Marketwatch

THE City will be looking for signs that Aggreko can meet raised profit forecasts when the temporary power provider issues a pre-close trading statement tomorrow.

In its last interim management statement the Glasgow-based firm said it expects to report full-year pre-tax profit of at least £320 million, up from previous estimates of about £315m for 2011. That would represent underlying growth in profits for the year of more than 24 per cent, and some analysts said at the time that the firm was being optimistic.

Andrew Gibson, head of research at Galvan Research, said in a recent broker note: “The market appears to be nonplussed by Aggreko’s profits guidance hike. The underlying economic conditions make this a slightly ambitious call.”

Analysts will be looking for clues on how Aggreko is coping with increased competition in the market after its smaller rival APR Energy signed a five-year agreement to work closely with Caterpillar and Cat dealer Ring Power in the international power projects market.

However, Aggreko is still six times larger than APR measured on the size of its power fleet and the temporary power market is thought to have plenty of room to expand, driven by the mismatch between supply and demand in energy.

Transport group National Express is expected to reveal a boost to profits as high petrol prices force people out of their cars and on to public transport.

The group, which runs the c2c and East Anglia rail services between London and Essex as well as bus and coach services, is set to reveal on Tuesday that revenues in the final quarter of 2011 continued to benefit from the resilience of public transport and from higher train fares.

Train operators increased fares by an average of 6.2 per cent in January but passenger numbers are expected to have held firm as a result of an even greater rise in the cost of filling up a car, with commuter routes being boosted on weekends as families use the rail network for sightseeing.

The City will be interested to see if the rail business has continued its recent strong growth or if rising unemployment levels have begun to hit demand from commuters.

Rising petrol prices are also expected to have boosted its bus business, which operates more than 1,600 vehicles and employs 5,800 people in the West Midlands and Dundee.