CRH · Q2 2026 Earnings

Cautious

CRH plc

Reported July 30, 2026

30-second summary

30-second take. CRH delivered Q2 revenue of $10.78B (+6% YoY), GAAP EPS of $2.21 (+14% YoY), and adjusted EBITDA of $2.6B at a 24.4% margin — a clean step-up from Q1's $0.6B that materially eases the back-three-quarters math on the reaffirmed $8.1–8.5B FY26 EBITDA guide. Management held EBITDA, net income, and EPS unchanged while trimming FY26 capex by $100M at the midpoint to $2.7–2.9B. Dominating the quarter: the $8.5B all-cash agreement to acquire Arcosa (announced June 22, expected close Q1 2027, financed in part by a $5.8B bridge facility), which has paused the buyback program pending close. The under-reported signal: for the second consecutive quarter management held the guide low end at $8.1B rather than nudging it up — the FY25 raise cadence is now definitively broken, and Americas Building Solutions revenue turned negative (-2%) with EBITDA down 8% and margin -140bps YoY to 21.8%, the first outright segment contraction since coverage began.

Headline numbers

EPS

Q2 FY2026

$2.21

+8.9% vs est.

Revenue

Q2 FY2026

$10.78B

+5.6% YoY

+0.8% vs est.

Gross margin

Q2 FY2026

39.9%

Operating margin

Q2 FY2026

19.3%

Key financials

Q2 FY2026

Metric	Q2 FY2026	Q2 FY2025	YoY	Q1 FY2026	QoQ
Revenue	$10.78B	$10.21B	+5.6%	$7.40B	+45.6%
EPS	$2.21	$1.94	+13.9%	$-0.20	+1205.0%
Gross margin	39.9%	39.4%	+50bps	27.7%	+1220bps
Operating margin	19.3%	19.0%	+30bps	-0.5%	+1980bps

Guidance

CRH reaffirmed FY2026 profitability guidance (EPS, Net Income, Adj. EBITDA) while modestly lowering capital expenditure by ~$100M midpoint.

Guidance is issued for the full year only, refreshed each quarter. Prior and new below are the same FY updated this quarter.

Changes to prior guidance

Metric	Period	Prior guide	New guide	Δ	Result
Capital Expenditure	FY 2026	$2.8bn-$3.0bn	$2.7bn-$2.9bn	-$0.1bn at both ends (low: -3.6%, high: -3.3%)	Lowered

Reaffirmed unchanged this quarter: Diluted EPS ($5.60-$6.05), Net Income ($3.9bn-$4.1bn), Adjusted EBITDA ($8.1bn-$8.5bn)

Segment KPIs

Q2 FY2026

Segment	Q2 FY2026	Q2 FY2025	YoY
Americas Materials Solutions	$4.957B	$4.509B	+9.9%
Americas Building Solutions	$2.117B	$2.159B	-1.9%
International Solutions	$3.703B	$3.538B	+4.7%
Americas Materials Solutions Adjusted EBITDA Growth	+12%	—	—
Americas Materials Solutions Adjusted EBITDA Margin	27.9%	—	—
Americas Building Solutions Adjusted EBITDA Growth	-8%	—	—
International Solutions Adjusted EBITDA Growth	+8%	—	—

Other KPIs

Q2 FY2026

Segment	Q2 FY2026	Q2 FY2025	YoY
Adjusted EBITDA	$2.6bn	$2.463 billion	—
Adjusted EBITDA Margin	24.4%	—	—
Net Income Margin	14.0%	—	—
Net Debt	$15.4bn	—	—

Management tone

No transcript was available for Q2 FY2026 (press-release only). The tone read below is limited to written outlook language versus prior quarters.

Outlook language has un-hedged versus Q1 in the summary framing, though guardrails remain in the body. The Q2 press release headline states "Outlook positive; expecting another year of growth underpinned by our superior strategy and connected portfolio." The full outlook section retains the "assuming normal seasonal weather patterns and absent any further major dislocations in the geopolitical or macroeconomic environment" language. Six months into the year, with H1 EBITDA in the bag, management is comfortable projecting confidence — but chose not to raise the low end. The signal is confidence-in-range, not confidence-in-upside.

Residential framing continues to erode. Q2 FY26 written commentary explicitly describes new-build as "expected to remain subdued" while repair-and-remodel is only "resilient" — no upgrade in tone, and now paired with Americas Building Solutions revenue turning negative. The narrative that residential recovery was upside not in the plan is being validated on the downside: it's not showing up, and the exposed segment is contracting.

Capital allocation pivot is now explicit. The $8.5B Arcosa acquisition, alongside $1.1B of Q2 acquisitions (led by Axius Water at $0.7B) and $1.7B of divestiture proceeds, marks the most aggressive quarter of portfolio reshaping in recent coverage. The buyback pause pending Arcosa close, combined with a second capex trim in three quarters, points to inorganic deployment as the dominant capital-allocation story for the next several quarters.

Answers to last quarter's watch list

Q2 FY2026 EBITDA run-rate against the implied back-three-quarters requirement. Q2 delivered $2.6B of adjusted EBITDA, taking H1 to ~$3.2B and leaving $4.9–5.3B for H2. The back-three-quarters math is no longer the constraint it appeared at Q1; the range is now comfortably achievable at the midpoint. Status: Resolved positively.

First low-end raise of the FY2026 guide. No raise. Management reaffirmed the full $8.1–8.5B envelope for the second consecutive quarter despite a strong Q2 print. The FY26 raise narrative is now confirmed dead. Status: Resolved negatively.

Discrete Eco-Material EBITDA disclosure. The press release references Eco Material contributions to Essential Materials revenue growth but does not disclose standalone ECO revenue, EBITDA, or synergy run-rate. Status: Not resolved.

Mid-year price increases in Americas Materials. Aggregates pricing +5%, asphalt pricing +6%, readymixed +2%; cement -1% on geographic mix. Pricing actions are holding on the aggregates and asphalt lines, which is the mix-relevant read. Status: Resolved positively for aggregates/asphalt.

Highway bill committee mark-up before mid-2026. No committee mark-up disclosed in the Q2 release. Post-IIJA visibility window compresses further. Status: Continue monitoring.

Net M&A EBITDA contribution sizing in the FY guide. No explicit restatement of a net M&A EBITDA figure in the Q2 release, though management notes the reaffirmed guide reflects "the net impact of divestitures and acquisitions agreed in the year to date." Status: Not resolved.

Capital returns cadence. The July 28, 2026 tranche of the buyback program completed, bringing YTD repurchases to $0.7B. In connection with the Arcosa agreement, CRH has not initiated a new tranche and will reevaluate later, subject to market conditions, balance-sheet strength, and capital-allocation priorities. Quarterly dividend raised 5% to $0.39/share. Net debt at $15.4B is up from $14.2B at FY25 year-end, reflecting Axius Water and other M&A funding. Status: Resolved — buyback paused pending Arcosa close.

What to watch into next quarter

Arcosa integration planning and financing execution. With the $8.5B all-cash deal expected to close Q1 2027 and a $5.8B bridge facility in place, watch Q3 for take-out debt issuance, updated pro-forma leverage disclosure, and any early synergy sizing. Regulatory approval milestones and the Arcosa stockholder vote timeline are the near-term gating items.

Buyback restart signal. Management has committed to reevaluating the buyback "at a later date." Any Q3 language on the reevaluation timeline — or explicit deferral into post-close 2027 — will be the tell on how tightly Arcosa financing is constraining capital returns.

Q3 FY26 low-end raise decision. Q3 is the last practical window to raise the low end of the $8.1–8.5B FY26 EBITDA guide. If management holds through Q3 with H1 already at ~$3.2B and Q3 seasonally the strongest quarter, the range implicitly caps to the upper half. Silence at Q3 confirms flat-guide underwriting.

Americas Building Solutions Q3 trajectory. Q2 FY26 revenue -2%, EBITDA -8%, and margin -140bps YoY is the first outright ABS contraction. A second quarter of negative revenue would force a rethink of the connected-portfolio margin story, particularly given Arcosa's overlap with U.S. energy and critical infrastructure.

Discrete Eco-Material contribution disclosure. Continued silence into Q3/Q4 FY26 on a standalone ECO EBITDA number becomes actively bearish for the "synergies materializing faster than anticipated" narrative that anchored the FY26 guide construction.

FY26 capex trajectory. Second capex trim in three quarters. Further narrowing at Q3 or Q4 — or an FY27 capex range materially below $2.9B — would confirm the organic-to-inorganic reallocation thesis is the primary capital-allocation story.

Net debt trajectory. Net debt at $15.4B pre-Arcosa. Watch Q3 for leverage commentary and any framing around the investment-grade credit rating commitment as bridge financing converts.

Sources

CRH plc Q2 FY2026 Results Announcement (Form 6-K), filed with SEC: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/849395/000162828026050752/q2resultsannouncement2026.htm

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