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.
