Aggreko secures $200m deal in southern Africa

By GARETH MACKIE
Published on 14/03/2013 19:16

Temporary energy supplier Aggreko is stepping up its presence in Africa after signing a $200 million (£133m) contract to provide power to the national utilities in Mozambique and Namibia for the next two years.

The firm’s shares surged 7 per cent following the deal, which comes on the back of last week’s reassurance that Aggreko should maintain its double-digit revenue growth for the next five years.

Energy from Aggreko’s gas-fired plant at Ressano Garcia in Mozambique will be split between that country’s power utility, EDM, and its Namibian counterpart, NamPower.

Ressano Garcia, built in 2012, already provides 110 megawatts of power to EDM for national energy requirements and to Eskom, a South African utility.

A new 122-megawatt plant is due to go into production in the second quarter of this year and will supply power for a minimum of two years.

Chief executive Rupert Soames said the total value of the project is likely to be more than $200m, including fuel costs. He added: “This new project will make Ressano Garcia the world’s largest cross-border interim power plant, with over 232 megawatts of gas-fuelled power generation.”

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Caroline de La Soujeole said: “This is an exciting development and suggests that the potential of Aggreko’s Mozambique facilities is greater than we had previously envisaged.”

Shares in the Glasgow-based group closed up 126p at 1,965p.