How does the company's balance sheet strength (liquidity, leverage) compare to prior quarters and to peer averages?
Answer
The brief news excerpt you provided only tells us that CRH plc has filed its Form 10‑Q for the quarter ended June 30 2025 (Q2 2025). It does not include any of the balance‑sheet line items, footnotes, or comparative tables that are needed to evaluate the company’s liquidity (e.g., cash, marketable securities, revolving credit facilities, cash‑conversion cycle) or its leverage (e.g., total debt, net‑debt‑to‑EBITDA, debt‑to‑equity ratios).
Because the filing itself is not reproduced in the news release, we cannot directly calculate or comment on:
| Metric | What we would need to see in the 10‑Q | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Liquidity (cash & cash equivalents, marketable securities, available credit, current ratio, quick ratio) | End‑of‑quarter cash balances, short‑term investments, the size and utilization of any revolving credit facility, current assets vs. current liabilities | Shows the company’s ability to meet short‑term obligations without stress. |
| Leverage (total debt, net‑debt, debt‑to‑EBITDA, debt‑to‑equity) | Total interest‑bearing debt, any new borrowings or repayments, EBITDA for the quarter (or the most recent twelve‑month period), equity balance | Indicates the degree of financial risk and the capacity to service debt. |
| Trend analysis | Prior‑quarter (Q1 2025) and year‑ago (Q2 2024) balance‑sheet figures, plus any disclosed covenant compliance tables | Lets us see whether liquidity is improving or deteriorating and whether leverage is being raised or reduced over time. |
| Peer comparison | Similar metrics for other major building‑materials or construction‑industry peers (e.g., LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement, Vinci, CRH’s own historic averages) | Provides context on whether CRH is more or less leveraged than its industry and whether its cash position is above or below the norm. |
What to Do Next
Open the Form 10‑Q – The SEC’s EDGAR system will host the complete filing. Look for the “Consolidated Balance Sheets” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis” (MD&A) sections. Those tables will give you the exact figures for:
- Cash and cash equivalents
- Marketable securities
- Total current assets and liabilities
- Total debt (short‑term + long‑term)
- Equity
- EBITDA (or operating cash flow) that you can use to compute leverage ratios.
Compare to Prior Periods – The 10‑Q typically includes a “Comparative Balance Sheet” that shows Q2 2025 side‑by‑side with Q1 2025 and Q2 2024. From there you can calculate:
- Liquidity change: ΔCash = Cash Q2 2025 – Cash Q1 2025 (or Q2 2024).
- Leverage change: ΔDebt‑to‑EBITDA = (Total Debt Q2 2025 / EBITDA Q2 2025) – (Total Debt Q1 2025 / EBITDA Q1 2025).
- Liquidity change: ΔCash = Cash Q2 2025 – Cash Q1 2025 (or Q2 2024).
Benchmark Against Peers – Industry analysts (e.g., S&P Global, Moody’s, Bloomberg) publish “peer average” statistics for the construction materials sector. You can pull:
- Average current ratio (typical range 1.2‑1.8)
- Average net‑debt‑to‑EBITDA (often 1.5‑3.0× for capital‑intensive peers)
Then compare CRH’s numbers to see if they sit above (stronger liquidity, lower leverage) or below (weaker liquidity, higher leverage) the peer median.
Typical Findings for CRH (based on historical patterns)
While I can’t quote the exact Q2 2025 numbers without the filing, historically CRH has been characterized by:
- Robust cash generation: Operating cash flow consistently covering interest and dividend payments, leaving a modest but positive free cash flow.
- Moderate leverage: Net‑debt‑to‑EBITDA historically in the 1.5‑2.0× range, which is near the lower end of the sector average, reflecting a relatively conservative capital‑structure policy.
- Liquidity cushions: A revolving credit facility of roughly €1‑2 billion (or the equivalent in USD) that is rarely drawn down, plus a healthy cash balance that typically exceeds short‑term debt obligations.
If the Q2 2025 filing shows higher cash balances or lower net‑debt‑to‑EBITDA versus Q1 2025, that would indicate an improvement in balance‑sheet strength. Conversely, a rise in total debt or a decline in cash would suggest a weakening of liquidity and a higher leverage profile.
Bottom Line
- From the news alone: No quantitative assessment can be made because the necessary balance‑sheet details are not disclosed in the brief filing announcement.
- Actionable step: Retrieve the full Form 10‑Q from the SEC (EDGAR) and extract the balance‑sheet figures. Then compute the standard liquidity and leverage ratios, compare them to the prior quarter (Q1 2025) and the same quarter last year (Q2 2024), and benchmark those ratios against sector peer averages published by financial data providers.
Once you have those numbers, you’ll be able to answer definitively whether CRH’s balance‑sheet strength is improving, deteriorating, or holding steady relative to its own historical performance and to its industry peers. If you need help interpreting the specific numbers once you have the filing, feel free to share them and I can walk through the analysis step‑by‑step.