Product supplier grows by 13% despite adverse effects of sluggish Eurozone and Hurricane Katrina.

International materials firm CRH has grown its business by 13% and pre-tax profit by 16% in the last financial year.

The firm grew turnover from £12.8m to £14.5m, while profit rose from £1.1m to £1.27m for the year ending 31 December 2005.

The firm said: "CRH continued to move forward on many fronts in 2005, once again producing new record sales and profits; a combination of strong underlying organic growth and good contributions from acquisitions. We also delivered substantial development success particularly in the second half of the year."

The firm added: "Despite heightened awareness of the budget and trade deficits, the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina that decimated New Orleans and ongoing national security costs, the United States economy continued to grow relatively robustly in 2005."

However, CRH added that while activity in some European countries had picked up, overall Eurozone growth was still disappointing, with continuing weakness in the Netherlands and Germany.

Energy prices rose further, said CRH but, the US dollar stabilised, leading to minimal overall currency impact relative to the previous year.

Liam O'Mahony, chief executive, said today: "CRH continued to move forward on many fronts in 2005, once again producing new record sales and profits, with strong underlying profit growth and good contributions from acquisitions. The group also delivered substantial development success, especially in the second half of the year."