BUILDING MATERIALS GROUP CRH has reported an increase in pre-tax profits of 280 per cent for the first half of 2011 – but says it’ll fall short of market expectations to grow its profit by 1 1per cent this year.

Results posted this morning showed that CRH – originally Cement Roadstone Holdings – had recorded a pre-tax profit of €95m for the first six months of this year, compared to a similar profit of €25m for the same period of last year.

The company’s overall revenue was also up, by 7 per cent, from €7.658 billion to €8.166 billion.

But the company warned that the recent turbulence on stock markets had added extra uncertainty to its general outlook – and said that the expectations of analysts would not be met.

“I’d be cautious and think you’d have to pull back on that,” chief operating officer Albert Manifold told Reuters.

“I think it’d be too much to hope for to get a full 10 per cent growth in the current year, given the background and climate that is there.”

He continued, however, that expectations for growth in the US – where CRH, one of Ireland’s most valuable companies, does much of its trade – remained static.