Ireland's CRH to merge some European, Americas units to boost margins

(Reuters) - Irish building materials group CRH <CRH.I> said on Thursday it would streamline certain European and American businesses by combining them, in a move to improve profit margins.

CRH said it would combine its Europe Lightside, Europe Distribution and Americas Products divisions into a new Building Products division from Jan. 1, 2019.

The world's third-largest building group said it was aiming to improve the group's core earnings (EBITDA) margin by 300 basis points by 2021.

(Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter)