Aggreko posted record 2009 group revenues of £1.02 billion (about U.S. $1.55 billion), an 8.2 percent increase compared with 2008’s total revenue of £946.6 million. Trading profit was £255 million (about U.S. $386 million), also a company record and a 26.1 percent year-over-year increase compared with £202.2 million in 2008.
Operating cash flow increased by 56 percent to £431.1 million, compared with 2008’s total of £276 million.
The company supplied power to a record 56 countries during the year. Aggreko expects the rate of investment in international power projects fleet in 2010 to be increased after an encouraging start to 2010.
North America revenues, however, dropped to £309.8 million (about U.S. $469.1 million), a 19.8-percent decrease compared with £386.2 million in 2008.
The company said there is growing demand for power in emerging markets such as Africa and South America.
“Many of these countries have serious power crises, aging infrastructure and populations that are increasingly getting mobile phones and fridges and driving up demand,” said chief executive Rupert Soames.
“Aggreko delivered another record performance in 2009, despite the challenging economic conditions,” said Aggreko chairman Philip Rogerson. “While we remain cautious about the outlook for the local business, we are encouraged by the strong start made by International Power Projects in 2010. As a consequence, we are increasing our December guidance for fleet capital expenditure in 2010 by £20 million to £200 million, most of which will be invested in the International Power Projects business. Given the encouraging prospects for International Power Projects, and the additional fleet investment, we believe that we will do a little better than we anticipated at the time of our December trading update.”
Based in Glasgow, Scotland, with U.S. headquarters in Houston, Aggreko is No. 10 on the RER 100.
