LONDON (Alliance News) - Temporary power unit renter Aggreko PLC held its 2018 dividend steady on Wednesday after the positive momentum reported at the half year continued.
In 2018, pretax profit widened 22% to GBP182 million from GBP149 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 3.5% to GBP1.76 billion from GBP1.70 billion the year before.
Profit performance was helped by a number of exceptional charges affecting results in 2017. These were related to Aggreko's business priorities programme, and included GBP22 million in employee-related costs and GBP19 million in property and professional charges.
Before these exceptional items, pretax profit narrowed 4.2% to GBP182 million from GBP190 million the year prior. On an underlying basis, however, profit widened 10%.
"We are pleased to report results which continue the positive momentum demonstrated at the interims," Aggreko Chief Executive Officer Chris Weston said.
Aggreko proposed a 17.7 pence per share final dividend, flat on the year prior. For the full year, the dividend was also unchanged at 27.1p per share.
"We have delivered results in line with market expectations and ahead of our guidance at the start of the year, with 10% growth in the group's underlying profits," Weston added. "The overall result was supported by a strong performance in Rental Solutions, which represents 52% of the group's revenue."
"With the wide-ranging initiatives we are implementing to improve our operational and capital efficiency, we are confident we can meet our mid-teens ROCE target in 2020", Weston continued.
In 2018, return on capital employed narrowed to 10.3% from 10.7% in 2017.
In 2019, the FTSE 250-listed firm expects results in line with market expectations despite currency headwinds. Results are expected, however, to be weighted towards the second half of the year.
Shares in Aggreko were 0.1% higher at 732.00 pence early Wednesday in London.
