15th Jun 2006 07:09
Aggreko PLC15 June 2006 Aggreko plc TRADING UPDATE Aggreko plc, the world leader in the supply of temporary power, temperaturecontrol and oil-free compressed air services, is issuing the following tradingupdate prior to entering its close period in respect of the half-year ending30th June 2006 and meeting with analysts. Interim results will be announced onThursday, 14th September 2006. Trading Overview As indicated in the Trading Statement at the time of our AGM, tradingperformance in the first half has been very strong, and overall the Group hasmade significant progress compared with the first half of 2005. Aggreko International has continued the momentum seen in the second half of2005, and there has been strong growth in both International Power Projects andin the Local businesses in the Middle East, Singapore and Australia. In theInternational Power Projects business, against a relatively weak first half lastyear, profits have grown strongly as we benefit from contracts signed in 2005and a large number of contract extensions. Recently-announced contract wins inKenya and Yemen, supported by substantial investment in additional fleet, willunderpin performance in the second half. In North America, investment in new fleet as well as the strong performance ofour sales and service teams has produced significant base-business growth in thefirst half, and we have seen continued margin expansion underlying thescalability of our new business model. Much of this growth is coming from thepetro-chemical and oil refining sectors where many of our customers areoperating at capacity. The initial rollout of our new ERP system is now completein North America. In Europe, trading performance in the first half will be similar to last year.As described in the Trading Statement at the time of our AGM, Continental Europehas performed noticeably better in the first half, while in Northern Europe,although revenues have grown, profits have been held back, in part by highlevels of implementation costs related to our new ERP system, which went live inthe first quarter. Outlook Looking forward, the business is about to enter its peak summer season. Thetrading performance during this period is always a key factor in determining theoutcome for the year as a whole. In the second half of 2005 the Group's performance was boosted by $32m of stormrevenue in North America (largely related to Hurricanes Rita and Katrina) whichwas more than three times higher than Aggreko's normal range of storm-relatedrevenues. In the current year, improved forward visibility in InternationalPower Projects as a consequence of recent contract wins, as well as the positivemomentum of the Local businesses in North America and Aggreko International,lead us to expect a strong underlying performance in the second half.Accordingly, we now anticipate that the outcome for the year as a whole will beahead of our previous expectations. - ENDS - For further information, please contact: Rupert Soames Aggreko plcAngus Cockburn Tel: 0141 225 5900 Wendy Timmons Maitland Tel: 0207 379 5151 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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