strong demand and synergy realization from recent acquisitions. At this point, I'll hand you over to Nancy to take you through our financial performance and capital allocation activities in further detail.

Nancy Buese (CFO)

Thank you, Randy. Turning to slide 12, and as Jim mentioned earlier, we delivered a record third quarter performance with further growth across our key financial metrics. Q3 Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $2.7 billion was 10% above prior year, driven by positive underlying demand, continued pricing momentum, and contributions from acquisitions. We also delivered 100 basis points of margin expansion, keeping us well on track to deliver our 12th consecutive year of margin improvement in 2025, demonstrating our leading performance mindset and the consistency of our financial delivery. Turning to slide 13 and to talk about our capital allocation activities so far in 2025. Starting with M&A, where we have invested $3.5 billion on 27 value accretive acquisitions, further strengthening our Connected Portfolio and leading positions in high-growth markets.

We've also invested $1.2 billion in growth CapEx through the third quarter, leveraging our size and scale to fully capitalize on low-risk, high-returning investment opportunities that expand our capabilities, support margin growth, and enhance long-term shareholder value. We also continue to deliver significant accretive returns to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Year to date, we've returned over $700 million in dividends, and we've also announced that our board has declared a further quarterly dividend of 0.37 per share, representing an increase of 6% on the prior year, in line with our strong financial position and policy of consistent long-term dividend growth. Through our ongoing share buyback program, we have also repurchased $1.1 billion of shares so far this year, and today we are commencing a further quarterly tranche of $300 million.

Since the inception of our buyback program in 2018, we have returned over $9 billion to shareholders, representing 23% of our outstanding shares at an average price of $49 per share. Overall, we have deployed $6.5 billion towards growth investments and shareholder returns so far this year, demonstrating our focus on the efficient allocation of capital to maximize shareholder value. As we communicated during our recent investor day, over the next five years, we expect to have approximately $40 billion of financial capacity to invest for future growth and deliver further returns to our shareholders, consistent with our long-term track record of value creation and reinforcing our position as the leading compounder of capital in our industry. I will now hand you back to Jim and Randy to provide some further color on our recent growth investments.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Thanks, Nancy. As you can see here on slide 15 in North America, our largest market, we have strategically and deliberately built out our four key growth platforms to become the number one infrastructure player in the region. Let me step you through each of these in turn. It all begins at aggregates, a valuable finite resource in the backbone of our business. In fact, approximately 95% of our revenue is connected to aggregates. Aggregates feed into everything we do, from our cementitious business to our roads business to our water infrastructure platform. Here, our position is unrivaled with 230 million tons of annual production and 20 billion tons of reserves. We own more stone on the ground than anyone else in the industry. Building on that foundation, we are also a leader in cementitious materials with around 25 million tons of annual production capacity.

Together, aggregates and cementitious products are the essential building blocks of modern infrastructure, enabling us to build, maintain, and improve the networks that communities and economies rely on every single day. Through our Connected Portfolio, we are also the largest road paver in the United States. This is a business supported by recurring revenue and robust public funding. We produce more than 50 million tons of asphalt annually, equivalent to the next five largest players combined. And importantly, our paving operations are almost entirely self-supplied by our own high-value aggregates and asphalt. Finally, we are also the leader in water infrastructure, where we provide customers with engineered systems that collect, protect, and transport this vital resource. Our water business has national coverage, and over 80% of the products we produce consume aggregates and cementitious materials.

Since over 85% of roads require water management systems, the strength of our water platform further reinforces the benefits of our Connected Portfolio and shared customer base. Taken together, these four platforms, aggregates, cementitious, roads, and water form the foundation of our unique position as the number one infrastructure player in North America, and we are focused on continuing to invest across these platforms to deliver further growth and value for our shareholders. Let's take a look at some examples of our recent investments, starting with two bolt-on acquisitions on slide 16. First, American Industries, a provider of aggregates, asphalt, and road paving services in Connecticut. This acquisition increases our aggregates reserves and expands our presence in an attractive market in the Northeast region of the United States. We also acquired Terracon Precast, a newly constructed concrete pipe plant with 70,000 tons of annual production capacity in North Carolina.

This is highly complementary to our existing water infrastructure business and significantly strengthens our ability to serve customers in Raleigh and Greensboro markets. These are just two examples out of the 26 bolt-on acquisitions that we have completed year to date, fully aligned with our strategy to invest across our four connected growth platforms with exposure to growing infrastructure mega trends. Now, at this point, I will hand you over to Randy to update you on our recent acquisition of Eco Material Technologies and growth CapEx investments.

Randy Lake (COO)

Thanks, Jim. First, to our $2.1 billion acquisition of Eco Material, which completed in September. This acquisition strengthens our position as a leading cementitious player in North America with approximately 25 million tons of combined annual production. And I'm pleased to report that early integration is progressing well. We've already identified significant commercial, operational, and logistical opportunities to enhance performance and create long-term value for our shareholders. As you can see on the map on the right-hand side of the slide, it's an excellent strategic fit and highly complementary to our existing platform. It creates a unique national distribution network, enhances our innovation capabilities, and positions us to better serve our enlarged customer base. Overall, we expect to unlock strong future growth and synergy realization with Eco Material under our ownership, representing an exciting opportunity to accelerate our cementitious growth strategy and deliver a tremendous amount of value for our shareholders.

Turning to slide 18 and some examples of the types of growth CapEx investments that we're making to support future growth in our existing business. First, we recently completed the construction of a precast pipe and box culvert plant just outside Austin, Texas, which will enable us to meet growing demand for our water infrastructure products. The location is not only very attractive from a market growth perspective. It will also enable us to self-supply our own aggregates and cement from our existing operations in the area, and in Utah, we're modernizing our cement plant in Leamington, which will increase annual production capacity by 240,000 tons to meet strong demand throughout the Inland West market. These are just two examples of how we're deploying capital efficiently, low-risk, high-returning investments that are an excellent use of our shareholders' capital.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Thanks, Randy. Great examples there of how we are deploying capital in high-growth areas. Finally, to Outlook on slide 20, and I'm pleased to say that we are raising the midpoint of our adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2025, reflecting our continued strong performance and a partial year contribution from the Eco Material acquisition. Assuming normal seasonal weather patterns for the remainder of the year and no major dislocations in the political or macroeconomic environment, we expect full-year adjusted EBITDA to be between 7.6 billion and $7.7 billion, a 10% increase at the midpoint, net income between 3.8 billion and $3.9 billion, and diluted earnings per share between $5.49 and $5.72. As Nancy mentioned earlier, we also expect to deliver our 12th consecutive year of margin expansion in 2025, demonstrating the consistency of our delivery and relentless focus on continuous performance improvement.

Taking all of this into account represents yet another record year of growth and value creation for CRH. Now, before I hand over to Q&A and as we look ahead to 2026, I'd like to take a moment to share our thoughts on some of the trends we are seeing across our key infrastructure mega trends in North America. First, to transportation, where the demand backdrop is robust, supported by the continued rollout of federal funding through the IIJA. Approximately 60% of the IIJA funds are yet to be deployed, highlighting the significant runway we still have ahead of us. State-level funding is also strong with the 2026 DOT budgets up 6% on the prior year. Through our unmatched scale and uniquely Connected Portfolio, we are well positioned to benefit.

In fact, if you look at the DOT capital spending authority across our top 10 states, it's expected to increase by 13%. It is also encouraging to see continued support for increased infrastructure investment. For example, we saw Michigan recently approving $1.85 billion in new transportation funding over the next four years. Transportation infrastructure remains one of the most recurring and predictable revenue streams of our business. And as the largest road paver in the United States and the number one infrastructure player in North America, we are well placed to benefit. We also expect to see continued investment in the whole area of water infrastructure, a large and growing market for our business with high single-digit growth projected in the areas of water quality and flow control for 2026. In reindustrialization, we expect continued strong demand for large-scale manufacturing and data center investment.

With approximately $690 billion of data center projects either announced or under construction, and with each of these projects located within 50 miles of a CRH location, we are very well positioned to benefit in this area going forward. In the residential sector, we expect repair and remodel demand in the U.S. to remain resilient, while new build activity remains subdued as a result of the ongoing affordability challenges, with the benefit of recent interest rate cuts unlikely to be felt until late 2026 at the earliest. As we've said in the past, this is not a demand issue, and we believe the long-term fundamentals in this market remain very attractive, supported by favorable demographics and significant levels of underbuilt.

In our international business, we expect robust demand and infrastructure to continue, supported by significant investment from government and EU funding programs, non-residential activity to remain stable across our key markets, and a continued recovery in the residential sector as a result of lower interest rates. Regarding the pricing environment, we expect positive momentum to continue across our markets, supported by disciplined commercial management, as well as the benefits of our Connected Portfolio. In summary, the overall trend is positive for our business, with our strategic focus on growing infrastructure mega trends and the benefits of the CRH Winning Way, leaving us uniquely positioned to capitalize on the strong growth opportunities that lie ahead. So that concludes our prepared remarks today. I will now hand you back to the moderator to coordinate the Q&A session of our call.

Moderator (participant)

Thank you. As a reminder to those on the phone, press star one if you would like to ask a question. We will now pause briefly while we register the questions in the Q&A roster. We'll take our first question from Anthony Pettinari with Citi. Please go ahead.

Anthony Pettinari (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Good morning. Thanks for all the details. I'm wondering if you have any further color on expectations for 2026, and maybe specifically how you're thinking about volume, price, and contribution from M&A.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Hi, Anthony. Good morning. Yeah, listen, I might ask Randy to come in in a minute just on some of the detail on volume and prices, and Nancy maybe just on some of the scope impacts on 26. But overall, the outlook for 26 is positive, Anthony, and really the key growth areas we see for ourselves are around infrastructure, and for us, that's around transportation and water, but also reindustrialization. Maybe first on transportation, with roads, still 60% of the IIJA is yet to be spent, and indeed, the local state budgets are also strong into 2026. This kind of strong funding backdrop for us is just really well positioned, given our unmatched scale and Connected Portfolio in our roads portfolio. And as you know, it's probably our most consistent and recurring revenue streams that we have in CRH.

Also on the water infrastructure side, right, it's a very strong funding backdrop, and that ongoing investment, which is really needed and required to address the aging water network across the U.S. On reindustrialization into 26, we see data center activity continue to be strong, right? And really for us, given our Connected Portfolio, it's not just about delivering aggregates on sites. We're often the very first person on site there with our energy, our water, and our communication subterranean infrastructure going in early, right? So it's a really kind of holistic pull-through of the connected product offering we have. Maybe just touching on residential for 2026, we think it's going to remain subdued, right? It's not a demand issue, but affordability with the 30-year fix still at 6.2%, it's still too high, right? And we need continued interest rate cuts before we see any recovery on the U.S.

Residential side. So all kinds of assumptions that there's no real benefit for us in 2026. If it is, it's going to be really at the very back end. And maybe just on international briefly, again, infrastructure strong, right? Both strong levels of EU and local government funding as well across our state government funding across Europe. Reindustrialization, we kind of see a stable outlook for 2026. And on residential in Europe, slightly different because Europe and the euro are more advanced on interest rate reductions, and we're beginning already to see the benefit of that coming true in terms of continued recovery in residential. But maybe Randy, just maybe the specific volume and prices.

Randy Lake (COO)

Yeah, maybe just to build out just a quick comment before I do that, just on maybe an example, a couple of projects we're working on. For example, in the northwestern part of the U.S., in and around Boise, working on a chip manufacturing plant and a data center. I think what Jim called out is important, is that critical infrastructure, that focus on the needs of energy and water management allow us early access on these projects. They're highly specified, gains us the opportunity then to pull through a variety of other products as part of that Connected Portfolio, the aggregate, the cement, the ready mix, and ultimately the paving around those sites, so in the end, that strategy is certainly delivering higher returns as we gain larger share of wallet of some of those key customers.

I guess that is a lead-in to say, hey, Q3 was encouraging. Ag and cement volumes up kind of mid to high single digits coming out of the Q2 that was a little more weather impacted. So good to see underlying demand coming through. And again, a positive pricing environment. Ag in particular, up 6% on a mix-adjusted basis. So that's good to see. And cement, another year of progress in terms of low single-digit pricing. And as we look forward, we talk about this all the time, the backlog, whether that's for our roads business, the critical infrastructure business, we have good visibility kind of six to nine months out. The bidding environment remains positive. So we're bidding more than we had at this point last year. And our backlogs would reflect an increase in revenues in quantum as we look into next year.

In terms of what that means for an outlook in regards to demand, we were looking at our aggs volume in that low single-digit improvement from 25 and mid single digits in regards to pricing. And cement, very similar, again, low single-digit volumes and pricing, another year of advancement there. So it's building off of a good 25, but again, the backlogs would be encouraging in regards to what our expectations are as we get into next year.

Nancy Buese (CFO)

Yeah, circling back to the question about the M&A contributions, it has been a really active year for us, 27 deals so far. ECO was the largest, and that was completed in September. So if you think about the contributions from all of this M&A thus far in 2025, I would roughly estimate about 200 million of EBITDA net incremental in 2026. And we'll talk a lot more about 2026 at our year-end results in February. We'll give you full guidance at that point in time.

Anthony Pettinari (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Okay, that's very helpful. I'll turn it over.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Adrian Huerta with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Adrian Huerta (Director)

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. Pretty impressive what the company has done in terms of margins in the prior two years and also even on this year where it's heading to be more than another one percentage point. Can you share with us more color on how this trend should evolve? How do you see the price-to-cost spread, especially across the three different divisions? I mean, the margin improvement in this quarter mainly coming from the building solutions in the U.S. and from International Solutions. How do you see this evolving and the opportunities for 2026?

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Good morning, Adrian. Jim here. Yeah, listen, really pleased again with the margin improvement in the quarter, up 100 basis points. And based on the guidance we've given this morning for the full year, this will be our 12th consecutive year, right, which is really reflecting that proven track record of consistency of delivery year in, year out. As you said, actually, I mean, we don't see any structural ceiling to where we can take the margins, and it really is embedded as part of our performance mindset and deeply embedded in the culture of the company. And at the recent investor day, in fact, as you know, we raised our ambition on the margins, and we're forecasting margins and targets out of 22-24% by 2030. And there's a number of reasons which are giving us confidence that we're going to achieve these margin increases.

Firstly, it's around the CRH Winning Way, that continued consistent execution of our superior strategy, the relentless quarter-on-quarter, year-after-year focus on driving performance, whether that's operational, commercial, or even procurement, right? And secondly, you will notice that we did communicate, we did step up our growth CapEx, right, about 18 months ago, and we're beginning to see now the benefits as that coming true in terms of margin expansion, and we've got reasonably good visibility on that as we look forward. Maybe Randy, do you want to comment specifically on some other aspects, maybe, and actually maybe what's happening in the cost inflation side of things?

Randy Lake (COO)

Yeah, absolutely. Maybe just to build on the growth CapEx, we have a really good backlog of projects, high-returning projects that certainly drive underlying improvement in the business, everything from kind of capacity expansion to automation in a variety of different ways. We look at our critical infrastructure business, kind of enhancing our pipe manufacturing process through the use of automation, just another means by which to drive those efficiencies and meet growing demand in that segment. When we look at the environment in terms of cost inflation, we certainly are still in an inflationary environment. So labor, raw materials, parts, maintenance, subcontractors, those costs continue to move forward. I think it certainly highlights the need for that further pricing momentum that I talked about as we go into next year.

But all in all, as Jim called out, in terms of that no structural ceiling to our margins, I think we should expect another year of margin expansion as we go into next year.

Adrian Huerta (Director)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Trey Grooms with Stephens. Please go ahead.

Trey Grooms (Managing Director)

Yeah, good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. So you guys are raising the midpoint of the EBITDA guide, which you pointed out that it now includes Eco Materials, and there's definitely several moving pieces here. But could you dive a little bit more into and maybe walk us through some of the key drivers here of the updated 2025 guidance? Thank you.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Yeah, absolutely, Trey. Yeah, listen, very firstly, very pleased to be announcing this morning the tightening and the raising of the full-year EBITDA guidance by about 50 million at the midpoint. And maybe I'd ask Nancy to come back on maybe some of the puts and takes at the end of this. But with the increase of 50 million, that gives us a midpoint of 7.65 billion, which is 10% growth, which is off a very strong 2024, in fact, a record year for CRH in 2024, which highlights the kind of durable growth nature of the Connected Portfolio of local brands that we have. The increase in guidance reflects really a strong quarter three again, with EBITDA of 10%, margins up 100 basis points, and contributions from recent acquisitions as well. And again, I guess we should remember that Q3 2024 was a record quarter for us as well.

We're stepping off kind of like for like a very strong quarter three in 2024. The quarter Q3 did benefit from some land sales, but actually year-to-date land sales are down year on year, right, over 2024. Maybe ask Randy, would you want to comment on how we think about and how we manage land sales across CRH?

Randy Lake (COO)

Yeah, I think we look at kind of optimizing that portfolio of assets as we do of any other part of kind of driving underlying performance. So it's about optimizing performance plus a portfolio. You call out the CRH Winning Way. This is an expectation we would have of our teams on the ground, right? So that relentless focus on operational excellence, maximizing shareholder value, and that includes the management of the assets. We take advantage of the scale that we have, 4,000 locations, the ability for us to recycle and optimize that asset base. That's an important part of how we compound earnings for our shareholders. And as you call out year-to-date, those dollars are lower than prior year.

Nancy Buese (CFO)

Yeah, and then just to follow on, our updated guide does really reflect our strong year-to-date performance across all of our key metrics. And as we've talked, it has been an active year for M&A, and that does include ECO having closed in September. And just as one reminder, while the adjusted guidance does include our partial year EBITDA contribution from ECO and other M&A, also remember though the size and timing of the ECO transaction in Q4 and also some transaction and financing costs. You can expect that to be EPS dilutive into Q4 of 2025.

Trey Grooms (Managing Director)

Okay, all right, got it. That all makes sense. Thank you all very much. I'll pass it on.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Feniger with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Michael Feniger (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Yes, thanks for taking my question. I'm just curious if we can unpack the drivers of performance and the margin expansion in Americas Building Solutions. There's been a lot more data points pointing to weakness in repair remodeling, incremental weakness in residential. And we saw the performance in Americas Building Solutions this quarter. Hoping you kind of unpack what you're seeing there, what you feel is sustainable going forward and into 2026. Thank you.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Yeah, hi Mike. Yeah, as you know, firstly, maybe the Americas Building Solutions, it comprises both our infrastructure business in the Americas, but also the outdoor living. And maybe I might ask Randy to come back on outdoor living. But firstly, overall, right, very strong Q3 performance, right? Adjusted EBITDA of 22% and margin well ahead of last year. What's driving that was overall good underlying demand, good commercial management, and as we just mentioned, also the benefit of some asset disposals in the quarter. But what's really driving on the infrastructure firstly is what is really the real strength, the underlying strength across the Americas of the whole reindustrialization activity, primarily around data centers. And as you know, given our scale, our national footprint, we're very well positioned for most projects, nearly all projects within 50 miles of a CRH location.

In fact, right now, we're working on in total about 98 different data center projects. Now, they're all at different stages of completion, but it gives you some feel for the kind of scale of activity there. Really what plays into our kind of sweet spot on this is the connected nature of the portfolio. That's a real advantage, right? That we're often, as I said earlier, first on site with our infrastructure products, then we're supporting that with our aggregates and cement. If you're a contractor building data centers, what really matters right now, it's around quality and speed of delivery, certainty and speed of delivery. We have a real advantage, competitive advantage there. That comes true when we get to talk about margins and pricing as well on those jobs. Maybe Randy on outdoor living?

Randy Lake (COO)

Yeah, outdoor living certainly, I think, performed very, very well when you look at underlying hardscapes, masonry, package products, all really moving forward this year. You have to remember coming from a very strong performance and growth over recent years coming out of COVID. The team's done a really terrific job in kind of sustaining that momentum, engaging with our customers the right way, and again, this is where we play here has been the most resilient in terms of repair and remodel. That's been a very purposeful effort, but the team has delivered well. It takes a lot of areas of focus, in particular, call out kind of our category leading brands. That's really what draws kind of the connected nature with our customers and as well as the logistics network that we've built to be able to service on time on a consistent basis.

So I think fundamentally, and Jim's called it out, that business is very deeply connected to the underlying ag and cementitious business. So that combination of delivery certainly has been impressive this year, and we look for more positive momentum even as we get into 26.

Michael Feniger (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Kathryn Thompson with Thompson Research Group. Please go ahead.

Kathryn Thompson (Research Analyst)

Hi, thank you for taking my question today. I know a lot of focus on data centers and reindustrialization, which is certainly driving demand and after having gone to a data center construction site, it is pretty staggering the demand that is driving a wide variety of projects but that said, infrastructure is still a very important part of your business overall and there's been a little bit of lack of visibility with kind of U.S. in terms of government funding right now with the government shutdown but it still looks like that infrastructure funding is still chugging along just fine but we want to make sure that that is the correct interpretation. More importantly, what is your level of visibility on your roads business and the prospects for the highway bill reauthorization in 2026? Thank you.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Hi, Catherine. Good morning. Yeah, maybe just you're right, infrastructure for us is our biggest segment, right? It's a segment which really drives CRH across both the Americas and international. And maybe just to put it in some context, and particularly our roads business, as you know, we're the largest road paver in the U.S. with producing in excess of 50 million tons of asphalt per annum across 43 states. And as I said earlier, it's actually our most predictable and recurring revenue stream that we have, and it's a highly attractive business. Now, there's still a very significant runway for growth in the business as we look into 26. It's still 60% of the IIJA funds yet to be spent. And as I said earlier, the very healthy local state budgets. It's a key part of our Connected Portfolio in the Americas, right?

The typical year, to give it a bit of scale, we do about 4,000 paving jobs per year. They typically last about 90-120 days, right? With the connected nature of the portfolio, that paving activity really pulls through the highest quality and the highest value and the highest margin aggregates through our Connected Portfolio. We called it out recently, actually, on the investor day, by actually not just producing ags. We have that ability to take what is kind of an indicative $10 per cash profit per ton and turn that into $60 by turning it into asphalt, adding liquid asphalt, and indeed paving it. It's a real multiplier for profits, cash, and returns for us. It's also less capital intensive with higher returns. Ultimately, in terms of the growth and the inorganic side, it gives us real optionality for where we deploy capital.

Now, we're kind of what, five, six weeks out from the year end. We've got pretty good visibility into 2026 in terms of our bidding and the activity levels. And that's what gives us that confidence in terms of the guiding on infrastructure in 26. But maybe, Randy, on specifically what we're thinking around maybe the new highway bill as well. Can you give some color on that?

Randy Lake (COO)

Yeah, I guess, of course, to build on Jim's point, the IIJA, as you know, Kathryn, right, about 60% of that funding has yet to really hit the street. And we called that out. I think we said early on it was a five-year piece of legislation. It was going to take seven years to deploy. That's kind of how it's rolling out currently, which is really no different than any other legislation prior to that, just kind of how things work from a federal to the state level. So our bidding activity is up, so we're encouraged by that. I think the other thing is it's also encouraging to see the size and the complexity of projects. So to me, that speaks to long-term confidence at the state level about deploying capital in those types of projects.

So I guess, but to your point about what's next, I guess early conversations are positive. So it's great to hear from the chairman of the House T&I Committee, from Secretary Duffy, from both sides of the aisle in terms of underlying commitment to a new piece of legislation. So the conversations are beginning and so far positive. I think probably the most encouraging thing would be this mindset of moving more dollars to roads, highways, and bridges. What that quantum looks like, I'm not sure, but it's encouraging to hear those kinds of conversations on both sides of the aisle. And so we're actively participating with those conversations, and we'll see where it ends up, but certainly encouraged by early discussions.

Kathryn Thompson (Research Analyst)

Thank you, and good luck.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Dudas with Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.

Michael Dudas (Partner and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Good morning, gentlemen. Nancy. Hello, can you hear me?

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Yes, we can, Mike. Yeah, absolutely.

Michael Dudas (Partner and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Oh, okay. Yeah, good. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. So Jim, just want to get your thoughts on the M&A pipeline as you've accelerating on your four connected platforms. Where now are you seeing some of the focus on the capital allocation towards M&A over the next 6-12 months?

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Yeah, sure, Mike. Yeah, listen, really pleased with the execution to date, right? 3.5 billion on 27 deals, the largest, which is Eco Material. And maybe come back at that at the end and maybe get Randy to talk about how that's going from an integration perspective and how it started, right? But great start to the year, 27 deals, and really reflects the continued successful execution of our growth strategy and our ability to deploy capital in growth markets across our key platforms. And you said it in the question, actually. At this stage, we've built four growth platforms of scale coast to coast across the U.S. in aggregates, cementitious, roads, and water. It also reflects our ability to integrate.

I mean, 27 deals year to date to be able to integrate those at pace and get early execution and delivery on synergies as well reflects kind of just that growth capability that we have. The pipeline at this stage into 2026 is good, right? And that, again, is really coming from a lot of the local relationships that we have across the 300 operating businesses across CRH. And it's really, again, when you layer that kind of scale, the connected nature of the portfolio, it really gives us optionality as to where we choose to deploy capital going forward. And at the recent investor day, we were going to call that on the medium term out to 2030. We estimate that we're going to generate $40 billion of financial capacity.

We're going to allocate that approximately 70% to the growth side, so growth CapEx and M&A, and then 30% in terms of shareholder returns. So the consistent year-in, year-out ability to deploy capital in value-accretive acquisitions really highlights us as the kind of leading compounder of capital in the industry. But a great start to the year and good activity level across the full business, both the Americas and international into 26. But Randy, maybe on Eco?

Randy Lake (COO)

On Eco Material. Yeah, early days so far, but the integration is going really well. I think maybe when you stand back, we were excited about the opportunity before and even more so as we've got an opportunity to bring them into the CRH fold. I think I'd call out a couple of things. Obviously, it's a fantastic team, terrific leaders and organization from an operational standpoint, and a great brand, and we're going to continue to build off that brand. I think from a cultural standpoint, a great deal of alignment. They're focused on ensuring their teams are safe. That's our number one value within CRH. Great to see. It's the ownership of those relationships, really deep local relationships, the importance of that, and that's in direct alignment with how we look at our local brands and how we go to market.

But as we got inside, certainly we're seeing things that we would continue to build off of. One, they have a terrific offering with current customers. The ability for us to integrate that to our cementitious business with Ash Grove is going to give us plenty of opportunities from a commercial standpoint. And remember, the SCMs are the fastest segment of the cementitious space. And so it was important for us to play there, and they deliver a lot of optionality for customers. I think that's that. I think I called it out in the opening remarks, the network that they've built, it gives us an additional 55 terminals across the U.S., close to 8,000 rail cars to really extend our reach to our customer base, which is very important to provide high-quality product in a timely manner.

And I think lastly, what they have done really well is drive innovation in this space. The customers that we're engaged with, whether it's on high-spec manufacturing or data centers, focus on sustainability. They've done an incredible job of really advancing that in their overall offering. It's going to be a terrific combination with our scale. So overall, excited to where we are at this point in time. I think there's a tremendous amount of value for our business and overall shareholders and a great opportunity for us to continue to drive margins forward.

Michael Dudas (Partner and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Appreciate the observations. Thank you.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Thanks, Mike.

Operator (participant)

We have time for one last question. And that question comes from the line of Colin Sheridan with Davy. Please go ahead.

Colin Sheridan (Equity Analyst)

Yeah, good morning, guys, and thanks for the presentation. My question's on the International Solutions business. We've clearly had an excellent Q3 in terms of the profit growth and good margin progress. But looking forward, I just wonder if there's any areas of that business you might think will provide opportunities for some further upside as we go into 2026?

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Colin, yeah, listen, as you called out, a really good quarter. Actually, a really good year to date, and building off a really strong 2024 as well with year to date, Adjusted EBITDA and margin growth across the International Solutions business. It's an encouraging outlook, Colin, into 2026, and in fact, beyond it. I'd say, for the next three to five years across the international portfolio, and it's really recovering from what has been a challenging period, right? It has had numerous headwinds, right? Whatever started out originally with Brexit, then we went into the pandemic, then the energy crisis, and the war in Ukraine, right? But what we're seeing is that Europe is more advanced in the kind of interest rate cycle, the cutting of interest rates, and that's coming true in terms of being more supportive of continued residential recovery.

That, together with good EU level and individual state level funding for infrastructure, in our key markets, is providing a very significant underpin in terms of base activity levels coming from infrastructure. We're also this year in our eighth consecutive year of price increases across the European business, and we're expecting further momentum on that into 2026 also. And in our case also, we would have taken on a lot of portfolio and self-help measures over the last number of years across particularly the European portfolio. And as activity levels are beginning to recover, we're beginning to see really good leverage on the margin drop through on that business. And you see that coming true on the quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year performance as well. And maybe finally, just in terms of Australia, right? Really, it's a little over 12 months at this stage.

Good news, really good delivery on synergies ahead of our expectations and good positive momentum into 2026.

Nancy Buese (CFO)

That's great. Thanks for my turn.

Jim Mintern (CEO and Executive Director)

Thanks, Colin. Well, I think that brings us to the end of questions today. But thank you all for your attention. And as always, if any of you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to contact our Investor Relations team

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Your conference call has now ended. You may now disconnect.