21st Jun 2005 07:00
Aggreko PLC21 June 2005 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 meeting analysts and entering its close period in respect of thehalf-year ending 30th June 2005. Interim results will be announced on Thursday,15th September, 2005. Trading Overview As indicated in the Trading Statement at the time of our AGM, tradingperformance in the first half has been encouraging, and we expect profit beforetax to be ahead of last year. Aggreko International's trading profit in the first half will be ahead of lastyear in both local currency and sterling terms. This growth has been driven bythe local business, which has produced strong performances in the Middle East,Singapore, and Australasia. In the International Power Projects business,revenues grew; profits, however, will be lower in the first half than in theprior year mainly as a result of costs related to the mobilisation of fleet toserve the significant number of new contracts we have recently won. Thesecontracts will help to underpin performance in the second half, and we expectthat profits in the International Power Projects business for the year as awhole will be ahead of 2004. In North America, trading profit in the first half will be well ahead of lastyear in both local currency and sterling terms; this has been driven by aparticularly strong first quarter. The base business continues to show goodgrowth, but full-year comparatives will be impacted by the large military andstorm-related revenues which were earned in the second half of 2004. We have nowcompleted the acquisition of the temperature control rental fleet of PrimeEnergy, as previously announced, for a final consideration of $5.2m. In Europe, first half trading performance will be lower than the prior year;however, most of the shortfall arose in the first quarter, and we expect thatprofit in the second quarter will be closer to the prior year. We remainconfident that the investment we continue to make in the implementation of thenew operating model will give the business a platform for future growth, and weexpect performance in the second half to be well ahead of the first half. Ournew European Managing Director, Kash Pandya, has now joined the business. Strategy Update The implementation of our strategy continues to make good progress. InInternational Power Projects, the drive for geographic expansion has resulted inus signing contracts in seven new countries in the first half, including ourlargest-ever contract win, worth an estimated $160m over three years includingfuel, in Uganda. In North America and Europe the rollout of our new IT systemcontinues, and during the period the system went live in the first two areas inthe USA, as well as in France. In aggregate, about 35% of our business in Europeand North America is now being processed through the system, and the experienceso far has been very positive. The performance of our Rental Centres alsocontinues to improve. In International Power Projects, we have delivered andcommissioned our first gas-fuelled units. We have also received orders foradditional gas-fuelled capacity, and now have customer commitments to take atotal of 20 MW; as a result of this, and our recent acquisition of temperaturecontrol rental assets in North America, it is likely that our capitalexpenditure for the full year will increase to between £75m and £80m. Outlook Looking forward, the business is about to enter its peak summer season, and theresult for the year will clearly be heavily influenced by trading over the nextthree months. At this stage, we are encouraged by the progress we are making,and our expectation that we will make progress in 2005 compared with 2004,remains unchanged. - ENDS - For further information, please contact: Rupert Soames Aggreko plcAngus Cockburn Tel: 0141 225 5900 Fiona Piper The Maitland ConsultancyTel: 0207 379 5151 A copy of our Trading Update presentation, to be used in our meetings withanalysts, is available on our website www.aggreko.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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