Aggreko sees profits rise

Aggreko, the portable generator and temperature control specialist, has posed interim results for the first six months of 2009 showing pre-tax profits up by 46% to £107m on revenue 23% higher at almost £500m.

However, when currency fluctuations and fuel are stripped out, group revenue rose by 4.8% and the rise pre-tax profit is reduced to 14.1%. Return on capital increased 2% to a new record level of 30% and net debt has been reduced by £77m to £287m while fleet investment was cut from £120m to £92m.

In the Europe and the Middle East region both revenue and profit dropped by 12% and 28% respectively (at constant currency) which mirrored the performance in North America. The big winner was the international power projects which saw increases of 40% on revenue and 72% on profit.

The company expects full year profit (in constant currency terms) to be roughly in-line with 2008.  Chairman Phillip Rogerson said: “Given that over 70% of our earnings are in US dollars, if we achieve this trading performance, and if the £:$ rate stays at today's level for the rest of the year, reported results would show substantial growth over 2008.”