CRH PLC (CRH) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the results presentation for 2022 for CRH. My name is Albert Manifold, I'm the Chief Executive Officer. And I'm going to be joined on stage this morning by Jim Mintern, our Chief Financial Officer; and indeed Randy Lake, our Chief Operating Officer.

早上好，女士們，先生們，歡迎來到 CRH 2022 年的成果發布會。我叫 Albert Manifold，是首席執行官。今天早上，我們的首席財務官 Jim Mintern 將和我一起上台；確實還有我們的首席運營官 Randy Lake。

And together, Jim, Randy and I are going to present to you the next 20 minutes or so, a short presentation about our results for 2022 and what's going on within our businesses. After that, we're going to do some Q&A, and we'll be joined on stage by our Head of Investor Relations Tom Holmes, who's going to take you through the questions and feed your questions to us. And over another 25 minutes, we hope to answer some of the many questions that you have.

在接下來的 20 分鐘左右，吉姆、蘭迪和我將一起向你們做一個簡短的介紹，介紹我們 2022 年的業績以及我們業務中發生的事情。之後，我們將進行一些問答環節，我們的投資者關係主管 Tom Holmes 將加入我們的舞台，他將帶您完成問題並將您的問題反饋給我們。在接下來的 25 分鐘內，我們希望能夠回答您提出的眾多問題中的一部分。

Just if I can look at the running order for today in terms of the presentation. Initially, first up, I'm going to take you through the basic market conditions that drove our performance as a group and how our group performed as overall during 2022. And then I'm going to ask Randy to join me on stage, and Randy is going to take you through the detail of our trading performance in our 2 main regions in terms of the United States and Europe.

就好像我可以從演示文稿的角度看一下今天的運行順序。首先，首先，我將帶您了解推動我們團隊表現的基本市場條件，以及我們團隊在 2022 年的整體表現。然後我將請蘭迪和我一起上台，然後蘭迪將帶您詳細了解我們在美國和歐洲這兩個主要地區的交易表現。

Then Jim is going to come on and talk you through the financial performance, what resulted from all that trading activity and indeed our capital allocation strategy during 2022 and our thoughts on capital allocation in '23 and beyond. Randy is going to come back and talk then about our -- update you on our revised sustainability ambitions for 2030, very important that's a core part of value-added solutions.

然後 Jim 將繼續向您介紹財務業績、所有交易活動的結果以及我們在 2022 年的資本配置策略以及我們對 23 年及以後的資本配置的想法。蘭迪將回來談論我們的——向您更新我們修訂後的 2030 年可持續發展目標，這非常重要，這是增值解決方案的核心部分。

And at the back end of the presentation, I'm going to talk to you about that whole content, how we're accelerating solutions, which is at the core of our strategy for CRH and indeed to talk to you about some of the other announcements this morning we made regard to our listings and indeed our outlook.

在演示文稿的最後，我將與您討論整個內容，我們如何加速解決方案，這是我們 CRH 戰略的核心，實際上我將與您討論其他一些內容今天早上的公告我們考慮了我們的列表，實際上是我們的前景。

So let's just look at some of the big themes, big picture delivery during 2022 for CRH. It was a record year for CRH, very strong growth in sales, profitability, margins and cash. For me, as an operating individual, the standout performance was the margin performance. When you look across our peers, look across industry, we managed to advance our margins in the face of really horrific cost increases during the year and that attests to the fact that our business model in and around integrated solutions is -- continues to deliver improved business quality and improved margins.

因此，讓我們來看看 2022 年 CRH 的一些大主題、大局交付。對於 CRH 來說，這是創紀錄的一年，銷售額、盈利能力、利潤率和現金都實現了非常強勁的增長。對我來說，作為一名運營人員，最突出的表現是利潤率表現。當你審視我們的同行，審視整個行業時，我們在這一年中面對非常可怕的成本增長設法提高了利潤率，這證明了我們在集成解決方案中和周圍的商業模式是 - 繼續提供改進業務質量和利潤率提高。

Because of the performance of our business, we exited this year with the strongest balance sheet we ever had in CRH. Jim is going to talk to you further about that and how we intend to deploy that in the years ahead. But specifically with regard to now, we announced this morning a 5% increase in dividend. And indeed, Jim will take you through our thoughts around the increase in our share buyback up to $3 billion over the next 12 months.

由於我們的業務表現，我們今年以 CRH 有史以來最強勁的資產負債表退出。 Jim 將與您進一步討論這一點以及我們打算如何在未來幾年部署它。但具體到現在，我們今天早上宣布將股息增加 5%。事實上，吉姆將帶您了解我們對未來 12 個月內將股票回購增加至 30 億美元的想法。

Of course, around that financial performance are some of important things that happened during the course of the last year. We continue to invest in our businesses. We invested about $3.3 billion in M&A across 29 transactions around the world. On top of that, we invested a further $500 million on development CapEx, spending almost $4 billion investing in the future of our business that will reap reward for the decades to come. We've announced a new organizational structure this morning. No real change within our businesses, but more or less aligning and refining as we do in CRH, aligning and ensuring that we support our solution strategy, which is a winning strategy for CRH.

當然，圍繞財務業績是去年發生的一些重要事情。我們繼續投資於我們的業務。我們在全球 29 筆交易中投資了約 33 億美元用於併購。最重要的是，我們又投資了 5 億美元用於開發資本支出，花費近 40 億美元投資於我們業務的未來，這將在未來幾十年獲得回報。我們今天早上宣布了一個新的組織結構。我們的業務沒有真正的變化，但或多或少地調整和完善，就像我們在 CRH 所做的那樣，調整併確保我們支持我們的解決方案戰略，這是 CRH 的成功戰略。

Randy is going to talk you through in detail how we have raised our ambitions with regard to sustainability and circularity and in particular, with regard to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the 1.5-degree scenario that was announced this year and they are now SBTi certified. And finally, I'm going to talk to you about, as I said, how we're recommending this transition to the U.S. prime listing and our logic and our thoughts behind that.

Randy 將向您詳細介紹我們如何提高可持續性和循環性方面的雄心，特別是根據今年宣布的 1.5 度情景減少二氧化碳排放量，他們現在已獲得 SBTi 認證.最後，正如我所說，我將與您談談我們如何建議向美國主要上市公司過渡以及我們的邏輯和背後的想法。

So just very briefly, just looking at the numbers for the group before I ask Randy, who is going to join me on stage in a moment to take through the detail of the trading performance, I mean it's a great pleasure on behalf of the 80,000 people, who work for us here, to present these numbers. Record sales, record EBITDA, record margin. And again, the margin for me being the standard in addition to the cash performance.

所以非常簡短，在我問蘭迪之前先看一下小組的數字，他稍後將和我一起上台詳細介紹交易表現，我的意思是代表 80,000 人感到非常高興在這里為我們工作的人來展示這些數字。創紀錄的銷售額，創紀錄的 EBITDA，創紀錄的利潤率。再一次，除了現金表現之外，我的保證金是標準。

CRH is a cash machine. We generate $4.4 billion of cash in 2022. Again, that gives tremendous optionality as we go forward in terms of how we deploy that capital, and we'll talk about that later on. But for the moment, let me pass you to Randy, who's joined me here now to take you through the detail of the trading performance of our divisions in 2022. Randy?

CRH 是一台提款機。我們在 2022 年產生了 44 億美元的現金。同樣，這在我們如何部署該資本方面提供了巨大的選擇權，我們將在稍後討論。但現在，讓我把你交給蘭迪，他現在和我一起來帶你詳細了解我們部門在 2022 年的交易表現。蘭迪？

Thank you, Albert, and good morning, everyone. Infrastructure represents our largest exposure across the group. And in the United States, the funding backdrop is robust, with demand underpinned by the significant increase in federal funding following the passage of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which actually provide about 50% increase in federal highway funding alone over the next 5 years. And state budgets, they're strong as well. And here, we continue to see good momentum in funding initiatives and to maintain and improve the underlying infrastructure network across the country.

謝謝你，艾伯特，大家早上好。基礎設施是我們整個集團最大的風險敞口。在美國，資金背景強勁，在 1.2 萬億美元的基礎設施投資和就業法案通過後，聯邦資金的顯著增加支撐了需求，實際上僅聯邦公路資金一項就在未來一年內增加了約 50% 5年。還有國家預算，它們也很強大。在這裡，我們繼續看到資助計劃的良好勢頭，以及維護和改善全國基礎設施網絡的良好勢頭。

In the Residential segment, the pace of new build construction eased over the course of the year as a result of rising interest rates and affordability constraints. We've seen some softening of demand in single-family homes, in particular, while activity levels in other segments of the market, such as multifamily, have been strong. The residential remodeling demand has remained resilient, supported by strong household balance sheets and an aging housing stock in need of repair, maintenance and improvement. And looking ahead, we expect the slowdown in U.S. residential demand to be relatively short and shallow. The long-term fundamentals of the market are very attractive. It's supported by population growth, low inventory levels and a significant level of underbuild over the last decade.

在住宅領域，由於利率上升和負擔能力限制，全年新建建築的步伐有所放緩。我們已經看到單戶住宅的需求有所疲軟，尤其是在市場其他領域（例如多戶住宅）的活動水平一直很強勁的情況下。在強勁的家庭資產負債表和需要維修、維護和改善的老化住房存量的支持下，住宅改建需求保持彈性。展望未來，我們預計美國住宅需求放緩的時間相對較短且幅度較小。市場的長期基本面非常有吸引力。它受到人口增長、低庫存水平和過去十年顯著建設不足的支持。

In nonresidential, we experienced good levels of activity in our key segments, which include manufacturing, utilities and energy. And here, we're benefiting from higher levels of onshoring as companies simplify their global supply chains as well as significant federal investment in clean energy, utilities and semiconductors following the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act. And on top of that, significant uplifts in funding provided in the IIJA for water, power and technology infrastructure. So overall, a really positive demand backdrop. And against an inflationary cost environment, pricing remains supportive with good momentum across all of our markets.

在非住宅領域，我們的關鍵領域表現良好，包括製造業、公用事業和能源。在這方面，隨著公司簡化其全球供應鏈，以及在《降低通貨膨脹法案》和《芯片與科學法案》通過後，聯邦對清潔能源、公用事業和半導體的大量投資，我們正在受益於更高水平的外包。最重要的是，IIJA 為水、電力和技術基礎設施提供的資金顯著增加。總的來說，這是一個非常積極的需求背景。在通貨膨脹的成本環境下，定價在我們所有市場的良好勢頭下仍然具有支撐作用。

Turning to the performance of our Americas Materials business on Slide 6. Against that backdrop, I'm really pleased with our team's execution in 2022. Despite significant input cost headwinds, particularly in bitumen, diesel and natural gas as well as some weather disruptions in parts of the United States, we delivered further profit growth with total EBITDA 6% ahead of prior year. And that performance really reflects the successful delivery of our end-to-end solutions offering.

轉到幻燈片 6 中我們美洲材料業務的表現。在此背景下，我對我們團隊在 2022 年的執行情況感到非常滿意。儘管投入成本存在巨大阻力，特別是在瀝青、柴油和天然氣方面，以及美國的一些天氣乾擾在美國部分地區，我們實現了進一步的利潤增長，總 EBITDA 比上一年增長了 6%。這種性能確實反映了我們端到端解決方案產品的成功交付。

By combining the breadth of our materials, products and services, along with our design, innovation and engineering expertise, we're able to provide a complete solution for our customers right across the construction project life cycle, all the way from design and manufacturing products right through to their installation, maintenance and ultimately, the recycling of those materials. And this removes an enormous amount of complexity for our customers, and that really helps us to create a long-term partnership, which drives repeat business. And crucially, it allows us to price based on a value-added full service offering rather than simply providing base materials alone.

通過結合我們廣泛的材料、產品和服務，以及我們的設計、創新和工程專業知識，我們能夠在整個建築項目生命週期中為我們的客戶提供完整的解決方案，從設計和製造產品開始一直到安裝、維護以及最終回收這些材料。這為我們的客戶消除了大量的複雜性，這確實有助於我們建立長期合作夥伴關係，從而推動重複業務。至關重要的是，它使我們能夠根據增值的全方位服務來定價，而不是簡單地單獨提供基礎材料。

We also demonstrated strong commercial discipline and agility to adapt to the inflationary pressures we face throughout the entire year. Our commercial team secured double-digit price increases across all product categories in 2022. And together with strong cost control, we're focused on continuing to recover higher input costs to protect and improve our profitability. And as we look ahead, I'm also encouraged by the positive momentum in our backlogs, both in volume, but certainly more importantly, in margin.

我們還展示了強大的商業紀律和靈活性，以適應我們全年面臨的通脹壓力。我們的商業團隊在 2022 年實現了所有產品類別的兩位數價格上漲。加上強有力的成本控制，我們專注於繼續收回更高的投入成本，以保護和提高我們的盈利能力。展望未來，我也對積壓訂單的積極勢頭感到鼓舞，無論是在數量上，但更重要的是，在利潤率方面。

Next to Building Products on Slide 7. And here, again, we can see the benefits of our integrated solutions strategy coming through in our financial performance. Like-for-like sales growth of 11% translated into an 18% increase in EBITDA and significant margin expansion. You can also see the strong contribution from recent acquisitions coming through with total sales and EBITDA 26% and 52% ahead of prior year.

在幻燈片 7 的“構建產品”旁邊。在這裡，我們可以再次看到我們的集成解決方案戰略在我們的財務業績中帶來的好處。 11% 的同比銷售額增長轉化為 18% 的 EBITDA 增長和顯著的利潤率擴張。您還可以看到最近收購帶來的強勁貢獻，總銷售額和 EBITDA 比上一年分別增長 26% 和 52%。

The strong performance of building products reflects really the steps we've taken to strategically reshape and reposition into higher growth opportunities in recent years, focusing on developing market-leading positions in outdoor living and critical utility infrastructure. And the breadth of our products and services in these areas continues to expand and deepen our customer offering, providing us with a very unique capability to deliver a seamless integrated solution tailored to the specific needs of those individual projects.

建築產品的強勁表現確實反映了我們近年來採取的戰略重塑和重新定位以抓住更高增長機會的步驟，重點是在戶外生活和關鍵公用事業基礎設施領域發展市場領先地位。我們在這些領域的產品和服務的廣度不斷擴大和深化我們的客戶服務，為我們提供了非常獨特的能力，可以提供針對這些個別項目的特定需求量身定制的無縫集成解決方案。

Our largest acquisition in 2022 was Barrette Outdoor Living, and I'm pleased to report that the integration of the business goes well. And trading to date is very much in line with our expectation. And the teams have done a tremendous job delivering on our synergy expectations. So overall, another strong trading performance for Building Products, and we continue to build on that progress in the years ahead.

我們在 2022 年最大的收購是 Barrette Outdoor Living，我很高興地報告業務整合進展順利。迄今為止的交易非常符合我們的預期。這些團隊在實現我們的協同效應期望方面做得非常出色。總的來說，建築產品的另一個強勁交易表現，我們將在未來幾年繼續取得這一進展。

Now moving across to Europe on Slide 8, which represents about 25% of the group's EBITDA. And here, infrastructure demand continues to be underpinned by government and EU funding programs, particularly in the U.K., France and Poland, big important markets for us in this part of the world.

現在轉到幻燈片 8 上的歐洲，該區域約佔該集團 EBITDA 的 25%。在這裡，基礎設施需求繼續受到政府和歐盟資助計劃的支持，尤其是在英國、法國和波蘭，它們是我們在世界這一地區的重要市場。

And very similar to North America, we've also experienced some softening in the pace of new residential construction in the recent months, but remodeling demand has remained resilient. In nonresidential construction, we experienced good demand in subsectors such as warehousing, data centers and logistics.

與北美非常相似，我們在最近幾個月也經歷了新住宅建設步伐的放緩，但改造需求仍然保持彈性。在非住宅建築方面，我們在倉儲、數據中心和物流等子行業中遇到了良好的需求。

So overall, a relatively resilient demand backdrop and against a very challenging and inflationary cost environment, I'm encouraged to see the positive pricing momentum that we've experienced in recent years continuing on ahead.

因此，總的來說，在相對富有彈性的需求背景下，在極具挑戰性和通貨膨脹的成本環境下，我很高興看到我們近年來經歷的積極定價勢頭繼續保持下去。

Turning to the trading performance of our Europe Materials business on Slide 9. Despite contending with significant energy cost pressures, our business delivered a good underlying performance with like-for-like sales and EBITDA 11% and 8% ahead of prior year. And notwithstanding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, activity levels in the rest of our Central and Eastern European businesses remained resilient with good delivery from our businesses in Poland and Romania, in particular.

轉到幻燈片 9 中我們歐洲材料業務的交易業績。儘管面臨著巨大的能源成本壓力，但我們的業務實現了良好的基本業績，銷售額和 EBITDA 比上一年分別增長了 11% 和 8%。儘管烏克蘭的衝突持續不斷，但我們在中歐和東歐其他業務的活動水平仍然保持彈性，尤其是我們在波蘭和羅馬尼亞的業務交付良好。

We experienced a significant currency translation headwind in 2022 due to a stronger U.S. dollar, which resulted in about $160 million impact on our reported EBITDA. 2022 also marked the fifth consecutive year of positive pricing in Europe with pricing ahead across all products in all markets. And this positive momentum bodes well for us as we enter 2023 and continue to focus on our cost recovery and margin management. So overall, good delivery from our businesses in 2022.

由於美元走強，我們在 2022 年經歷了重大的貨幣換算逆風，這對我們報告的 EBITDA 產生了約 1.6 億美元的影響。 2022 年也標誌著歐洲連續第五年積極定價，所有市場的所有產品都提前定價。隨著我們進入 2023 年並繼續專注於我們的成本回收和利潤管理，這種積極勢頭對我們來說是個好兆頭。總的來說，我們的業務在 2022 年交付良好。

And at this point, I'll hand you over to Jim to take you through our financial performance for the year in more detail. Jim?

在這一點上，我將把你交給吉姆，讓你更詳細地了解我們今年的財務業績。吉姆？

Thanks, Randy. And turning now to Slide 11, and the key components of our profit delivery in 2022. As you can see, we delivered a strong performance with total EBITDA just over $5.6 billion. The highlight of this slide for me is really the $408 million of organic EBITDA growth, an 8% increase compared to prior year, reflecting resilient demand in North America and Europe. Good commercial progress to address the inflationary input cost environment and the continued benefits of our integrated solutions strategy.

謝謝，蘭迪。現在轉到幻燈片 11，以及我們 2022 年利潤交付的關鍵組成部分。如您所見，我們的業績表現強勁，EBITDA 總額剛剛超過 56 億美元。對我來說，這張幻燈片的亮點實際上是 4.08 億美元的有機 EBITDA 增長，比上一年增長 8%，反映了北美和歐洲的彈性需求。在解決通貨膨脹的投入成本環境和我們的集成解決方案戰略的持續收益方面取得了良好的商業進展。

Acquisitions, net of divestments delivered a further $385 million of EBITDA in 2022, reflecting strong contributions from recent acquisitions as we continue to build out our solutions-focused offering in road infrastructure, critical utility and outdoor living. Finally, to currency translation, where we incurred an adverse currency impact of $168 million at the group level, a significant headwind in 2022 due to a stronger U.S. dollar relative to our other currency exposures.

扣除資產剝離後的收購在 2022 年進一步帶來了 3.85 億美元的 EBITDA，這反映了隨著我們繼續在道路基礎設施、關鍵公用事業和戶外生活領域打造以解決方案為中心的產品，近期收購的強勁貢獻。最後，對於貨幣換算，我們在集團層面遭受了 1.68 億美元的不利貨幣影響，這是 2022 年的一個重大逆風，因為美元相對於我們的其他貨幣風險敞口走強。

Turning now to Slide 12. And here, you can see how our relentless focus on cash generation and financial discipline further strengthened our balance sheet in 2022. Looking at the key components of this performance, we ended 2021 with a net debt of $6.3 billion. And here, you can see the $4.4 billion of operating cash our businesses generated in 2022. That represents approximately an 80% conversion from EBITDA, and this has enabled us to continue to invest in our business for further growth, while also returning significant amounts of cash to our shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.

現在轉到幻燈片 12。在這裡，您可以看到我們對現金產生和財務紀律的不懈關注如何在 2022 年進一步加強了我們的資產負債表。看看這一業績的關鍵組成部分，我們在 2021 年底的淨債務為 63 億美元。在這裡，您可以看到我們的業務在 2022 年產生了 44 億美元的運營現金。這代表了大約 80% 的 EBITDA 轉換，這使我們能夠繼續投資於我們的業務以實現進一步增長，同時也回報了大量的通過股息和股票回購向我們的股東提供現金。

We completed a significant amount of portfolio activity during the year, investing $3.3 billion on 29 solution-focused acquisitions, the largest of these was the acquisition of Barrette Outdoor Living for $1.9 billion. In addition, we had a further 28 bolt-on acquisitions, which were completed at an average pre-synergy multiple of 8x EBITDA. We also received significant proceeds from divestments, which net of tax paid on the profit on disposals and a number of other items resulted in a total inflow of approximately $3.7 billion.

我們在這一年完成了大量投資組合活動，投資 33 億美元用於 29 項以解決方案為重點的收購，其中最大的一筆是以 19 億美元收購 Barrette Outdoor Living。此外，我們還有 28 項補強收購，這些收購的平均預協同倍數為 8 倍 EBITDA。我們還從資產剝離中獲得了可觀的收益，扣除對資產處置利潤和其他一些項目支付的稅款後，總流入量約為 37 億美元。

We invested approximately $1.5 billion in capital expenditure to support further growth in our existing businesses, and we returned $2.1 billion to our shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks, demonstrating our commitment to returning cash to our shareholders. Overall, this resulted in a net debt of $5.1 billion at year-end, representing a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.9x. This is the strongest balance sheet we've ever had in CRH, providing us with significant optionality for further value creation going forward.

我們投資了約 15 億美元的資本支出以支持現有業務的進一步增長，並以股息和股票回購的形式向股東返還了 21 億美元，表明了我們向股東返還現金的承諾。總體而言，這導致年底淨債務為 51 億美元，淨債務與 EBITDA 之比為 0.9 倍。這是我們在 CRH 中擁有的最強大的資產負債表，為我們未來進一步創造價值提供了重要的選擇權。

But at this point, I'd like to take a step back and discuss our progressive disciplined approach to capital allocation. You've heard us say many times before, every capital deployment decision we make is analyzed and assessed to the lens of maximizing value for our shareholders. As you can see here on Slide 13, over the last 5 years, we've allocated over $20 billion of capital. We've invested significantly in our businesses over that time, allocating over 60% or just over $12 billion to value-accretive M&A and expansionary CapEx projects, investments that will drive further growth and value creation for years to come.

但在這一點上，我想退後一步，討論我們對資本配置的漸進式紀律方法。你以前聽我們說過很多次，我們所做的每一項資本配置決策都會從為股東實現價值最大化的角度進行分析和評估。正如您在幻燈片 13 上看到的那樣，在過去 5 年中，我們已經分配了超過 200 億美元的資金。在那段時間裡，我們對我們的業務進行了大量投資，將超過 60% 或略高於 120 億美元的資金分配給增值併購和擴張性資本支出項目，這些投資將推動未來幾年的進一步增長和價值創造。

We've also returned significant amounts of cash to our shareholders, approximately $8 billion in the form of progressive dividends and share buybacks. But what are our expectations for the next 5 years? Well, when we look at the strength of our business today, our growth profile, the level of cash we're generating and the strength of our balance sheet, we believe that we will generate financial capacity in the order of $30 billion.

我們還以累進股息和股票回購的形式向股東返還了大量現金，約 80 億美元。但我們對未來 5 年的期望是什麼？那麼，當我們審視我們今天的業務實力、我們的增長狀況、我們產生的現金水平和資產負債表的實力時，我們相信我們將產生大約 300 億美元的財務能力。

And to put that in context, that's broadly equivalent to the current market cap today. This all provides us with very significant optionality for long-term value creation. And I can assure you that we remain disciplined and value focused in the allocation of that capital. We will lead our investors for future growth, or we will return it to our shareholders.

綜上所述，這大致相當於今天的當前市值。這一切都為我們創造長期價值提供了非常重要的選擇。我可以向你保證，我們在分配該資本時保持紀律和重視價值。我們將帶領我們的投資者獲得未來的增長，或者我們將其回報給我們的股東。

Turning now to Slide 14. And as we've discussed, returning cash to shareholders is an embedded part of our capital allocation strategy. Over the last 5 years, we have returned $4.1 billion in share buybacks alone or 13% of our share capital. We also have a long track record of progressive dividends and the 5% increase in our full year dividend that we are recommending this morning builds on our proud history. We have almost 40 years of dividend growth and stability. And yet, having allocated all of this capital and having returned all of this cash to our shareholders, a total of $8 billion over the last 5 years, we now have the strongest balance sheet in our history.

現在轉到幻燈片 14。正如我們所討論的，向股東返還現金是我們資本配置策略的一個內在組成部分。在過去 5 年中，我們僅通過股票回購就返還了 41 億美元，占我們股本的 13%。我們在累進股息方面也有長期的記錄，我們今天早上建議的全年股息增加 5% 建立在我們引以為豪的歷史之上。我們有近 40 年的股息增長和穩定性。然而，在分配了所有這些資本並將所有這些現金返還給我們的股東之後，在過去 5 年中總計 80 億美元，我們現在擁有歷史上最強大的資產負債表。

I just talked about the $30 billion of additional financial capacity that we expect over the next 5 years, demonstrating the confidence we have and the outlook for our business and the continued strong cash generation. We have a strong pipeline of growth opportunities in front of us, investments in our existing businesses as well as acquisitions, and we remain absolutely committed to maintaining our progressive dividend policy. And I can reassure you, as CFO of CRH, we remain committed to our strong investment-grade credit rating.

我剛剛談到了我們預計在未來 5 年內增加 300 億美元的財務能力，這表明我們有信心和我們的業務前景以及持續強勁的現金產生。我們面前有大量的增長機會、對現有業務的投資以及收購，我們仍然絕對致力於維持我們的漸進式股息政策。作為 CRH 的首席財務官，我可以向您保證，我們將繼續致力於我們強大的投資級信用評級。

Taking all of this into account and reflecting the strength of our balance sheet and cash generation capabilities, this morning, we announced our intention to significantly increase our share buyback program with the return of up to $3 billion over the next 12 months.

考慮到所有這些並反映我們資產負債表和現金生成能力的實力，今天上午，我們宣布打算大幅增加我們的股票回購計劃，在未來 12 個月內回購高達 30 億美元。

I'm now going to hand back to Randy to update you on the progress we are making in our key sustainability focus areas.

我現在將交還給蘭迪，向您介紹我們在關鍵可持續發展重點領域取得的最新進展。

Thank you, Jim. And turning to Slide 16. We've talked before about our commitment to leading the industry on decarbonization. And I'm pleased to say that we're raising our ambition even further with a revised target to reduce group-wide carbon emissions by 30% by 2030. Now this is an absolute target. It's not a relative CO2 per ton target. It covers all of our activities across the group and has been validated by the SBTi to be in line with the 1.5 degree framework.

謝謝你，吉姆。轉到幻燈片 16。我們之前談到過我們致力於引領行業脫碳的承諾。我很高興地說，我們正在進一步提高我們的雄心，修訂後的目標是到 2030 年將整個集團的碳排放量減少 30%。現在這是一個絕對目標。這不是每噸二氧化碳的相對目標。它涵蓋了我們整個集團的所有活動，並經 SBTi 驗證符合 1.5 度框架。

We have detailed bottom-up road maps in place across all of our businesses with dedicated teams in place to deliver against those plans. And it keeps us on the pathway to achieving our overall ambition of becoming a net-0 business by 2050. This won't be easy, but we're off to a good start. And I'm happy to report that we reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 7% in 2022 versus 2021 levels. Great work by the teams. And we continue to be committed to playing our part to decarbonize our business and society to protect the world for future generations.

我們在所有業務中都制定了詳細的自下而上的路線圖，並配備了專門的團隊來實現這些計劃。它使我們走上了實現到 2050 年成為淨零業務的總體目標的道路。這並不容易，但我們有了一個良好的開端。我很高興地報告，與 2021 年的水平相比，我們在 2022 年將範圍 1 和範圍 2 的排放量減少了 7%。團隊的出色工作。我們將繼續致力於發揮我們的作用，使我們的企業和社會脫碳，為子孫後代保護世界。

We're also continuing to advance our contribution to circularity, as we've outlined here on Slide 17. We believe increasing circularity in construction has significant long-term environmental, financial and societal benefits. For our business, circularity makes perfect sense. By using more recycled materials and construction, we can preserve our own scarce natural resources and prolong the life of our reserves. It also lowers the cost of construction, both for us and for our customers.

正如我們在幻燈片 17 中概述的那樣，我們還在繼續推進我們對循環性的貢獻。我們相信，增加建築的循環性具有顯著的長期環境、財務和社會效益。對於我們的業務，循環性非常有意義。通過使用更多的回收材料和建築，我們可以保護我們自己的稀缺自然資源並延長我們儲備的壽命。它還為我們和我們的客戶降低了建設成本。

Our core materials of cement, aggregate, asphalt and concrete, they're all 100% recyclable. They can be used again and again, producing equivalent or superior product quality. And as you can see on the right-hand side of the slide, we made good progress in 2022. We recycled 42 million tonnes of material. In fact, we're the #1 recycler of any material in the United States. Nobody else in our industry recycles anywhere near as much as we do.

我們的水泥、骨料、瀝青和混凝土等核心材料都是 100% 可回收的。它們可以反複使用，生產出同等或更高質量的產品。正如您在幻燈片右側看到的那樣，我們在 2022 年取得了良好進展。我們回收了 4200 萬噸材料。事實上，我們是美國排名第一的任何材料回收商。在我們的行業中，沒有其他人像我們一樣回收利用。

And we're the global leader in asphalt recycling. About 25% of every road mile we build in North America is built with recycled materials. And our ambition is to increase that to 50% within the next decade. It won't be easy, but we continue to work with governments, regulators and contractors to further develop policies, guidelines and specifications that promote the use of more recycled materials in construction.

我們是瀝青回收領域的全球領導者。我們在北美建造的每英里公路中，約有 25% 是用回收材料建造的。我們的目標是在未來十年內將這一比例提高到 50%。這並不容易，但我們將繼續與政府、監管機構和承包商合作，進一步製定政策、指南和規範，以促進在建築中使用更多回收材料。

We've also made really good progress replacing fossil fuels with alternatives such as recycled waste and biomass. In 2022, alternative fuels represented 36% of the total fuel requirements for our cement plants, making us the global leader in fossil fuel substitution. And we're transferring the significant knowledge and technical expertise that we've built over many years of doing this in Europe to our businesses in North America.

我們在用回收廢物和生物質等替代品替代化石燃料方面也取得了非常好的進展。到 2022 年，替代燃料占我們水泥廠總燃料需求的 36%，使我們成為化石燃料替代的全球領導者。我們正在將多年來在歐洲積累的重要知識和技術專長轉移到我們在北美的業務中。

And now I'd like to hand you over to Albert, who's going to talk to you a little bit about our advancements in terms of our solution strategy.

現在我想把你交給阿爾伯特，他會和你談談我們在解決方案戰略方面的進步。

Thanks, Randy. And I hope you really got a sense there of how we work in CRH. I mean we had ambitious targets for reducing our emissions to 2030. And again, we revise those upwards again this year. Good to see. And I hope you got a sense from both Jim and Randy, the detail behind what drove the performance this year and indeed, how the financial discipline that Jim referred to ensures that we convert those profits into cash for creating value for you, our shareholders. I will spend 2 or 3 minutes now talking about integrated solutions and how that is accelerating our performance within CRH and what it means.

謝謝，蘭迪。我希望您真正了解我們在 CRH 中的工作方式。我的意思是，我們制定了到 2030 年減排的雄心勃勃的目標。而且，我們今年再次上調了這些目標。很高興看到。我希望你能從吉姆和蘭迪那裡了解推動今年業績的細節，以及吉姆提到的財務紀律如何確保我們將這些利潤轉化為現金，為你，我們的股東創造價值。我現在將花 2 到 3 分鐘談論集成解決方案以及它如何加速我們在 CRH 內的績效及其意義。

So let me just talk a little bit about why solutions are so important to us, to us as individuals, to our society and indeed to CRH. Well, look, there are certain things we know are going to happen in our world. We know the population of the world is going to continue to grow by about 2 billion people (inaudible) to 2050. We know the fact that those 2 billion people is going to increase the urbanization rate to about 70%. We also know the fact that there is a significant backlog of aging infrastructure in Europe and in the United States and that infrastructure is going to be replaced, renewed and refreshed.

因此，讓我稍微談談為什麼解決方案對我們、對我們個人、對我們的社會乃至對 CRH 如此重要。好吧，看，我們知道某些事情會在我們的世界上發生。我們知道到 2050 年世界人口將繼續增加約 20 億人（聽不清）。我們知道這 20 億人將使城市化率提高到 70% 左右。我們也知道這樣一個事實，即歐洲和美國老化的基礎設施大量積壓，這些基礎設施將被更換、更新和更新。

So with the growing population and need to repair the infrastructure, there's going to be significant construction growth for people to live, to go to school, to go to work, to live their lives, to move around the world. We also know that we just cannot continue to produce the harmful emissions and consume the scarce resources that we do in construction at the current pace because if we do, we're going to destroy this planet. So something must change. And society and regulators and we, as individuals, are demanding that change. So it's not for us, people like us, like CRH, businesses, who are important people in the industry, to take the responsibility to help change the way our world is built. And that's what solutions are actually about.

因此，隨著人口的增長和對基礎設施修復的需求，人們居住、上學、上班、生活和在世界各地移動的建築將會顯著增長。我們也知道，我們不能繼續以目前的速度生產有害排放物並消耗我們在建設中所做的稀缺資源，因為如果我們這樣做，我們將摧毀這個星球。所以必須有所改變。社會和監管機構以及我們作為個人都在要求這種改變。因此，我們，像我們這樣的人，如 CRH，企業，這些行業中的重要人物，不應該承擔幫助改變我們世界構建方式的責任。這就是解決方案的真正意義所在。

Let me explain how it works in a practical sense. Just imagine today, in some part of the world, they're building a construction project. It starts by somewhere in the world, they're digging, extracting rock from the ground, it could be iron ore, it could be lumber, from a forest. And they're taking that basic raw material and they're providing it, they're processing it, and they're creating something out of it. So they're extracting rock, they create stone and aggregates. That stone and aggregates is turned it to something else and mixed to something else. It could be turned into cement. It's mixed to create concrete or asphalt.

讓我從實際意義上解釋它是如何工作的。想像一下今天，在世界的某個地方，他們正在建設一個建築項目。它從世界上的某個地方開始，他們正在挖掘，從地下提取岩石，可能是鐵礦石，也可能是來自森林的木材。他們正在獲取基本原材料並提供它，他們正在處理它，並且他們正在從中創造一些東西。所以他們提取岩石，他們製造石頭和骨料。石頭和聚合體會變成其他東西並混合成其他東西。它可以變成水泥。它被混合以製造混凝土或瀝青。

We then take that and we give it to a manufacturer who gets that raw material and creates a product from it. That product is mass, produces the standardized mass product, and that product is then transported to the construction site where it's put together in a very inefficient, labor-intensive way to build construction projects in the world. Projects that are designed by other individuals, architects, engineers and designers, who design back from the front end all the way back.

然後我們把它交給製造商，製造商獲得原材料並從中製造產品。該產品是大規模的，生產標準化的大規模產品，然後該產品被運送到建築工地，在那里以一種非常低效、勞動密集型的方式組裝起來，以在世界範圍內建設建築項目。由其他個人、建築師、工程師和設計師設計的項目，他們從前端一直進行設計。

That process has not changed in the century. It's a very inefficient process. There's a lot of waste. There's a lot of emissions. There's a lot of time wasted and it needs to change. And it changes by integrating that chain together and that's what solutions is about. Solutions looks at its taking from the front end, what do you want? I want this construction project. I want this building. I want this infrastructure. Listening to what the designers and architects are saying, putting them in touch with our designers and architects and seeing how we can change the material science of what we process so that it can be less harmful and producing less emissions.

這個過程在本世紀沒有改變。這是一個非常低效的過程。有很多浪費。有很多排放物。浪費了很多時間，需要改變。它通過將該鏈集成在一起而發生變化，這就是解決方案的意義所在。解決方案看它從前端拿來，你要什麼？我想要這個建設項目。我要這棟樓我想要這個基礎設施。傾聽設計師和建築師的意見，讓他們與我們的設計師和建築師保持聯繫，看看我們如何改變我們處理的材料科學，使其危害更小，排放更少。

We can use more circularity. We can process it in a different way. We can then take that basic material and bring and produce products within factory-controlled environments to produce modular construction of size. That's when it's brought to the construction site, it actually has put together quicker, cheaper in a cleaner way with less labor. All of this reduces waste, it reduces emissions, it increases circularity, it actually helps to build quicker, cleaner and better. Quite simply, solutions simplifies the whole construction process and it lowers costs.

我們可以使用更多的循環。我們可以用不同的方式處理它。然後，我們可以採用該基礎材料，在工廠控制的環境中生產產品，以生產尺寸的模塊化結構。當它被帶到建築工地時，它實際上以更清潔的方式更快、更便宜地組裝起來，勞動力更少。所有這些都減少了浪費，減少了排放，增加了循環性，實際上有助於更快、更清潔、更好地建造。很簡單，解決方案簡化了整個施工過程並降低了成本。

So is that it? Well, no, it's not because solutions is dynamic. It continues to evolve. If there are pressures on the system, there are opportunities we see. Bringing innovative products and processes and techniques into the system changes that value chain. It compresses it and it integrates it more, it connects it more. Promoting more sustainable use of resources is very, very important. Increased circularity is very, very important, but that starts at the front end.

是這樣嗎？嗯，不，這不是因為解決方案是動態的。它繼續發展。如果系統有壓力，我們就會看到機會。將創新產品、流程和技術引入系統會改變價值鏈。它壓縮它，它更多地整合它，它更多地連接它。促進更可持續地利用資源非常非常重要。增加循環性非常非常重要，但這要從前端開始。

And now, of course, customers are demanding more that we blend materials together to create final products. You can no longer just be a piece in the jigsaw, saying, I'm producing rock, I'm producing cement. Actually, our customers want you to blend in the likes of plastics, composite materials, metals, steel, to produce the end product. And of course, we're seeing an increasing awareness of the importance of logistics, internal logistics and how we transport to the construction sector. And then people want to say, well, okay, who's going to maintain the infrastructure, who's going to service it, who has the knowledge to do that, as those who produce the materials are the ones who will do that. Quite simply, the manufacturers who have a comprehensive knowledge and a proven capability across materials, products and services will be the winners in this race.

現在，當然，客戶對我們將材料混合在一起以製造最終產品的要求更高。你不能再只是拼圖中的一塊，說，我在生產岩石，我在生產水泥。實際上，我們的客戶希望您混合塑料、複合材料、金屬、鋼等材料來生產最終產品。當然，我們看到越來越多的人意識到物流、內部物流以及我們如何運輸到建築行業的重要性。然後人們想說，好吧，好吧，誰來維護基礎設施，誰來維護它，誰有知識去做這些，因為那些生產材料的人就是那些會這樣做的人。很簡單，在材料、產品和服務方面擁有全面知識和成熟能力的製造商將成為這場競賽的贏家。

So where does CRH fit into all of this? Well, we have always had a differentiated strategy in the building material sector. We've been a materials player. We've been a product player. We provide services. We innovate into high-spec products. We were in distribution. We're at the front end dealing with customers. As Randy has set out to you, we are an industry leader in the area of sustainability, recycling and innovation.

那麼 CRH 在哪裡適合所有這些呢？那麼，我們在建材領域一直是有差異化戰略的。我們一直是材料玩家。我們一直是產品玩家。我們提供服務。我們創新高規格產品。我們在分發。我們在前端與客戶打交道。正如 Randy 向您介紹的那樣，我們是可持續發展、回收和創新領域的行業領導者。

And crucially, we are the #1 player in the United States and Europe. And that's important is because they are the 2 most regulated, certified markets in the world in terms of pushing forward increased innovation, increased specifications and how you work. And that forces us, it encourages us, it rewards us to be innovative and to change the way we build our world. And that's why CRH is the proven leader in delivering end-to-end solutions.

至關重要的是，我們是美國和歐洲的第一大玩家。這一點很重要，因為在推動創新、提高規格和工作方式方面，它們是世界上監管最嚴格、認證最嚴格的兩個市場。這迫使我們，它鼓勵我們，它獎勵我們創新並改變我們建設世界的方式。這就是為什麼 CRH 是提供端到端解決方案的公認領導者。

So proud words, but what does it mean for you, our shareholders? Well, I could have put up 10 slides if I had the time, and quite frankly, if I was allowed, but I can only put up 1 slide. This is our track record across the 3 most important metrics that I look at our business in terms of performance. And it looks across the last 5 years how we do against our peers. Well, you can see profit growth outstrips everybody else. But look at the center column, the margin performance. Every single peer has gone backwards and yet CRH has advanced at a pace of everybody else. That's because it's about solutions. And it's a proven track record of experienced people delivering solutions, not just talking about it, it's delivering it.

如此自豪的話，但這對您，我們的股東意味著什麼？好吧，如果我有時間，我可以放 10 張幻燈片，坦率地說，如果允許的話，但我只能放 1 張幻燈片。這是我在績效方面看待我們業務的 3 個最重要指標的記錄。它回顧了過去 5 年我們如何與同行競爭。嗯，你可以看到利潤增長超過其他人。但看看中心欄，保證金表現。每個同行都在倒退，但 CRH 卻以其他人的步伐前進。那是因為它是關於解決方案的。這是經驗豐富的人員交付解決方案的可靠記錄，不僅僅是談論它，而是交付它。

And then the classic financial discipline of CRH is the platform of which we stand on and we stand here today. We turn those profits into cash. And you can see our cash generation will return about $0.80 of every dollar of EBITDA into cash, which we use for value creation for you, our shareholders. Now the beauty of CRH is not just that we have this big concept of solutions, it's actually how we work together. We have 2 major markets in Europe and the United States, both of them are extremely important to us.

然後 CRH 的經典財務紀律就是我們所站的平台，我們今天站在這裡。我們將這些利潤變成現金。你可以看到我們的現金生成將每美元 EBITDA 中的大約 0.80 美元返還為現金，我們用它來為你，我們的股東創造價值。現在 CRH 的美妙之處不僅在於我們擁有解決方案這一宏大概念，實際上在於我們的合作方式。我們在歐洲和美國有兩個主要市場，這兩個市場對我們來說都非常重要。

The European construction markets have the most exacting specifications set out for construction in the world. It advances sustainability at a pace that no one else does at this time across a broad range of metrics, and it is the driver for innovation. It's not just that the regulators make us and specify constructions that make this innovation, it rewards us for that, it encourages us for that. So a lot of the ideas that we have within our European business, we take those ideas and we bring them to the most profitable construction market in the world, the United States, where we bring them to scale. And the advantage of that is that we get the beauty of the innovation in Europe brought to scale in the United States.

歐洲建築市場擁有世界上最嚴格的建築規範。它在廣泛的指標範圍內以目前無人能及的速度推進可持續發展，並且是創新的驅動力。不僅僅是監管機構創造了我們並指定了實現這種創新的結構，它還為此獎勵了我們，並為此鼓勵了我們。因此，我們在歐洲業務中有很多想法，我們將這些想法帶到世界上最賺錢的建築市場美國，在那裡我們將它們擴大規模。這樣做的好處是我們可以將歐洲的創新之美帶到美國。

And let me give you an example of that. Our Ash Grove Cement business that we bought in 2018. In the 4 years that we have owned that business, we've doubled the profitability of that business. Now of course, the market has been robust in the United States in those 4 years and pricing has advanced, but so have costs. And the improvement we've seen to double the profitability has largely come about by our ability to transfer the knowledge to 100 to 150 engineers, who came to the U.S. and are still there, working on how we process our materials, the types of cement we produce, the increased throughput and actually have the applications that cement can be used in a different way. It has completely changed the nature of the way Ash Grove operates and in fact, it's changing the nature of the way cement operates in the United States.

讓我舉個例子。我們在 2018 年收購的 Ash Grove Cement 業務。在我們擁有該業務的 4 年裡，我們將該業務的盈利能力翻了一番。當然，現在美國的市場在這 4 年裡一直很強勁，價格上漲了，但成本也上漲了。我們所看到的盈利能力翻倍的改善主要來自於我們將知識傳授給 100 到 150 名工程師的能力，他們來到美國並仍然在那裡，研究我們如何處理我們的材料，水泥的類型我們生產，增加的吞吐量並且實際上有可以以不同方式使用水泥的應用程序。它完全改變了 Ash Grove 運營方式的本質，事實上，它正在改變美國水泥運營方式的本質。

Likewise, actually 25 years ago, when I started in CRH, we had paving products in Belgium and the Netherlands that were taken across to the United States and started a small business called Belgard paving. That now has become APG in CRH and is one of our largest, most profitable and fastest-growing businesses across CRH and outdoor living across the United States. Five years ago, that business came back to Europe, into Eastern Europe, and it's the platform on our paving business, our outdoor living business in Central and Eastern Europe.

同樣，實際上 25 年前，當我開始在 CRH 工作時，我們在比利時和荷蘭擁有鋪路產品，這些產品被帶到美國，並開始了一家名為 Belgard 鋪路的小企業。現在，它已成為 CRH 的 APG，並且是我們在全美 CRH 和戶外生活領域中規模最大、利潤最高和增長最快的業務之一。五年前，這項業務回到歐洲，進入東歐，它是我們鋪路業務的平台，我們在中歐和東歐的戶外生活業務。

Likewise, our infrastructure business in the U.S. is coming back into Europe to -- it's got the challenges of the South and West of the United States in terms of building out infrastructure. And as those same challenges are being brought over to Central and Eastern Europe, and we're looking to provide solutions for those businesses there. That interchange, that interconnection, that connection between those 2 businesses is vital towards driving solutions in CRH. But as I said before, it's not static. It continues to change. Of course, we focus on materials and products and our services.

同樣，我們在美國的基礎設施業務正在回到歐洲——它在建設基礎設施方面面臨著美國南部和西部的挑戰。由於同樣的挑戰被帶到中歐和東歐，我們正在尋求為那裡的那些企業提供解決方案。這兩個業務之間的交換、互連和聯繫對於推動 CRH 的解決方案至關重要。但正如我之前所說，它不是靜態的。它繼續變化。當然，我們專注於材料和產品以及我們的服務。

But more and more, our design skills, our innovation, our planning, our technology, our logistics all of these are coming in to change the way solutions are being delivered. It is becoming a connected virtual circle, and those who connect the business together to provide that simplification of the whole process is actually changing the way construction projects are being delivered, and it makes sense that we do everything we can to ensure we align ourselves to support the solution strategy.

但越來越多的是，我們的設計技能、我們的創新、我們的規劃、我們的技術、我們的物流，所有這些都在改變解決方案的交付方式。它正在成為一個互聯的虛擬圈，那些將業務連接在一起以簡化整個流程的人實際上正在改變建設項目的交付方式，我們盡我們所能確保我們與支持解決策略。

And that's why this morning, we announced a reorganization. It is just really further aligning and refining our organization as we do to ensure that we support solution strategy going forward. So I'm joined by Jim now, who's going to take you through some further thoughts on our organization strategy as we go forward. Jim?

這就是今天早上我們宣布重組的原因。它只是在進一步調整和完善我們的組織，以確保我們支持未來的解決方案戰略。現在 Jim 加入了我的行列，他將在我們前進的過程中帶您進一步思考我們的組織戰略。吉姆？

So moving to Slide 26. And as we continue to adapt and align our business to the changing needs and future growth opportunities in our industry, we are now transitioning to a new organizational structure for the group. Effective from the 1 January this year, we will report under 2 divisions, Americas and Europe. And within each of these divisions, we will have 2 new segments. Firstly, Material Solutions, which comprises our Essential Materials and Road Solutions. And then secondly, Building Solutions, which comprises our Outdoor Living and our Building and Infrastructure Solutions.

所以轉到幻燈片 26。隨著我們繼續調整和調整我們的業務以適應我們行業不斷變化的需求和未來的增長機會，我們現在正在過渡到集團的新組織結構。從今年 1 月 1 日起，我們將分為美洲和歐洲兩個部門進行報告。在每個部門中，我們將有 2 個新的細分市場。首先是材料解決方案，包括我們的基本材料和道路解決方案。其次，建築解決方案，包括我們的戶外生活以及我們的建築和基礎設施解決方案。

This represents the natural evolution of our strategy, providing us with the opportunity to accelerate the development of integrated solutions in both the U.S. and Europe, providing greater integration, cross-selling and cooperation between our businesses and positioning CRH for the next decade of growth in sustainable construction, creating value for our customers and higher profits, margins, cash and crucially returns for our shareholders.

這代表了我們戰略的自然演變，為我們提供了加速在美國和歐洲開發綜合解決方案的機會，在我們的業務之間提供更大的整合、交叉銷售和合作，並為 CRH 未來十年的增長定位可持續建設，為我們的客戶創造價值，為我們的股東創造更高的利潤、利潤、現金和至關重要的回報。

Further information on our new reporting structure is available in the appendix accompanying our presentation this morning. And we also plan to provide further financial information in advance of our April trading update.

有關我們新報告結構的更多信息，請參見今天上午我們的演示文稿所附的附錄。我們還計劃在四月份的交易更新之前提供更多的財務信息。

Thanks, Jim. Just want to look now at this morning at a further part of our announcement, which was our listing considerations and a recommendation that we move our primary listing to North America.

謝謝，吉姆。現在只想看看今天早上我們公告的另一部分，這是我們的上市考慮和我們將主要上市轉移到北美的建議。

When the financial crisis ended in 2013, 2014, it was clear that, that's 4 or 5 years of when there was very low levels of construction in the U.S. and Europe led to pent-up demand. And we saw significant growth across our European and U.S. markets, particularly U.S. market in the run-up from 2014 up to 2020-'21. And that has meant us over that period of time from 10 years ago when we had 50% of our profits generated in the United States to today where 75% of our EBITDA is generated across North America. And given what we're seeing ahead of us, that's going to continue to grow. We believe it will be close to 90% over the next decade or so. And the U.S. is expected to be a key driver of growth for CRH as we go forward.

當金融危機於 2013 年、2014 年結束時，很明顯，那是美國和歐洲建設水平非常低的 4 或 5 年導致被壓抑的需求。從 2014 年到 2020-'21，我們看到歐洲和美國市場的顯著增長，尤其是美國市場。這意味著我們從 10 年前 50% 的利潤來自美國，到今天 75% 的 EBITDA 來自北美。鑑於我們在我們面前看到的情況，這將繼續增長。我們相信在未來十年左右，這一比例將接近 90%。隨著我們前進，美國有望成為 CRH 增長的關鍵驅動力。

So what's driving that spur on? How is that going to keep driving yourself on? Well, it's a unique complements of events coming together. First of all, I refer to the global financial crisis. That has meant that there was an underbuilt in residential in the United States. Today, as we stand here, there's an underbuilt, the need of about 5 million homes to satisfy the needs that are there. The population of the U.S. is going to grow by 30 million people over the next 10 years. Those people are going to need homes to live in, that is going to drive U.S. construction and residential going forward for the next decade at least.

那麼是什麼推動了這種刺激呢？這將如何繼續推動自己前進？好吧，這是各種事件的獨特補充。首先，我指的是全球金融危機。這意味著美國的住宅建設不足。今天，當我們站在這裡時，需要大約 500 萬套住房建設不足，才能滿足那裡的需求。未來 10 年，美國人口將增加 3000 萬。這些人將需要住房居住，這將至少在未來十年內推動美國建築和住宅的發展。

Secondly, with regard to nonresidential, and Randy referred to it earlier, we've had a good core business coming through in data centers and warehouses as the world changes. But on top of that now for the last year or so with the change in geopolitics, we are seeing an increased level of onshoring and reshoring of critical manufacturing back into the United States. And it's not just in the sunbelt, it's actually coming across the Mid-Atlantic and across the Midwest, which is welcome to see in that part of the world, that is going to continue to drive further growth in nonresidential expenditure, but critically it's infrastructure.

其次，關於非住宅，蘭迪之前提到過，隨著世界的變化，我們在數據中心和倉庫中擁有良好的核心業務。但最重要的是，在過去一年左右的時間裡，隨著地緣政治的變化，我們看到關鍵製造業回流到美國的程度有所提高。它不僅在陽光帶，它實際上橫跨大西洋中部和中西部，歡迎在世界的那個地區看到，這將繼續推動非住宅支出的進一步增長，但關鍵是基礎設施.

We have 3 major federal support acts that have come to fore in the last 12 months or so. We've got the IIJA, we have the Inflation Reduction Act, and we have the CHIPS and Science Act. Those 3 acts together provide unprecedented support that's going to drive infrastructure spend across the United States for the next decade. And it leads you to believe not only that, but we're in a fantastic market position. And we can see, looking at those 3 end-use markets that there are significant commercial and operational reasons for us to relist in the United States because it will give us higher organic growth opportunities.

在過去 12 個月左右的時間裡，我們有 3 項主要的聯邦支持法案出台。我們有 IIJA，我們有通貨膨脹減少法案，我們有 CHIPS 和科學法案。這 3 項法案共同提供了前所未有的支持，將推動美國未來十年的基礎設施支出。它不僅使您相信，而且我們處於絕佳的市場地位。我們可以看到，從這 3 個最終用途市場來看，我們在美國重新上市有重要的商業和運營原因，因為這將為我們提供更高的有機增長機會。

In addition to that, listing in the United States will give us higher inorganic growth opportunities. And those 2 combined will allow us to advance at a faster pace our integrated solution strategy across the U.S. going forward, which will be a key driver of growth for our business. So we were communicating directly with shareholders on a face-to-face basis over the next 6 to 8 weeks, and we will update the market further at our update, our trading update, which will be in and around our AGM at the end of April.

除此之外，在美國上市將給我們帶來更高的無機增長機會。這兩者的結合將使我們能夠在美國以更快的速度推進我們的集成解決方案戰略，這將成為我們業務增長的關鍵驅動力。因此，我們在接下來的 6 到 8 週內直接與股東進行面對面的溝通，我們將在我們的更新、我們的交易更新中進一步更新市場，這將在 2018 年底的年度股東大會期間和前後進行。四月。

So if I can just briefly turn to outlook. Now I'm not going to repeat what has been said before. We talked about the United States in terms of infrastructure is strong going forward into 2023 and beyond for the reasons we just set out. Nonresidential is in pretty good shape. Again, we're going to see an increased onshoring and reshoring of activities here, which is going to continue to drive that market. And U.S. residential is a one-way bet. Okay, we may have the speed bump over the next 6 to 8 months with regard to interest rates, but slowly but surely, the need for housing is going to overtake and that will be a key driver for growth in CRH in the next decade.

所以，如果我可以簡單地轉向前景。現在我不打算重複之前說過的話。出於我們剛剛闡述的原因，我們談到美國的基礎設施將在 2023 年及以後強勁發展。非住宅的狀況非常好。同樣，我們將在這裡看到越來越多的外包和再外包活動，這將繼續推動該市場。美國住宅是一種單向賭注。好吧，我們可能會在未來 6 到 8 個月內在利率方面遇到減速，但緩慢但肯定的是，住房需求將會超過，這將成為未來十年 CRH 增長的關鍵驅動力。

And Europe, a crucially important part of our business going forward. Central and Eastern Europe is a jewel in our crown. We're the largest building materials player there, a market that is 70% of the size of the total U.S. construction market. It just happens to be 25 years behind the U.S. construction market, and there is decades of growth and profitability ahead for us there, and our Western European business, significant market positions in a market that needs significant investment in infrastructure and repair and maintenance and of course, crucially, that is the center of innovation and design and new technologies that we can take and bring out across our group in the years ahead.

而歐洲，是我們未來業務的一個至關重要的部分。中歐和東歐是我們皇冠上的一顆明珠。我們是那裡最大的建築材料公司，該市場占美國建築市場總規模的 70%。它恰好落後於美國建築市場 25 年，我們在那裡還有幾十年的增長和盈利能力，以及我們的西歐業務，在需要大量投資基礎設施和維修維護的市場中佔據重要的市場地位當然，至關重要的是，這是創新和設計的中心以及我們可以在未來幾年內在整個集團內採用和推廣的新技術。

So pulling that all together specifically with regard to 2023, you can see we have a clear growth strategy involved with the moment. We're delivering against that. Integrated solutions is the differentiating factor that's delivering the higher growth, more profits and more cash. Of course, it all starts with being best-in-class operators, never ever, ever forget that, the pennies matter in our industry. We will continue to lead on sustainability, on decarbonization and crucially more and more on circularity and innovation. Of course, we will continue to reshape and reposition our portfolio. It makes sense to do that. But also in a growing business where you've got the solution strategy evolving, we will be adding on to the edges of that as we have done in the last 24, 36 months.

因此，特別是關於 2023 年，你可以看到我們有一個明確的增長戰略。我們正在兌現這一點。集成解決方案是實現更高增長、更多利潤和更多現金的差異化因素。當然，這一切都始於成為一流的運營商，永遠不要忘記，在我們的行業中，一分錢很重要。我們將繼續引領可持續發展、脫碳以及越來越重要的循環和創新。當然，我們將繼續重塑和重新定位我們的投資組合。這樣做是有道理的。而且在不斷發展的業務中，您的解決方案戰略也在不斷發展，我們將像過去 24、36 個月所做的那樣增加其優勢。

But no matter what we do, you can be guaranteed, as Jim set out, the financial discipline that's been at the core of CRH for 50 years will remain. We have the strongest balance sheet in the history of CRH. It didn't happen by accident and that will mean that we will lead the industry in terms of cash conversion and cash generation.

但無論我們做什麼，您都可以保證，正如吉姆所說，50 年來一直作為 CRH 核心的財務紀律將保持不變。我們擁有 CRH 歷史上最強大的資產負債表。這並非偶然發生，這意味著我們將在現金轉換和現金生成方面引領行業。

And as Jim mentioned, that leads us to believe, over the course of the next 5 years, we will have more than $30 billion of financial capacity to spend for our shareholders in terms of internal investments, M&A and rewarding our shareholders themselves. And with regards specifically to 2023, against that backdrop, we think we're in for a good year and another year of continued progress for CRH.

正如吉姆所提到的，這讓我們相信，在未來 5 年的過程中，我們將有超過 300 億美元的財務能力用於內部投資、併購和回報股東本身。具體到 2023 年，在這種背景下，我們認為我們將迎來美好的一年，也是 CRH 繼續取得進步的一年。

Okay. So look, we've come to the end of the presentation part of this morning. I've now been joined on stage by Tom Holmes, our Head of Investor Relations; and Jim and Randy have come back to join me on stage, and we're going to go to the questions. I know that you've been sending in. I'll pass it over to Tom now. Tom?

好的。所以看，我們今天上午的演示部分已經結束。我們的投資者關係主管 Tom Holmes 現在和我一起上台了；吉姆和蘭迪回來和我一起上台了，我們要開始提問了。我知道你一直在發送。我現在將它傳遞給湯姆。湯姆？

Thanks, Albert. Good morning, everyone. Okay, so there was a lot in that, and we've certainly got plenty to talk about. Lots of questions here, as Albert said. Please keep them coming. We'll try to get through as many as we possibly can. Naturally, a lot of overlap and recurring themes, I want to try and group them here as best we can to make sure we have time to get through all of the key topics.

謝謝，艾伯特。大家，早安。好吧，那裡面有很多東西，我們當然有很多話要談。正如阿爾伯特所說，這裡有很多問題。請讓他們來。我們會盡可能多地通過。自然地，有很多重疊和反復出現的主題，我想盡我們所能嘗試將它們分組在這裡，以確保我們有時間完成所有關鍵主題。

So let's start with trading. Albert, first to you. Could you speak to activity levels and margin performance in Q4 and what you're seeing in early 2023?

那麼讓我們從交易開始吧。阿爾伯特，首先是你。您能否談談第四季度的活動水平和利潤率表現以及您在 2023 年初看到的情況？

Okay. Maybe I'll just take that question first. I might pass to Randy and Jim for their comments. So maybe I'll just take quarter 4 last year 2022 and ask Randy and Jim -- randy, you might take the U.S. and Jim, you might just talk comedown to Europe.

好的。也許我會先回答這個問題。我可能會請 Randy 和 Jim 徵求他們的意見。所以也許我會在去年 2022 年的第 4 季度問蘭迪和吉姆——蘭迪，你可能會問美國和吉姆，你可能會談談歐洲。

Look, we finished out the year quite strongly in 2022. It was a very challenging year. And actually weather didn't really help us actually in quarter 4. But actually, we had a record performance in quarter 4. And again, that's the solutions continue to deliver on. And what I liked about quarter 4 was that actually our margin moved ahead in quarter 4. We had a good first half of the year with a challenging quarter 3, but quarter 4, we moved ahead. And I often talk about how we get behind or get ahead on pricing.

看，我們在 2022 年以強勁的勢頭結束了這一年。這是非常具有挑戰性的一年。事實上，在第 4 季度，天氣並沒有真正幫助我們。但實際上，我們在第 4 季度取得了創紀錄的表現。再一次，這就是解決方案繼續交付的原因。我喜歡第 4 季度的一點是，實際上我們的利潤率在第 4 季度有所提高。今年上半年我們表現不錯，第 3 季度充滿挑戰，但第 4 季度我們取得了進步。我經常談論我們如何在定價方面落後或領先。

I think we got behind in pricing in quarter 3 because costs moved on very quickly, and we couldn't price up. But actually, in quarter 4, we started to go ahead. And I think it sets us up well for this year. So good activity levels as we finish out 2022 and good margin progression. But specifically in regard to '23, Randy, you might just take at the Americas?

我認為我們在第三季度的定價落後了，因為成本變化非常快，我們無法定價。但實際上，在第 4 季度，我們開始前進。我認為這為我們今年做好了準備。到 2022 年結束時，活動水平非常好，利潤率進展良好。但特別是關於 23 年，蘭迪，你可能只關注美洲？

Yes. Maybe just to build on that a little because I think you have to look at Q4 in terms of some of that momentum. We're coming out of Q4 in a relatively positive pricing environment. So the ability to manage the cost profile in Q4 kind of translating into good pricing as we begin to enter into the season of 2023 is encouraging. So that's a good base to start from. In terms of kind of the individual market segments, I talked a little bit about the res market already. We are seeing a bit of a slowdown in terms of single-family, it's pockets based upon the geographies that we cover. But again, the remodeling, the RMI work remains pretty resilient.

是的。也許只是以此為基礎，因為我認為你必須從某些勢頭的角度來看待第四季度。我們在相對積極的定價環境中走出第四季度。因此，隨著我們開始進入 2023 年的季節，在第四季度管理成本狀況並轉化為良好定價的能力令人鼓舞。所以這是一個很好的起點。就個別細分市場的種類而言，我已經談了一點資源市場。我們看到單戶住宅的增長有所放緩，這是基於我們所覆蓋的地區的口袋。但同樣，RMI 的改造工作仍然非常有彈性。

So I think net-net or it should be a relatively positive picture for the U.S. in terms of overall res. That nonres space, we talked a bit about, maybe a transition that's happening there from some of the data warehousing logistics into more of that onshoring, chip manufacturing, some very large projects that are in the pipeline there. So overall, it's going to be relatively steady as we go into 2023.

因此，我認為就整體資源而言，淨淨或對美國來說應該是一個相對積極的圖景。那個 nonres 空間，我們談到了一點，也許那裡正在發生從一些數據倉庫物流到更多的在岸外包、芯片製造和一些正在籌備中的非常大的項目的轉變。所以總的來說，隨著我們進入 2023 年，它會相對穩定。

And then it's certainly positive from an infrastructure standpoint. The quantum of activity that's taken place both from the federal and the state level that translates down to those local markets. Early indications are we have a nice positive momentum as we begin to kick off the spring season.

從基礎設施的角度來看，這肯定是積極的。從聯邦和州層面發生的大量活動轉化為當地市場。早期跡象表明，隨著我們開始開啟春季，我們擁有良好的積極勢頭。

Yes. And in terms of Europe, Tom, we had a strong Q4 in Europe, despite some very significant headwinds, right, in terms of Ukraine, in terms of FX and in terms of inflation, and we talked about it last November in the trading update. We saw that kind of pricing momentum coming out in Q3 and have built month-on-month as we came to the end of '22 and kind of exited '22 with good pricing momentum. Also across our businesses, where we play mainly in Europe, we had a good EU -- we had a good infrastructural underpin in terms of activity levels and also a lot of self-help measures as well going on across the business as well. So a good strong finish in Q4 in Europe.

是的。就歐洲而言，湯姆，我們在歐洲的第四季度表現強勁，儘管存在一些非常大的逆風，對，就烏克蘭而言，就外彙和通貨膨脹而言，我們在去年 11 月的交易更新中談到了這一點.我們在第三季度看到了這種定價勢頭，並且隨著我們在 22 年底結束並以良好的定價勢頭退出 22 年時逐月建立。在我們的業務中，我們主要在歐洲開展業務，我們有一個良好的歐盟——我們在活動水平方面有良好的基礎設施支撐，還有許多自助措施也在整個業務中進行。因此在歐洲第四季度取得了很好的成績。

Okay. I'd say, look, it's a difficult time of the year. We get asked this question every year at this time in the year, it's difficult to say because it's very early days. But when we look at our backlog, if we look at our order books, look at a sense of the business, I look at the momentum that's been coming through from quarter 4, it certainly looks good in terms of the fundamentals and activity levels and pricing, that moving ahead of the cost curve on pricing is an important part for us, that combined with our solution strategy, I think that bodes well for this year.

好的。我會說，看，這是一年中最艱難的時期。我們每年的這個時候都會被問到這個問題，這很難說，因為現在還很早。但是，當我們查看我們的積壓訂單時，如果我們查看我們的訂單簿，查看業務意識，我查看第 4 季度以來的勢頭，就基本面和活動水平而言，它看起來確實不錯，定價，在定價成本曲線之前前進對我們來說是一個重要的部分，結合我們的解決方案戰略，我認為這對今年來說是個好兆頭。

Okay. Just maybe picking up on the funding backdrop for infrastructure and nonresidential, Randy, we hear a lot about the IIJA. Could you talk a bit more about what you're seeing there? And Jim, in Europe, where specifically are we seeing those EU funds being deployed?

好的。也許只是了解基礎設施和非住宅的資金背景，蘭迪，我們聽到了很多關於 IIJA 的信息。你能多談談你在那裡看到的東西嗎？吉姆，在歐洲，我們具體在哪裡看到這些歐盟資金被部署？

Yes. So when you think about the federal or the infrastructure funding environment, I think we probably go back to comments we made in the middle part of last year in regards to when we anticipated seeing dollars actually make their way to the bid table. We said it would be kind of early 2023 and that's what's happening now. So we're beginning to see work individual projects come through, which is a combination of IIJA, but also some of the new initiatives that the states have taken on. And so that bidding activity would reflect kind of the anticipated levels that we thought we would see, which is a positive.

是的。因此，當您考慮聯邦或基礎設施融資環境時，我認為我們可能會回到去年年中發表的關於我們預計美元何時真正進入投標表的評論。我們說這將是 2023 年初，而這就是現在正在發生的事情。所以我們開始看到個別項目的工作通過了，這是 IIJA 的結合，也是各州採取的一些新舉措。因此，投標活動將反映出我們認為會看到的某種預期水平，這是積極的。

The part of the IIJA Act, which sometimes goes unnoticed, is the significant amount of money that's spent or invested for water, energy and telecoms that really -- we, again, are seeing that in our backlogs in our infrastructure products business. So it's the combination of our products and services that allow us to really penetrate some of the significant markets we're in and when you think about the total dollars, greater than 20% of the IIJA funding is going to go into our top 5 states, the likes of Florida, Texas, Utah and so forth up in the Pacific Northwest.

IIJA 法案中有時會被忽視的部分是在水、能源和電信方面花費或投資的大量資金，我們再次在基礎設施產品業務的積壓中看到了這一點。因此，正是我們的產品和服務的結合使我們能夠真正滲透到我們所處的一些重要市場，當你考慮總金額時，超過 20% 的 IIJA 資金將進入我們的前 5 個州, 佛羅里達州、得克薩斯州、猶他州等地位於太平洋西北部。

So I think we're well positioned for the dollars that are coming our way. And then maybe if you move into the nonres, the Inflation Reduction Act, along with the CHIPS Act as well, that's a major investment in terms of some of the underlying infrastructure that onshoring of semiconductors, maybe some of the battery plants that we're seeing, and I think Albert talked about it even in the parts of the country in the Midwest, where we have really nice positions. The combination of our IPG, APG and Materials business in the Ohio, Michigan area, we're seeing quite a robust level of activity there.

因此，我認為我們已經為即將到來的美元做好了準備。然後也許如果你進入 nonres，通貨膨脹減少法案，以及 CHIPS 法案，這是對一些基礎設施的重大投資，這些基礎設施是半導體的，也許是我們正在建造的一些電池廠看到了，我認為阿爾伯特甚至在美國中西部的部分地區也談到了這一點，我們在那裡擁有非常好的位置。我們在密歇根州俄亥俄州的 IPG、APG 和材料業務相結合，我們在那裡看到了相當強勁的活動水平。

Yes. And actually, that's what really we should (inaudible) combination of those 3 businesses coming together in that area, in the specific area of nonres is really starting to come to the fore will be a unique driver. We talk a lot about infrastructure and federal fund infrastructure, actually, that work coming through is going to be an important -- growing important part of our business.

是的。實際上，這就是我們真正應該（聽不清）將這 3 家企業在該領域結合在一起，在 nonres 的特定領域真正開始脫穎而出將是一個獨特的驅動力。我們談論了很多關於基礎設施和聯邦基金基礎設施的問題，實際上，正在進行的工作將成為我們業務中一個重要的——越來越重要的部分。

Yes. And in terms of Europe, Tom, if you look, firstly, maybe a fast-growing Central and Eastern European business, particularly countries the main markets for us is kind of Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. These are countries which have historically a very significant infrastructural deficits in terms of road, water, energy, health and education, and there are multiyear EU funding programs to address that deficit. So we're just starting out on those programs, and that has provided a very good volume backdrop to that region.

是的。就歐洲而言，湯姆，如果你看，首先，也許是一個快速增長的中歐和東歐企業，特別是我們的主要市場國家是波蘭、羅馬尼亞、匈牙利和斯洛伐克。這些國家歷史上在道路、水、能源、健康和教育方面存在非常嚴重的基礎設施赤字，並且有多年的歐盟資助計劃來解決這一赤字。所以我們才剛剛開始這些項目，這為該地區提供了非常好的數量背景。

If you look at some of the other main markets first in Europe as well, in France, where we play in France, up in the Northeast, you have the [Grand Paris] project, you also have the [Seine-Nord Canal] starting out and then you have Olympics as well, which again is kind of providing a good volume backdrop to us. And then in the U.K., the largest infrastructure project in Europe, HiSpeed II, we're the preferred supplier on that project, and also the Thames Tideway project. So a good infra underbuild across our main markets in Europe.

如果你先看看歐洲的其他一些主要市場，在法國，我們在法國玩的地方，在東北部，你有 [大巴黎] 項目，你也有 [塞納河北運河] 開始出去然後你還有奧運會，這再次為我們提供了一個很好的成交量背景。然後在英國，歐洲最大的基礎設施項目 HiSpeed II，我們是該項目以及 Thames Tideway 項目的首選供應商。因此，我們在歐洲的主要市場都有良好的基礎設施建設。

Again, the common theme that runs across both the European and the U.S. businesses and lead the nonres and again, that nonres onshoring is starting to happen in Europe. Again, it's that complex, large, difficult construction is perfect for solutions because it's into modular construction, it's off-site, it's simplifying. People just want the project in place quick at the right pace, the right speed and right quality. We play to our strength in that area.

同樣，貫穿歐洲和美國企業並引領非資源的共同主題，非資源外包正開始在歐洲發生。同樣，複雜、龐大、困難的結構非常適合解決方案，因為它採用模塊化結構，在異地，它在簡化。人們只希望項目以正確的節奏、正確的速度和正確的質量快速到位。我們在那個領域發揮我們的優勢。

Randy, one here. U.S. backlogs and order books, what are they telling you about trading momentum across the business right now? And actually, Jim, same to you on Europe actually.

蘭迪，一個在這裡。美國積壓訂單和訂單簿，它們告訴您目前整個企業的交易勢頭是什麼？事實上，吉姆，實際上你在歐洲也一樣。

Yes, I mentioned it in the core of the presentation. Backlogs would reflect the increase in activity produced by the IIJA as well as the Inflation Reduction Act. So backlogs are strong. They're up over last year volume, which is important for sure, but probably more indicative of the positive nature is the margins in that backlog. And -- so it's good to see. I mean, to me, that indicates kind of a good distribution in the quantum of work across the U.S. So that's encouraging. And that would be reflected not just in our -- obviously, we're the largest road builder in the country, so that's reflective there, but also our Infrastructure Products group would have very similar backlogs with improving margins.

是的，我在演示文稿的核心部分提到了它。積壓將反映 IIJA 和通貨膨脹減少法案產生的活動增加。所以積壓量很大。他們比去年增加了數量，這當然很重要，但可能更能說明積極性質的是積壓的利潤率。而且 - 所以很高興看到。我的意思是，對我來說，這表明美國各地的工作量分佈良好，所以這是令人鼓舞的。這不僅會反映在我們 - 顯然，我們是該國最大的道路建設者，所以這反映在那裡，而且我們的基礎設施產品集團也會有非常相似的積壓訂單，並且利潤率會提高。

Some of the -- the order book, maybe something we keep an eye on for sure in the springtime is really how is our APG business doing with our core customers in our retail customers, the likes of Home Depot and Lowe's, as the pro channel. And the early sell-through is positive. So that's good to see. And we'll keep an eye on that as the year progresses for sure, but early indications are we have positive momentum in that sector as well.

一些 - 訂單簿，也許我們在春季肯定會關注的事情實際上是我們的 APG 業務與零售客戶中的核心客戶（如 Home Depot 和 Lowe's）作為專業渠道的關係如何.早期的銷售是積極的。所以很高興看到。隨著時間的推移，我們會密切關注這一點，但早期跡象表明我們在該領域也有積極的勢頭。

Yes. When we look at Europe, Tom, I mean 2022 was a challenging year for Europe. And I don't expect the same in '23. We just talked about the kind of good infra underpin that's there for a lot of the activity we have across our main markets, that's offsetting some of that residential softness we see. But we do have an improving energy backdrop. And as I said, we've got that pricing momentum coming out of Q3, Q4 heading into '23, so optimistic in terms of pricing. And in fact, this will be the sixth consecutive year in Europe of good price progression.

是的。當我們看歐洲時，湯姆，我的意思是 2022 年對歐洲來說是充滿挑戰的一年。而且我不希望在 23 年出現同樣的情況。我們剛剛談到了我們在主要市場開展的許多活動中存在的良好基礎設施，這抵消了我們看到的一些住宅疲軟。但我們確實有一個改善的能源背景。正如我所說，我們在第三季度、第四季度進入 23 年時出現了定價勢頭，在定價方面非常樂觀。事實上，這將是歐洲連續第六年出現良好的價格上漲。

Albert, on margin, could you expand on the 2022 performance? Where can margins go from here? Is this a peak for the business?

艾伯特，保證金，你能擴大 2022 年的表現嗎？利潤率從何而來？這是業務的高峰期嗎？

Well, is it a peak? I get asked that question every year. And the answer of that question is, no. And could it be by the next year? And the answer to that question is, no, it will be better next year. Not because of any great force, I don't have a crystal ball, but I can see the way solutions are evolving. If you could just go back and look and see where solutions started a number of years ago, a decade ago, and now at this stage, it's not really in our Road Solutions business in North America. That used to be just a plain aggregates business, and then we start to turn those aggregates into asphalt and then you provided the asphalt, the customers said to us, well, more and more, could you provide the off-ramps, the on-ramps, the bridges, the culverts, all of which we do.

那麼，這是一個高峰嗎？我每年都會被問到這個問題。這個問題的答案是，不。明年可以嗎？這個問題的答案是，不，明年會更好。不是因為任何強大的力量，我沒有水晶球，但我可以看到解決方案的演變方式。如果你能回頭看看解決方案是從幾年前、十年前開始的，現在在這個階段，它並不是我們在北美的道路解決方案業務。那曾經只是一個普通的骨料業務，然後我們開始將這些骨料變成瀝青，然後你提供瀝青，客戶對我們說，嗯，越來越多，你能提供出口匝道，入口-坡道、橋樑、涵洞，所有這些我們都會做。

And not only that, will you maintain the road for me in terms of marking it, cleaning it, all that stuff, and start patching it. All that is part of the solution. So it started out 10 years ago, and we never envisaged it would be this. Our customers pulled it in that way. And if I look at the way our solutions business is evolving across our APG business, our IPG business across some of our other businesses that we're working on, I can see more and more building out from those core platforms in terms of profitability.

不僅如此，你會為我維護這條路嗎？標記它，清潔它，所有這些東西，然後開始修補它。所有這些都是解決方案的一部分。所以它在 10 年前就開始了，我們從未想過會是這樣。我們的客戶以這種方式拉動它。如果我看看我們的解決方案業務在我們的 APG 業務中的發展方式，我們的 IPG 業務在我們正在開展的其他一些業務中的發展方式，我可以看到越來越多的人從這些核心平台中構建盈利能力。

Also, I look at some of the deals we did over the course of the last year, but look at the Rinker deal, look at the -- in terms of Texas, in terms of adding the pipe business to our downstream platform businesses in Texas, look at the [Henkel] deal in terms of the road resurfacing business. I look at the (inaudible) business, the APG business in California. I look at the biggest deal we did last year, Barrette Outdoor that adds to our APG portfolio. All of these are changing the very nature of CRH.

此外，我查看了我們去年完成的一些交易，但看看 Rinker 交易，看看 - 就德克薩斯而言，將管道業務添加到我們在德克薩斯的下游平台業務中，看看[漢高]在道路重鋪業務方面的交易。我看了一下（聽不清）業務，即加利福尼亞的 APG 業務。我看看我們去年做的最大一筆交易，Barrette Outdoor 增加了我們的 APG 產品組合。所有這些都在改變 CRH 的本質。

We talk about repositioning. We talk about reshaping. This is active repositioning and reshaping. And it doesn't just change what we supply to our customers. It changed the profits of our business. It changed the margins. It's behind that 500 basis point margin increase that we talked about today. So I don't think they're at the end of the margin story. I think we're only just starting that story at the moment. So it will continue to evolve, and we'll update our markets as it becomes clear to us.

我們談論重新定位。我們談論重塑。這是積極的重新定位和重塑。它不僅改變了我們向客戶提供的產品。它改變了我們業務的利潤。它改變了邊距。這是我們今天談到的 500 個基點利潤率增長的背後。所以我認為他們還沒有結束邊緣故事。我認為我們現在才剛剛開始這個故事。因此它將繼續發展，我們將在我們變得清晰時更新我們的市場。

Jim, one for you. Big year for M&A, as we've talked about, a big step-up in the buyback also. Could you talk more generally as to how you think about capital allocation?

吉姆，給你一個。正如我們所討論的，併購是重要的一年，回購也有了很大的進步。您能否更籠統地談談您如何看待資本配置？

Yes. We exited '22, as we said, with the strongest balance sheet ever at 0.9x net debt to EBITDA. That's unusually low for us. We have communicated that through the cycle that we're comfortable with net debt to EBITDA up to 2x. And that's really a testament to the very strong cash generation and the cash conversion. And what's been driving that is that we're really beginning to benefit now today from a lot of the portfolio repositioning that we've been doing for the last 6, 7 years.

是的。正如我們所說，我們以有史以來最強勁的資產負債表退出了 22 年，淨債務與 EBITDA 之比為 0.9 倍。這對我們來說異常低。我們已經在整個週期中傳達了這一點，即我們對 EBITDA 的淨債務高達 2 倍感到滿意。這確實證明了非常強勁的現金產生和現金轉換。推動這一點的是，我們今天真正開始受益於過去 6、7 年來我們一直在進行的大量投資組合重新定位。

We fundamentally have a structurally better business today, which is growing faster, delivering that margin increase year-on-year. And that's coming true in terms of cash generation and cash conversion, and that came true in terms of the strong net debt figure at the end of the year.

從根本上說，我們今天的業務結構更好，增長更快，利潤率同比增長。這在現金產生和現金轉換方面正在實現，而在年底強勁的淨債務數字方面也正在實現。

In 2022, that enabled us to invest $3.8 billion in terms of total -- between M&A activity and expansionary CapEx. We also returned $2.2 billion to our shareholders, right, a $1.2 billion on a share buyback and $1 billion in dividends. And indeed, when you go back over the last 5 years, we've allocated $20 billion in terms of expansion in M&A activity and cash return to our shareholders.

到 2022 年，這使我們能夠在併購活動和擴張性資本支出之間總投資 38 億美元。我們還向股東返還了 22 億美元，對，12 億美元的股票回購和 10 億美元的股息。事實上，當你回顧過去 5 年時，我們已經分配了 200 億美元用於擴大併購活動和向股東返還現金。

And that all contributed to that very strong cash position and net debt position at the end of the year. And what we decided to do is we should reward our shareholders who supported us for the last 5, 6 years, supported the strategy and enabled us to arrive at this strong position. And we announced this morning the increase in the share buyback for the next 12 months, starting in April of up to $3 billion. And that's a real testament to how we see the future growth opportunities of the business, the future margin expansion and the future cash conversion.

所有這些都促成了年底非常強勁的現金狀況和淨債務狀況。我們決定做的是，我們應該獎勵過去 5、6 年支持我們、支持該戰略並使我們能夠取得如此強勢地位的股東。我們今天早上宣布，從 4 月開始，未來 12 個月的股票回購增加至 30 億美元。這真實地證明了我們如何看待業務未來的增長機會、未來的利潤率擴張和未來的現金轉換。

Just to follow up on that, Jim, the increase in buyback, does that signal any change in appetite around M&A? And how is the pipeline?

只是為了跟進，吉姆，回購的增加，這是否表明圍繞併購的興趣有任何變化？管道如何？

No, absolutely, not, Tom, no. I mean, we have -- we still have a very strong mandate to grow the business. In 2022, we spent $3.3 billion. It was our third biggest year in terms of M&A. We have that strong balance sheet. You look at our core businesses, our core markets, we still operate in a very fragmented business in the U.S., the top 10 producers in the U.S. account for less than 30% of the business. We still have geographic white spots, and we've been beginning to see a real acceleration of a build-out of our solutions business in Europe. And I think certainly, that strong balance sheet gives us that optionality and capability to take advantage of those value-accretive deals into the future.

不，絕對，不，湯姆，不。我的意思是，我們有 - 我們仍然有非常強大的授權來發展業務。 2022 年，我們花費了 33 億美元。就併購而言，這是我們第三大年度。我們擁有強大的資產負債表。你看看我們的核心業務，我們的核心市場，我們在美國的業務仍然非常分散，美國前 10 大生產商佔業務的不到 30%。我們仍然有地理白點，我們已經開始看到我們在歐洲建立解決方案業務的真正加速。我當然認為，強大的資產負債表為我們提供了選擇權和能力，可以在未來利用這些增值交易。

In fact, I'd say, Tom, I mean, all of has been around a long time, and we've all seen recessions, we've all seen recoveries, and we are all aware where we are. We are at the start of a strong growth phase across both of our major markets. And my experience, my knowledge tells us now is the time where you can be progressive on M&A because it's not just what you buy or what you pay for it, it's when you buy it is crucially important. I know that you would have seen up to 2013, 2014, the global financial crisis came to an end.

事實上，我想說，湯姆，我的意思是，所有這些都已經存在了很長時間，我們都經歷過衰退，我們都經歷過復甦，我們都知道我們所處的位置。我們正處於兩個主要市場強勁增長階段的開始。而我的經驗，我的知識告訴我們，現在是你可以在併購方面取得進展的時候了，因為這不僅僅是你買什麼或你付出什麼，你購買它的時間至關重要。我知道你會看到 2013 年、2014 年，全球金融危機已經結束。

What did we do? We drove M&A for a sustained period of 4 or 5 years, and we drove value M&A, as Jim says, that's what delivers the cash, the profit this morning. We didn't do it in 2022. We did it from 2012 to 2021. That's what delivered the profitability. And our job now doing M&A is actually to ensure that we capitalize on the opportunity. We have the capacity. We have the ambition, and we've got the capability to do that. So really it's within our business to drive M&A during these good times because that's how you can really drive growth going forward for decades ahead.

我們做了什麼？我們推動併購持續了 4 或 5 年，我們推動了價值併購，正如吉姆所說，這就是今天早上帶來現金和利潤的原因。我們沒有在 2022 年做到這一點。我們在 2012 年到 2021 年做到了。這就是實現盈利的原因。我們現在進行併購的工作實際上是確保我們利用這個機會。我們有能力。我們有雄心壯志，也有能力做到這一點。因此，在這些好時期推動併購確實屬於我們的業務範圍，因為這是您真正推動未來幾十年增長的方式。

Albert, just looking here at the reorganization of the business. Can you give a bit of color as to the thinking behind it and the benefits you see for the business?

阿爾伯特，只是看著這裡的業務重組。您能否說明一下它背後的想法以及您看到的對企業的好處？

Reorganization. Yes. Okay. We are changing the way we report. We're changing the way we connect our business within CRH. But in fact, really what it's doing is crystallizing what actually has been happening within our business, as we speak. I mean more and more, I refer to just take the Road Solutions as an example. But within CRH, different companies provide the road, different companies provide the on-ramps, the off-ramps, the bridges, the culverts. But we've got one customer. And the more we make sure the connection between our business internally represents a unified approach to that customer in terms of understanding what they need, their design skills, their engineering needs and how we can back that in, in terms of not only how we supply the products, but the integrated nature the way we support products, the better it is for us.

重組。是的。好的。我們正在改變我們報告的方式。我們正在改變我們在 CRH 內部連接業務的方式。但事實上，正如我們所說，它真正在做的是明確我們業務中實際發生的事情。我的意思是越來越多，我指的只是以道路解決方案為例。但在 CRH 內部，不同的公司提供道路，不同的公司提供入口匝道、出口匝道、橋樑和涵洞。但是我們有一個客戶。而且我們越是確保我們的業務之間的內部聯繫代表了一種統一的方法來理解客戶的需求，他們的設計技能，他們的工程需求以及我們如何支持這些需求，而不僅僅是我們如何供應產品，但我們支持產品的方式的集成性對我們來說越好。

So that's what this reorganization is about. It's about aligning our organization, our workflow, what we do with our strategy of delivering complete end-to-end solutions for our customers. So it doesn't change anything with CRH. In fact, it reinforces our M&A strategy, reinforces our growth strategy in terms of building out and offering more and more to our customers.

這就是這次重組的目的。這是關於調整我們的組織、我們的工作流程、我們所做的事情與我們為客戶提供完整的端到端解決方案的戰略。所以它不會改變 CRH 的任何內容。事實上，它加強了我們的併購戰略，加強了我們在為客戶建設和提供更多服務方面的增長戰略。

Okay. Okay. Great. Actually, another one on this. does the reorganization change your M&A strategy at all? Do you think about that differently as a result?

好的。好的。偉大的。實際上，另一個關於這個。重組是否完全改變了您的併購策略？結果，您對此有不同的看法嗎？

I just said it, it doesn't think about it. Actually, it adds -- gives us more opportunity. If I look at some of the deals we've done over the last month, the Barrette deal is a quasi-step out into a new space for us. But actually, more and more, we were pulled there by our customers. They wanted -- our major customers wants us to get involved in the fencing area. More and more, we've been pulled into areas of dealing with plastics, composite materials because that becomes important to our customers in terms of how we provide the solutions.

我只是說了算，它沒想過。實際上，它增加了——給了我們更多的機會。如果我看一下我們在上個月完成的一些交易，Barrette 交易對我們來說是進入一個新領域的準一步。但實際上，我們越來越多地被客戶拉到那裡。他們想要——我們的主要客戶希望我們涉足擊劍領域。我們越來越多地被拉入處理塑料、複合材料的領域，因為就我們提供解決方案的方式而言，這對我們的客戶變得很重要。

So will it changes, no, because the platforms are hugely important. Our core businesses are our core businesses. The regions that we're in our good. We'll expand those core regions as they grow. But what it will do is it'll pull it into new areas in terms of not only the products, but design, skills and engineering, which is what the innovation fund is actually all about looking at the very areas where we see the opportunity. So it's advanced evolution of the M&A model rather than changing in any way, shape or form.

它也會改變，不，因為平台非常重要。我們的核心業務是我們的核心業務。我們所處的地區。隨著這些核心區域的發展，我們將對其進行擴展。但它將做的是，它將不僅在產品方面，而且在設計、技能和工程方面將其拉入新領域，這就是創新基金實際上就是關注我們看到機會的領域。因此，它是併購模式的高級演變，而不是以任何方式、形狀或形式發生變化。

Okay. Okay. Just changing tack here a little. Albert, no surprise, a lot of questions here on the U.S. listing. Could you elaborate on the thought process there and what benefits you expect it to bring across the business?

好的。好的。只是在這裡稍微改變一下策略。艾伯特，毫不奇怪，在美國上市時有很多問題。您能否詳細說明那裡的思維過程以及您希望它給整個企業帶來哪些好處？

Yes. Look, I spoke about this morning, given what we're seeing in North America, given the increasing importance of North America to us, it makes eminent sense to us to look and say, well, actually, where are we best listed. It's something we kept under review. We constantly reshape our thinking, our portfolio, we challenge ourselves. And we've always told you, we keep our listing under review. Given what we're seeing with regards to the opportunity in North America with regard to infrastructure, res and nonres for the next decade, for us, it makes perfect sense that we relist our primary listing to the United States because we see significant commercial and operational benefits in doing so for organic growth alone.

是的。聽著，我今天早上談到，鑑於我們在北美看到的情況，鑑於北美對我們的重要性越來越大，我們看一看並說，好吧，實際上，我們最好在哪裡上市，這對我們來說是非常有意義的。這是我們一直在審查的事情。我們不斷重塑我們的思維、我們的投資組合，我們挑戰自我。我們一直告訴你，我們會不斷審查我們的列表。鑑於我們在北美看到的未來十年基礎設施、資源和非資源方面的機會，對我們來說，我們將我們的主要上市重新上市是完全合理的，因為我們看到重要的商業和這樣做僅是為了有機增長而帶來的運營收益。

For inorganic growth opportunities, having a primary list in the U.S., again, further enhances that growth opportunities, particularly as we look at enhancing and developing our solution strategy, which is a winning strategy in the best and most profitable construction market in the world.

對於無機增長機會，在美國擁有一個主要名單，再次進一步增加了這種增長機會，特別是當我們著眼於加強和發展我們的解決方案戰略時，這是世界上最好和最賺錢的建築市場的製勝戰略。

This is what we should do. And it's our job to communicate those facts to our shareholders. That's what's behind this. Nothing else. It doesn't mean -- there's no comment on Europe, no comment on the U.S., it's the right thing to do for our business. And then we've talked about shareholders in the coming weeks to explain that, why is that the case.

這是我們應該做的。將這些事實傳達給我們的股東是我們的工作。這就是這背後的原因。沒有其他的。這並不意味著 - 對歐洲沒有評論，對美國沒有評論，這是為我們的業務做的正確事情。然後我們在未來幾週討論了股東，以解釋為什麼會這樣。

Related one here, Albert, maybe sticking with you. In light of the reorganization and the U.S. listing, could this be seen as a first step towards some form of separation of the group?

相關的，阿爾伯特，也許堅持你。鑑於重組和美國上市，這是否可以被視為朝著某種形式的集團分離邁出的第一步？

Yes. Again, if you look at the slide deck this morning, deliberately talking about how the importance of Europe is and the importance of what we do in innovation in Europe and bring it to the U.S. And look, maybe, Jim, I'll ask you just -- I mean you have a comment, and Randy as well, you're both colleagues of mine here, you see this, you live this every day. Jim, you?

是的。再一次，如果你今天早上看幻燈片，特意談論歐洲的重要性以及我們在歐洲所做的創新並將其帶到美國的重要性。看，也許，吉姆，我會問你只是——我的意思是你有意見，還有蘭迪，你們都是我在這裡的同事，你看到了，你每天都過著這樣的生活。吉姆，你？

Tom, I think on any proper analysis, it doesn't make any sense to talk about a breakup of the group. We -- this CRH is a group was put together over 50 years ago, right? It operates in 29 countries, and it's a fully integrated business. And to -- if you're going to look at splitting up CRH would result in significant cost first, also it'd be complex, it'd be very timely, and there will be very, very significant the synergies running into many billions of dollars from that perspective. And I think for me, when you look at that time factor as well, that will be a huge distraction factor right now when we have such a period of opportunity ahead of us.

湯姆，我認為根據任何適當的分析，談論團隊解散是沒有任何意義的。我們——這個 CRH 是一個 50 多年前組建的團隊，對嗎？它在 29 個國家/地區開展業務，是一家完全整合的企業。而且——如果你要考慮拆分 CRH，首先會導致大量成本，而且它會很複雜，它會非常及時，而且會有非常非常重要的協同效應，達到數十億美元從這個角度來看美元。而且我認為對我來說，當你也考慮那個時間因素時，當我們面前有這樣一個機會時期時，這將是一個巨大的分心因素。

And you look at Europe, we talk about. I mean Central and Eastern Europe is one of the fastest-growing parts of CRH for the last 5, 6 years. And when you look at Europe in its totality, there's very significant opportunity for us to build out our solutions-based business in Europe, transferring some of that knowledge that we've been building out in the U.S. back into Europe. Albert talked about it earlier. So no, that just doesn't make sense.

你看看歐洲，我們談論。我的意思是中歐和東歐是過去 5、6 年來 CRH 增長最快的地區之一。當你從整體上看歐洲時，我們有非常重要的機會在歐洲建立我們基於解決方案的業務，將我們在美國建立的一些知識轉移回歐洲。阿爾伯特早些時候談到過。所以不，那隻是沒有意義。

And I think the word -- one of the words that Albert just used, which actually resonates, always has resonated with me is the connected nature of our business. Now that relates to serving our customer, making sure that we have the right pieces of our portfolio to be able to address the future needs, but it also has to do with kind of how we operate and maximizing the operational performance of our businesses.

而且我認為這個詞 - 阿爾伯特剛剛使用的詞之一，實際上引起了共鳴，一直引起我的共鳴是我們業務的關聯性。現在這與服務我們的客戶有關，確保我們擁有正確的產品組合來滿足未來的需求，但它也與我們的運營方式和最大化我們業務的運營績效有關。

You think about how far ahead Europe is -- it's a very regulated construction market from a sustainability standpoint. It is kind of a window to the future for the U.S. And so we use a lot of what's happening in Europe as a means to get ahead of coming trends in the U.S. I think that's a competitive advantage and to use that kind of capability and technical skills.

你想一想歐洲有多遠——從可持續性的角度來看，它是一個非常規範的建築市場。它是美國未來的一扇窗戶所以我們利用歐洲發生的很多事情作為領先於美國即將到來的趨勢的手段我認為這是一種競爭優勢並利用這種能力和技術技能。

And I know Albert already talked about it, but the light of kind of operational performance, I mean, you double the profitability of Ash Grove in 4 years that -- I'm sure we would have made progress over the years, it wouldn't have happened in 4 years had we not used all the experience and the time and resources from Europe to come over, not only just to teach, but to be embedded in to accelerate the operational performance. That, to me, it's always operational focus, has always been a core focus of CRH, but those are tangible real examples. And you could talk about all kind of other examples going from IPG, APG back into Europe. I mean there's -- that's real value that's brought to the...

我知道 Albert 已經談過了，但是考慮到運營績效，我的意思是，你在 4 年內將 Ash Grove 的盈利能力翻了一番——我相信我們多年來會取得進展，它不會'如果我們沒有利用歐洲的所有經驗、時間和資源過來，這 4 年就不會發生了，不僅是為了教學，而且是為了加速運營績效。對我來說，這始終是運營重點，一直是 CRH 的核心重點，但這些都是有形的真實例子。你可以談論從 IPG、APG 回到歐洲的所有其他例子。我的意思是，那是給……帶來的真正價值。

I think that's the point, Randy. I mean Jim is right to highlight the fact the significant cost if you were to separate. I mean I'm aware of those costs. It's very significant. But I am an opportunist, and I would think -- I mean, there would not be Ash Grove, there would be no APG story in the U.S. if it wasn't for the skills we transferred across. And it's not just looking back, what about the Ash Grove of tomorrow? What about the APG or the IPG tomorrow? Why didn't I have that opportunity? We have knowledge and skills. They're the same markets, but they're different, and they're driven by different things. And the ability, the unique ability, no one else has that capability across the breadth of products that we have. And for me, I'm looking up the curve. I'm looking for the opportunity to grow and to grow profitability. And together, the opportunities are greater.

我認為這就是重點，蘭迪。我的意思是吉姆強調如果你們分開會付出巨大代價這一事實是正確的。我的意思是我知道這些成本。這是非常重要的。但我是一個機會主義者，我想——我的意思是，如果不是因為我們轉移的技能，美國就不會有 Ash Grove，也不會有 APG 的故事。不僅僅是回顧過去，明天的 Ash Grove 又如何呢？明天的 APG 或 IPG 怎麼樣？為什麼我沒有那個機會？我們有知識和技能。它們是相同的市場，但它們是不同的，並且它們由不同的事物驅動。而且這種能力，這種獨特的能力，在我們擁有的各種產品中，沒有其他人擁有這種能力。對我來說，我正在尋找曲線。我正在尋找成長和提高盈利能力的機會。在一起，機會更大。

Okay. A number of questions here around again, U.S. listing, the mechanics of it. Jim, could you add any further detail on things like time line, shareholder approval index inclusion?

好的。很多問題又來了，美國上市，它的機制。吉姆，你能否添加更多關於時間線、股東認可指數納入等方面的細節？

Yes. Tom, we're going to now headed to a period of 6 weeks of engagement with our shareholders, where we talk this first with our shareholders, quite rightly with our shareholders first. And we're not going to get into time lines now. Let's have that period of interaction engagement with our shareholders. And we give an update at the end of April as part of our trading update.

是的。湯姆，我們現在要與股東進行為期 6 週的接觸，我們首先與股東討論這個問題，首先是與股東討論。我們現在不打算進入時間線。讓我們與股東進行互動。作為交易更新的一部分，我們會在 4 月底提供更新。

Okay. Okay. Thanks. And just conscious, we're a little tight on time here. Jim, a couple of quick ones here, if you don't mind. CapEx guidance for 2023, tax rate same, and maybe scope effect from acquisitions?

好的。好的。謝謝。只是意識到，我們在這裡的時間有點緊。吉姆，如果你不介意的話，這裡有幾個快速的。 2023 年資本支出指南，稅率相同，收購可能產生範圍效應？

Yes. For CapEx, I think it's good to guide kind of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion. In terms of scope, the impact on '23 of the acquisitions that we undertook in '22, it should be a positive, about $150 million. And the third one, again, Tom, was?

是的。對於資本支出，我認為將 16 億美元引導至 17 億美元是件好事。就範圍而言，我們在 22 年進行的收購對 23 年的影響應該是積極的，大約 1.5 億美元。湯姆，第三個是？

Scope effect for acquisitions.

收購的範圍效應。

Scope was about $150 million. Yes, I think there was one more.

範圍約為1.5億美元。是的，我想還有一個。

The CapEx, tax rate and...

資本支出、稅率和……

Tax, sorry. Tax rate, I think, for '23 should guide about -- effective tax rate for '23 would be about 22%.

稅，對不起。我認為，'23 年的稅率應該指導——'23 年的有效稅率約為 22%。

Perfect. Okay. So final one to you, Albert, on outlook. You mentioned a year of progress. How do we interpret that for the year ahead?

完美的。好的。所以最後一個給你，阿爾伯特，關於展望。你提到了一年的進步。我們如何解釋來年的情況？

Look, early season, I'm not going to be boxed into any corner here. I've been very clear. The fundamentals in our 2 main markets are very strong. We're well funded. We have a clear plan for performance improvement this year. We have a very successful solution strategy that continues to be executed. It's a multiyear strategy. It's not a '23 issue. It's a '23 to '33 issue. Where at the end of that is? I don't know. I don't see it anytime soon.

看，賽季初，我不會被困在這裡的任何角落。我已經很清楚了。我們兩個主要市場的基本面非常強勁。我們資金充足。我們對今年的績效改進有明確的計劃。我們有一個非常成功的解決方案策略，並將繼續執行。這是一項多年戰略。這不是 23 年的問題。這是 23 到 33 年的問題。那到底是哪裡？我不知道。我不會很快看到它。

I think we're in a good place, our end-use markets are solid. We're the #1 player in Europe and the U.S. We know where we're at. We have a job to do. We're here this morning talking about this because we need to tell you about 2022, but quite frankly, all our minds are on 2023 and beyond. So it is going to be another good year for CRH. The extent of that progress will become clearer as we report to you later on this year.

我認為我們處在一個好地方，我們的最終用途市場很穩固。我們是歐洲和美國排名第一的玩家。我們知道自己的位置。我們有工作要做。我們今天早上在這裡談論這個是因為我們需要告訴你 2022 年的情況，但坦率地說，我們所有的想法都在 2023 年及以後。因此，對於 CRH 來說，這將是又一個豐收年。當我們在今年晚些時候向您報告時，這一進展的程度將變得更加清晰。

Okay. I'm getting wound up behind the camera here. We're about 2 or 3 minutes over a limit. I want to thank you all for your attention this morning. As always, we make ourselves available through the IR team for any further questions you might have. But until the next time we update you, which I think is around the AGM at the end of April, until then, stay safe. I'll talk to you then.

好的。我在這裡的相機後面受傷了。我們超過了限制約 2 或 3 分鐘。我要感謝大家今天早上的關注。一如既往，如果您有任何其他問題，我們會通過 IR 團隊與您聯繫。但直到下一次我們更新你，我認為是在 4 月底的年度股東大會周圍，直到那時，保持安全。那我再跟你談談。