CRH plc, the international building materials group, which is the biggest building materials supplier in the United States, today issued an Interim Management Statement, in advance of its Annual General Meeting (AGM) which is being held today at 11.00 am in Dublin. CRH said trading in the first four months of 2009 has proved extremely challenging compared with the equivalent period in 2008 which benefited from generally positive trading in Europe and a relatively mild winter. However, the company said underperformance anticipated in the first half is expected to moderate in the seasonally more profitable second half of the year.