Davy Morning Equity Briefing
May 01, 2026
Bank of Ireland
Q1 in line; strong Irish lending
Bank of Ireland’s (BIRG) Q1 interim management statement (IMS) is in line with FY 2026 guidance and consensus, with ongoing good momentum remaining evident in Irish lending portfolios and growth in Wealth and Insurance AUM. A supportive interest rate backdrop points to potential upside to net interest income (NII), earnings and capital generation in H2 2026. The update is a promising start to BIRG’s new three-year strategy, with customer lending and wealth and insurance AUM growth prominent.
CRH
Strong Q1 results see company reiterate FY26 guidance
CRH’s Q1 adjusted EBITDA is c.7% ahead of our forecasts after a strong start, aided by good early-season project activity. The company is seeing positive momentum across its businesses and has reiterated guidance for FY26 that will see it deliver strong growth in adjusted EBITDA in 2026. CRH is exceptionally well placed for the year ahead.
Smurfit Westrock
Stormy Q1, FY guidance intact
Adjusted EBITDA for Smurfit Westrock came in slightly below company guidance in Q1, although FY guidance was reiterated. Harsh weather in North America that disrupted shipments was partially to blame.
TRIG plc
Q1 NAV steady
TRIG has delivered a solid Q1 with generation ahead of expectations and net asset value (NAV) broadly flat. With capital allocation increasingly in focus given the material discount to NAV (now c.35%), we expect further clarity at the upcoming Capital Markets Seminar and will look to assess priorities across buybacks, investment and balance sheet management.
Irish economy
Consensus housing forecasts set to top 40k on strong Q1 data
Q1 housing output data, released yesterday (April 30th), are encouraging. The strong double-digit increase of 33% is likely to imply upgrades to the consensus outlook for housing delivery this year. While our latest forecast in December for Q1 was for an even stronger increase, we recently flagged downside risks due to record heavy rainfall for Dublin in February. Our forecast for 43k new homes this year remains achievable as we had not expected house completions would be as significant as now seems likely.
