LONDON (Alliance News) - Aggreko PLC on Tuesday said that the repricing and off-hire of its utility contracts in Argentina "masks" the underlying improvement in performance across the rest of the business in 2017.
The FTSE 250-listed temporary power provider said its revenue, excluding the impact of currency and pass-through fuel, rose 4.0% to GBP1.7 billion in 2017 from GBP1.5 billion in 2016.
Aggreko Chief Executive Officer Chris Weston said: "I am pleased that we are seeing revenue growth return, with strong performances in both Rental Solutions and Power Solutions Industrial. As expected, the challenges in Power Solutions Utility held back the group overall."
Power Solutions Utility revenue was down 9% due to repricing and off-hires in Argentina. Excluding the impact of Argentina, underlying Power Solutions Utility revenue was in line with the prior year, Aggreko said.
Cost of sales for the group, as a result, increased to GBP810.0 million from GBP694.0 million.
Aggreko said group pretax profit fell to GBP154.0 million from GBP172.0 million in 2016.
The company proposed a final dividend of 17.74 pence per share resulting in a full year dividend of 27.12p, in line with 2016.
"Over the last three years we have stabilised the business, enhanced our service offering and positioned ourselves to prosper in rapidly changing energy markets. We have delivered over GBP100 million in cost savings, invested in new systems and processes and developed new technology, all of which enables us to provide high quality solutions for customers. We expect 2018 group profit before tax to be in line with last year, on a constant currency basis," Weston added.
Aggreko shares were down 8.8% at 660.40 pence per share on Tuesday, the worst performer in the FTSE 250 index of London mid-caps.
