8-K

CRH PUBLIC LTD CO 8-K Report (Nov 4, 2010)

Filed November 4, 2010For Securities:CRH

Summary

CRH Public Limited Company (CRH) filed a Form 6-K report on November 4, 2010, detailing a transaction involving its own shares. The company re-issued 20,117 ordinary shares from its treasury to participants in its employee share schemes. These shares were transferred at prices of €11.9565 and £11.163 per share, reflecting the different currency denominations. This action is part of CRH's ongoing management of its share capital and employee incentive programs. Following this re-issuance, CRH plc's total treasury shares now stand at 9,727,263. The number of outstanding ordinary shares, excluding those held in treasury, is 708,781,650. This disclosure provides transparency regarding the company's share structure and its methods for compensating and retaining employees through equity-based awards.

Key Highlights

  • 1CRH re-issued 20,117 ordinary shares from treasury to employees on November 3, 2010.
  • 2The re-issuance was part of CRH's employee share schemes.
  • 3Shares were transferred at prices of €11.9565 and £11.163 per ordinary share.
  • 4Post-transaction, CRH holds 9,727,263 ordinary shares in treasury.
  • 5The total number of ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury shares) is 708,781,650.

Frequently Asked Questions

The primary purpose of this filing (specifically a Form 6-K, which is for foreign private issuers) is to report on CRH plc's transaction involving the re-issuance of treasury shares to participants in its employee share schemes.

Re-issuing treasury shares means CRH is releasing shares that it previously repurchased and held. These shares are then transferred to individuals, in this case, employees, often as part of compensation or incentive plans. This increases the number of outstanding shares available to the public.

This transaction reduces the number of shares held in treasury by 20,117 but also results in an increase in the number of outstanding shares available to employees. The total number of shares in issue (excluding treasury shares) remains at 708,781,650, as the re-issued shares were already accounted for in the total number of shares outstanding prior to being placed in treasury. The change is in the breakdown between treasury and outstanding shares.

Treasury shares are a company's own shares that it has repurchased from the open market. Companies hold treasury shares for various reasons, including to fulfill obligations under employee stock option plans, to use in future acquisitions, to boost earnings per share by reducing the number of outstanding shares, or to prevent hostile takeovers. In this case, CRH is using them to satisfy its employee share schemes.