We have audited the Consolidated and Parent Company (“Company”) Financial Statements (the “financial statements”) of CRH plc for the year ended 31st December 2009 which comprise the Consolidated Income Statement, the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income, the Consolidated and Company Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, the related notes 1 to 34 (Group) and the related notes 1 to 11 (Company). These financial statements have been prepared under the accounting policies set out therein.
This Report is made solely to the Company’s members, as a body, in accordance with section 193 of the Companies Act, 1990. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company and the Company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this Report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Respective responsibilities of Directors and Auditors
The Directors are responsible for the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with applicable Irish law and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union, and for the preparation of the Company Financial Statements in accordance with applicable Irish law and Accounting Standards issued by the Accounting Standards Board and promulgated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (“Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland”) as set out in the Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities.
Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland).
We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view and have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2009 and whether, in addition, the Consolidated Financial Statements have been properly prepared in accordance with Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. We also report to you our opinion as to: whether proper books of account have been kept by the Company; whether, at the balance sheet date, there exists a financial situation which may require the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of the Company; and whether the information given in the Directors’ Report is consistent with the financial statements. In addition, we state whether we have obtained all the information and explanations necessary for the purposes of our audit and whether the Company Balance Sheet is in agreement with the books of account.
We also report to you if, in our opinion, any information specified by law or the Listing Rules of the Irish Stock Exchange regarding Directors’ remuneration and other transactions is not disclosed and, where practicable, include such information in our Report.
We are required by law to ascertain that the Company has produced a Corporate Governance Statement where this is prepared as a separate report and whether such statement contains the information required by law. We review whether the Corporate Governance Statement reflects the Company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the 2008 Financial Reporting Council’s Combined Code specified for our review by the Listing Rules of the Irish Stock Exchange, and we report if it does not. We are not required to consider whether the Board’s statements on internal control cover all risks and controls, or form an opinion on the effectiveness of the Group’s corporate governance procedures or its risk and control procedures.
Where a separate Corporate Governance Statement is prepared, we also consider and report to you whether the information required under section 158 (6D) (d) of the Companies Act, 1963 given in the Corporate Governance Statement is consistent with the financial statements.
We read other information contained in the Annual Report and consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial statements. The other information comprises only the Directors’ Report, the Chairman’s Statement, Chief Executive’s Review, Operations Reviews, Finance Review and the Corporate Governance Statement. We consider the implications for our Report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial statements. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information.
Basis of Audit Opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgements made by the Directors in the preparation of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the Group’s and Company’s circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.
Opinion
In our opinion the Consolidated Financial Statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union, of the state of affairs of the Group as at 31st December 2009 and of its profit for the year then ended and have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2009 and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation.
In our opinion the Company Financial Statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland, of the state of affairs of the Company as at 31st December 2009 and have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2009.
We have obtained all the information and explanations we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit. In our opinion proper books of account have been kept by the Company. The Company Balance Sheet is in agreement with the books of account.
In our opinion the information given in the Directors’ Report is consistent with the financial statements.
In our opinion the information required under section 158 (6D) (d) of the Companies Act, 1963 given in the Corporate Governance Statement is consistent with the financial statements..
In our opinion, the Company Balance Sheet does not disclose a financial situation which under section 40(1) of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983 would require the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of the Company.
Ernst & Young
Chartered Accountants and
Registered Auditors
Dublin
1st March 2010