Aggreko continues to buck the market

Aggreko continues to buck the recession with revenues for 2008 up 36.6% to £946.6 million and trading profits up 50.6% to £200.6 million. The company is also forecasting a strong 2009, with trading this year likely to be at a similar level to 2008 in constant currency.

The company's results are benefitting from the fact that around 70% of earnings are in US dollars. However, even accounting for the changes in dollar-pound exchange rates, revenues still rose 26.2% and trading profit by 37.4%.

Revenues and profits rose in all of Aggreko's businesses although its was businesses outside North America and Europe that performed best: the international local business reported revenues up 49% to US$346.6 million and profits almost doubling to $94.5 million, and the international power projects division saw revenues up 44% to $524.1 million and profits up 44% to $143.6 million.

Revenues in North America rose 15% and in Europe by 11%, with trading profits in each region up 17% and 20%, respectively.

Philip Rogerson, Aggreko chairman, said; "In the face of the deteriorating global economic backdrop, Aggreko has proved very resilient, delivering another strong performance in 2008 with sharply increased revenue and profits as well as improved margins and returns on capital employed."

Mr Rogerson said Aggreko had made a very strong start to 2009, although the outlook for the second half of the year was less certain, "and will depend on how the macro-economic environment develops over the coming months. Our current judgement is that on a constant-currency basis, trading in 2009 should be at similar levels to 2008."
Aggreko has benefitted from some major projects during the year, including the Beijing Olympics, the recent presidential inaugurations and the Super Bowl, as well as major storms in the US that alone brought in revenues of $28 million.

Rupert Soames, chief executive, said; "Amongst our local businesses, our North American and European units performed well in the face of challenging economic conditions, while our operations in the Middle East, Asia, Australasia and Latin America continued to deliver good growth."

Aggreko said revenues in its new Europe & Middle East region at the start of 2009 were running slightly above the same period last year, "in part helped by storms in France and Spain, for which we have deployed over 800 generators to support customers. While demand in some parts of the Middle East is noticeably weaker, in others it remains strong, and our business in the area is trading ahead of last year."