Aggreko share price: Company’s 2014 profit falls amid challenging market conditions

Aggreko Plc (LON:AGK)saw a decline in profit last year amid challenging operating conditions in some of its markets. The world’s largest temporary power generator revealed today that its pre-tax profit had fallen 13 percent in 2014 to £289 million, from £333 million in the previous year, even though revenue had risen 9 percent on an underlying basis to £1.58 billion. Underlying trading profit was down two percent year-on-year at £306 million.

“The Group has delivered a solid trading performance in 2014, admirably handling the change in senior management and difficult operating conditions in a number of our markets,” Aggreko chairman Ken Hanna commented in a statement. Meanwhile, the company’s chief executive officer Chris Weston, who took over the top job at the beginning of the year, said he had spent his first few months travelling to a number of Aggreko locations around the world and added that he was “enthused by what I have seen and heard”.

“I look forward to coming back at our Interim results in August to share my views on the priorities for the Group in the next phase of our growth,” Weston noted.
Aggreko said that the start to the year had been encouraging, with the company winning new contracts in Argentina and Myanmar. The company expects to see “underlying trading profit to be broadly in line with last year” in 2015.
In today’s trading, Aggreko shares were down 1.5 percent at 1,612.00p, as of 09:27 UTC. The stock has risen 7.2 percent since the start of the year, boosting the company’s market capitalisation to £4.1 billion.

According to the Financial Times, the 18 analysts offering 12 month price targets for Aggreko have a median target of 1,498.5p, with a high estimate of 1,850p and a low estimate of 1,237p. As of March 04, 2015, the consensus forecast amongst 27 polled investment analysts covering Aggreko has it that the company will underperform the market. This stance has been maintained since the sentiment of investment analysts deteriorated at the beginning of this month, the FT notes.
As of 13:02 GMT, Thursday, 05 March, Aggreko plc share price is 1,618.00p.