Aggreko posted group revenue of £1.515 billion (about U.S $1.842 billion) for the full year of 2016 compared to £1.561 billion in 2015, a 3-percent slide. Operating profit plunged 10 percent and profit before tax dipped 24 percent.
Whilst the trading environment over the last twelve months has been challenging I am pleased with the progress that we are making across the Group implementing our transformation program to return the business to growth,” said CEO Chris Weston. “We are investing in the right technologies to reduce costs to our customers; improving our customer focus and delivering the efficiencies we set out in August 2015. These improvements, taken with our market leadership, technical capability and the need for our products being as relevant as ever means I am confident we are well on track to create a stronger business for the future.”
Looking ahead to 2017, Weston was bullish on growth prospects around the world with the exception of a dim view of prospects in Argentina. “We expect to see growth across the group in 2017, augmented by incremental annualized cost savings of £25 million from the second half,” said Weston. “However, this will be more than offset by the significant impact of Argentina and as a result we expect full year profit before tax and pre-exceptional items to be lower than last year.”
In the Rental Solutions business, Aggreko’s North American revenue dipped 18 driven by low oil prices. Oil and gas, and petrochemical and refining sectors were significantly down in volume and price impacting revenues and margins. Aggreko posted solid growth in Continental and Northern Europe Power Solutions.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.