Ireland's biggest company CRH sees profits rise on better weather The milder conditions seen of late, compared with the previous year, meant fewer disruptions for the group's global construction clients. "After a soft patch in the third quarter, things picked up and we had a strong finish to the year, helped by some favourable weather conditions," said Myles Lee, chief executive at CRH, a recent entrant to the FTSE 100. Pre-tax profits were up 33pc at €711m (£600m), as revenues grew 5pc to €18.1bn, above recent management guidance. Mr Lee expected further revenue growth in 2012 - provided that there are no major economic or energy market shocks - and cited signs of improving market conditions. "With the introduction of the long-term refinancing operation [to support banks] from the European Central Bank we have seen more stability coming through in financial markets in Europe in the past couple of months," he said. We have seen consistently improving economic data coming out of the US since the autumn, and that is encouraging. CRH said it would pay a final dividend of 44 cents per share on May 14, which keeps the full-year dividend at 62½ cents. Analysts at Bloxham said it was a "reassuring" update. However, S&P said the share price looked "stretched" relative to CRH's peers, given the absence of a significant sales recovery in its main markets of the US and Europe. Shares in CRH, which moved its primary listing to London from Dublin last year to broaden its investor base, closed down 26p at £13.42.