Oldcastle Inc. | Atlanta

The North American arm of the Ireland-based CRH plc, Oldcastle saw profits decline dramatically in 2008, citing rising energy costs and a drop in demand in the U.S. construction market. The Americas Materials division that makes Oldcastle’s ready-mix concrete and aggregate suffered a 13% drop in operating profit from 2007 to 2008, which the company blamed on unusually high energy costs. CRH’s chief executive Liam O’Mahoney retired at the end of last year. He began his career with the company in the U.S., becoming the CEO of Oldcastle Materials in 1994. He moved to Dublin to head all of CRH plc in 2000. www.oldcastle.com