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ISEQ down for second straight day

Tuesday, February 05 12:57:08

The ISEQ fell again this morning as European political worries weighed and strong Irish economic data failed to persuade buyers.

By 12:45, the ISEQ was down 7.34 points to 3,536.03.

With political events in Spain and Italy raising concerns that governments may not see through deficit reduction plans. The most worrying feature of Irish exchequer returns was the modest 0.9pc rise in VAT receipts, pointing to a weak consumer. Strong results from the latest NCB Services Index and a better than predicted industrial production reading from the CSO failed to lift investors' spirits.

Shares in CRH rose 5c to E15.32. MDU reported Q4 results after the market closed last night and the division of relevance to CRH is Construction Materials and Contracting, the fifth largest aggregate producer in the US. While sales were up 1pc in the fourth quarter EBITDA margins were down circa 260bps to 9.8pc (-60bps for the FY). Of particular note was the weaker volumes in the last quarter with aggregates -15pc, asphalt -10pc and -5pc for rmc which left FY volumes -6pc, -11pc and +10pc respectively. Therefore the weaker margins appear to reflect higher costs, lower profits from sale of assets and the negative operative leverage from lower volumes which offset increases in prices.