DUBLIN: Building products and distribution giant, company CRH spent £312m on 17 separate investments and acquisitions in the second half of 2010, the company said this morning in an update.

This brings the companies total acquisition and investment for the year to approximately £455m with over half in Europe.

Myles Lee, CRH chief executive, said the company had substantially enhancing its presence in the attractive German distribution market as well as its US and other European markets.

Some £71m of the European investment in the second half of the year was in the company's European materials division, adding incremental annualised sales of £69m to the division. The Europe products and distribution division spent £128m, generating an estimated £382m in combined incremental annualised sales.