Aggreko powers to record high

AGGREKO surged to a record high yesterday after announcing a 30 million contract to supply power to this year's football World Cup in South Africa.

The Glasgow-based group, promoted to the FTSE 100 in December, said the contract would cover supplying broadcasting power to all ten cup venues, as well as the international broadcast headquarters and the Fifa headquarters.

Aggreko provides power for many of the world's leading sporting and cultural events, including the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Nick Spoliar, at Altium Securities, said the contract underlined the momentum in Aggreko's internal power projects business, reiterating a 1,075p target price.

Shares in Aggreko, already at a record high, ended the session up 59p or 6 per cent at 1,034p, almost three times the level of a year ago. The company posts its 2009 results on Thursday.

The FTSE 100 index climbed to its highest level in more than a month yesterday, despite heavy falls from two of Britain's largest financial companies.

The index of Britain's largest 100 publicly quoted companies rose 51.4 points to 5,405.9, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index rose 135.44 points to 9,479.83.

Shares in Prudential, Britain's largest insurance group, tumbled 12 per cent as the market reacted to its 23.5 billion approach for the Asian division of stricken US insurer AIG.

Traders dumped the shares amid worries over the risks of the mega-deal and the dilutive impact on shareholders of the UK's biggest-ever rights issue, as the Pru tries to raise about 14bn to fund the deal.

Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said the deal would lead to "potentially a lovely combination". Meanwhile, ratings agency Fitch warned that the "considerable risks involved in such a large transaction could put negative pressure on the ratings".

Shares in Prudential closed down 72.5p at 530p.

Elsewhere in the sector, Aviva fell 15.1p to 375.2p and Legal & General slid 3.95p to 73.2p. HSBC was the other big faller of the session after lukewarm reaction to annual results from the global banking giant.

The firm reported a 56 per cent rise in underlying profits to 8.8bn, but the figures were below analysts' expectations and included a further rise in bad-debt charges. HSBC shares fell5 per cent or 37.6p to 682p.

Also in the banking sector, the Lloyds Banking Group declined 2.2p to 50.3p and Royal Bank of Scotland eased 1p to 36.7p after making gains last week in the wake of full-year results.

Firmer commodity prices and the return of deal activity boosted mining stocks as Kazakhmys lifted 69p to 1,410p and Eurasian Natural Resources cheered 39p to 1,066p.

Financial Times and Penguin books publisher Pearson rose after posting a 13 per cent rise in full-year profits and said it expected another profitable year in 2010. Shares closed up 44p to 956p.

Among the mid-caps, VT Group, the defence and infrastructure contractor, rose 4.5p to 672p after the Takeover Panel issued a "put up or shut up" order on predator Babcock International, giving it until 12 April to make a firm bid or walk away.

Reports suggest several of VT's significant shareholders are encouraging the company to open its books if Babcock raises its current 1.29bn bid, while some Babcock shareholders are cool on the merger. Babcock fell 1.5p to 525p.

On the Aim, YCO Group, which provides services to the superyacht industry, rose 106 per cent to 15.5p. Last week, the London micro-cap predicted it would hit break even this year.