Aggreko PLC Trading Statement (1118N)
14 May 2015 - 4:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMAGK
RNS Number : 1118N
Aggreko PLC
14 May 2015
14 May 2015
TRADING UPDATE
The trading update covers the period from 1 January 2015 to 13
May 2015. Unless otherwise stated, figures quoted in this statement
are for the quarter ended 31 March 2015.
Chris Weston, Chief Executive, commented:
"Whilst it is early in the year and the market environment
remains uncertain, we continue to expect underlying(1) trading
profit for the full year to be broadly in line with last year. We
are making good progress identifying our business priorities and
look forward to providing an update at the time of our interim
results in August."
Trading
Underlying revenue for the first quarter was 4% ahead of last
year, with reported revenue up 8%, benefiting from the currency
translation effect of a stronger US dollar. All growth rates set
out below are on an underlying basis.
Regional Trading
The Americas region grew 7% in the first quarter, driven by our
Power Projects business and mainly as a result of our project in
Panama which went on hire in quarter two of last year. The Local
business was flat year on year, within which North American oil and
gas revenue was up 6%. Towards the end of the quarter we started to
see a decline in volumes and pricing in our shale oil business;
this is being partially offset by growth in other sectors,
particularly petrochemical and refining. The first quarter growth
in oil and gas was offset by a slow start in the northeast of the
US where the harsh winter affected us; lower activity in our
Cooling Towers business; and our Chilean business, where we were
impacted by the slowdown in mining.
Our Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region grew 10% in the
first quarter with growth of 6% in our local business and 14% in
our Power Projects business. Local business growth came from our
businesses in Africa and initial revenues from the European Games
in Baku. In Power Projects, the growth reflects the good level of
order intake in 2014.
Finally, in Asia, Pacific and Australia (APAC) revenue was 13%
lower than last year. Local business revenue was slightly down,
within which Australia continued to decline, albeit at a slower
rate; New Zealand and South Korea delivered strong growth. Power
Projects revenue was 20% down, mainly from lower volumes on hire in
Indonesia.
Business Line Trading
Our Local business grew 2% in the first quarter. Power and
temperature control revenues were 4% higher, partly offset by
slower growth in services revenue.
Power Projects grew 7% in the first quarter, with good
performances from the Americas and EMEA. Order intake for the year
to date is 388MW (2014: 413MW); last year's comparative included
170MW of summer peak shaving work in Saudi Arabia and Oman, which
we don't anticipate in 2015.
Outlook
As we look forward, we expect growth to improve in the Local
business, but it remains unclear what the full year impact of a
lower oil price will be across all our markets.
In Power Projects, year to date order intake is solid and we are
making progress on key contract extensions. However, external
market conditions remain difficult in a number of our markets, in
particular the security challenges in Libya and Yemen.
We anticipate fleet capital expenditure to be around GBP300
million for the full year, with GBP140 million now expected in the
first half, reflecting planned investment in our gas fleet. As we
have said in the past, our model allows us to flex this number up
and down, and we will continue to do this based on the
opportunities that we see in front of us.
Overall, as indicated in the March results announcement,
underlying trading profit for the first half is expected to be
lower than last year, principally due to higher mobilisation costs,
with underlying trading profit for the full year being broadly in
line with last year.
Conference Call
A conference call will be held today for investors and analysts
at 8.30am (BST), hosted by Chris Weston, CEO and Carole Cran,
CFO.
Dial in: +44 20 3427 1909
Participant code: 1831593
A recording of the call will be available on demand for 7
days.
Audio playback: +44 20 3427 0598
Reference: 1831593
Future Reporting
Aggreko will report its 2015 Interim Results and present the key
business priorities on Thursday 6 August 2015.
Enquiries
Investors & Analysts
+44 7876 478
Louise Bryant, Aggreko plc 272
Media
John Sunnucks / Lorna Cobbett, +44 20 3772
Bell Pottinger 2500
Notes to Editors
Aggreko currently has 120MW in Libya and 150MW in Yemen. In both
countries we use a local contractor to operate the sites and
currently have no employees in either country. We have operated in
Yemen since 2005 and in Libya since early 2014.
(1) Underlying is defined as: adjusted for currency movements
and pass-through fuel.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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