5th Mar 2015 07:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Aggreko PLC Thursday reported a fall in profit in 2014, mainly due to large hit from the strength of sterling on its translated overseas earnings, while revenue was broadly flat as challenging trading in Asia Pacific offset strong growth in the Americas and a good performance in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The temporary power company also said 2015 had got off to an encouraging start, although it warned it may face a hit from the recent sharp fall in oil price later in the year and it's currently expecting its key profit measure to be flat compared with 2014.
Aggreko reported a pretax profit of GBP289 million for 2014, down from GBP333 million in 2013, while its closely-watched trading profit, which is operating profit excluding any gains on the sale of property plant and equipment, fell to GBP306 million, from GBP352 million, as the strength of sterling wiped GBP40 million of the figure.
Revenue rose slightly to GBP1.58 billion in 2014, from GBP1.57 billion in 2013, and the company said it would have risen 9% if exchange rates had remained constant and excluding pass-through fuel revenue from power projects.
The company said 2015 has got off to an "encouraging" start, with power on rent up 6% in local terms, and its order intake for the year to date at 287 megawatts. It has also secured contract extensions in Argentina, Ivory Coast and Japan. It was awarded contracts for the inaugural European Games and PanAmerican Games in 2015, with combined revenue of about GBP24 million.
It added that it hasn't felt the impact of lower oil prices so far, but there could be a "possible" impact later in the year.
"At this early stage in the year, we are encouraged by the group's performance. Whilst incremental mobilisation costs will impact first half results, overall for 2015, we currently expect underlying trading profit to be broadly in line with last year," said Chief Executive Chris Weston, who started the job at the start of this year.
Aggreko said it will pay a final dividend of 17.74 pence, bringing the total for the year to 27.12p, up from 26.30p in 2013. It had already paid a 75 pence special dividend in 2014.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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