CRH has picked chief financial officer Jim Mintern to succeed Albert Manifold, who had pursued record deal-making over the past 11 years to move the traditional seller of cement and other base materials into full-scale construction services.
The building materials and services group said that Mr Mintern (57), a group veteran of more than two decades who became CFO three years ago, will take on the new role as Mr Manifold retires at the end of 2024.
The appointment comes a year after CRH quit the Irish stock market and moved its main listing from London to Wall Street – helping to fuel a 60 per cent share surge ever since – and weighs improving what has been the best-paid position across Irish plcs in recent times to an even more lucrative US-style remuneration plan.
Mr Manifold (62), earned $13.2 million (€11.9m) last year. Ireland’s largest multinational, with a market value of almost $63 billion, said in its latest annual report that its “compensation structures will evolve to more closely align with US practices”.
The changeover at the top maintains the smooth succession that has been a hallmark of CRH since it was created through the 1970 merger of Cement Limited and Roadstone Limited.
It sticks with the tradition of appointing Irish CEOs, in spite of recent speculation that the group could pluck Mr Manifold’s successor from its North American operations, which now account for three-quarters of earnings. Still, Mr Manifold has been based in New York since the US listing last year.
“The board has a significant focus on succession planning throughout CRH. With the support of independent advisers, we have followed best practice, including a review of external candidates, and we have carefully monitored the development plans for potential internal candidates,” chairman Richie Boucher said.
“Over recent years we have closely observed Jim’s character, qualities and abilities, as well as his significant influence on the evolution of CRH. We are very pleased to have a successor of such calibre and are confident that Jim is best positioned to lead the CRH team, building the future of the company for the benefit of our investors, customers, colleagues and communities.”
Mr Boucher said that CRH has made “enormous progress” under the “exceptional leadership” of Mr Manifold.
A raft of acquisitions and noncore disposals since Mr Manifold took charge in 2014 – including the record €6.5 billion purchase in 2015 of assets of peers Lafarge and Holcim as its European peers went about merging, and sales of CRH’s US and European building products distribution units – have simplified the group’s investment case around roadbuilding, infrastructure and high-margin building solutions.
“We don’t sell rock any more. We sell roads. We sell the whole solution. We take the rock, we turn it into asphalt, our contractors lay it and then they maintain it,” he told analysts on a call in 2021. “We’re more of a price maker than a price taker these days. We get so much more value from supplying engineering, planning and technical expertise and design knowledge.”
The group has also bought back about $8 billion of its own stock since it commenced a repurchase programme in May 2018.
“Under Albert’s leadership CRH has delivered superior growth and performance with consistently improving profitability, cash generation and returns,” Mr Boucher said.
Mr Manifold has held varied responsibilities with CRH since he joined in 1998. He was appointed CEO in January 2014. Mr. Manifold will step down from the board and relinquish his executive responsibilities on December 31st. He will continue as an adviser to CRH for a further 12 months.
The Irish multinational posted an 8 per cent rise in profit after tax to $1.3 billion for the three months to the end of June despite a small fall in revenues to $9.7 billion, beating market expectations.
The group signalled it could have a war chest of more than €20 billion to spend on buying up rivals in coming years.
Davy analyst Ross Harvey said that the appointment of Mr Mintern “will ensure a seamless transition” at the helm of CRH.
“He has over 30 years of experience in the building materials industry and has spent 22 years with CRH across various leadership roles,” he said, noting that he had led the strategic transition of CRH’s primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange. The shift was driven by hopes of securing more US infrastructure contracts and joining the influential S&P 500 stock market index.
“Whilst we recognise the exceptional job that Albert Manifold has done during his tenure, a change in CEO does not change our bullish thesis on CRH,” said Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst Kenneth Rumph, who reiterated his firm’s buy rating on the stock.
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