Glasgow-based Aggreko eyes Brazil in 2016 after London Olympics win

AGGREKO, the Glasgow-based temporary power specialist, has set its sights on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after enjoying a successful start to its contract for the London Games.

The FTSE 100 company reported revenues of £734 million for the six months to 30 June, up 15 per cent from a year earlier, thanks in part to its deal for the 2012 event, where it has deployed 550 generators and 1,500km of cable across 44 sites.

Overall, the London contract is expected to be worth around £55m, of which £21m was delivered in the first half of the year.

Chief executive Rupert Soames said the group was now focused on putting together an “attractive proposal” for the 2016 event in Brazil, which also hosts the World Cup in 2014.

He added: “We assume they will want some temporary power, and we’re the largest power rental company in South America. There are a lot of Brazilians over here looking at everything we’re doing, so we hope we can impress them.”

Pre-tax profits rose 23 per cent to £148m and Aggreko announced an interim dividend of 8.28p per share, up 15 per cent from last year.

Caroline de La Soujeole, an analyst at Seymour Pierce, who rates Aggreko as a “buy”, said the figures were in line with expectations. She maintained her full-year profit forecast of £387.5m.

Soames said the first six months of the year had been “very successful”, pointing to the expansion of the firm’s Latin American business, the opening of a factory in Dumbarton and the construction of a temporary power plant in Mozambique.

Growth in Aggreko’s North American business had slowed in the second quarter, but Soames said the division has made a strong start to the ­second half.