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Aggreko plc

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FY2017 Annual Report · Aggreko plc
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F I N D   O U T   M O R E

Visit our website to find out more about Aggreko
www.aggreko.com/about-us

A G G R E K O   P L C

The power to  
make a difference 

Annual Report and Accounts 2017

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12/03/2018   19:36

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I N S I D E   T H I S   Y E A R ’ S   R E P O R T

P E R F O R M A N C E   H I G H L I G H T S

O V E R V I E W

Performance highlights 

Introducing Aggreko

A personal perspective from our CEO

Our business today

B U S I N E S S   S T R A T E G Y

The marketplace

Business model

Our strategic priorities

Stories around our strategy

O U R   P E R F O R M A N C E

Our key performance indicators

Group performance review

Financial review

Risk

G O V E R N A N C E

Chairman’s introduction

Our Board

Nomination Committee report

Audit Committee report

Ethics Committee report

Remuneration Committee report

Statutory disclosures 

Statement of Directors’ responsibilities

F I N A N C I A L   &   O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

Independent auditor’s report

Group income statement 

Group statement of comprehensive income 

Group balance sheet 

Group cash flow statement 

Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement  
  in net debt 

Group statement of changes in equity 

Notes to the Group accounts 

Company balance sheet 

Company statement of comprehensive income

Company statement of changes in equity

Notes to the Company accounts

Shareholder information 

Definition and calculation of non GAAP measures

Financial summary 

Pages 1-55 comprise the Strategic report

01
02
06

08
12
14
15

32
36
42
48

56
58
66
68
72
76
98
103

105
110
110
111
112

113
114
116
154
155
156
157
161
162
164

Watch our Aggreko in 2017 video online: plc.aggreko.com/
investors/investor-centre/2017-annual-report-summary

Revenue

£1,730m 

Pre-exceptional Diluted EPS3

53.94p 

Reported Diluted EPS4

41.51p 

2016: £1,515m

2016: 61.95p

2016: 48.86p

Pre-exceptional Return on Capital Employed2,3

11% 

Return on Capital Employed2

9% 

2016: 13%

2016: 10%

Pre-exceptional Profit before Tax3

£195m 

2016: £221m

Reported Profit before Tax4

£154m 

2016: £172m

Pre-exceptional Operating Profit3

£229m 

2016: £248m

Reported Operating Profit4

£188m 

Dividend per share1

27.12p 

2016: £199m

2016: 27.12p

M A T E R I A L I T Y

This report and financial statements aims to provide a fair, 
balanced and understandable assessment of our business 
model, strategy, performance and prospects in relation 
to material financial, economic, social, environmental and 
governance issues. 

The material focus areas were determined considering 
the following: 

 • Matters that are critical to achieving our strategic objectives.

 • Key risks identified through our risk management process.

 • Feedback from key stakeholders during the course of the year.

1 

2 

 The Board is recommending a final dividend of 17.74 pence per Ordinary Share  
which, when added to the interim dividend of 9.38 pence, gives a total for the year  
of 27.12 pence per Ordinary Share.
 Calculated by dividing operating profit for the year by the average net operating 
assets as at 1 January, 30 June and 31 December.
 Exceptional items are explained in Note 7 to the accounts.

3 
4  Reported is per the Accounts on pages 110 to 153.

Design and production Radley Yeldar | www.ry.com
Board photography George Brooks
Print Park Communications on FSC® certified paper. Park is an EMAS certified company and its Environmental Management System 
is certified to ISO 14001. 100% of the inks used are vegetable oil based, 95% of press chemicals are recycled for further use and, 
on average 99% of any waste associated with this production will be recycled.
This document is printed on Galerie Satin, a paper containing 15% recycled fibre and 85% virgin fibre sourced from well managed, 
responsible, FSC® certified forests. The pulp used in this product is bleached using an elemental chlorine free (ECF) process.

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We believe in the positive impact 
of power. The ability to provide 
power, heating and cooling 
opens up opportunity and 
creates potential for individuals, 
communities, industries and 
societies all over the world. 

Together and over time,  
we believe our services 
make a massive difference. 
Something that inspires 
and challenges us every day.

T R A N S P A R E N T   R E P O R T I N G

To help you better understand how environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are integrated  
into our business, we have highlighted them throughout the report using the following icons:

E N V I R O N M E N T A L

S O C I A L

G O V E R N A N C E

01

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATION 
A   P E R S O N A L   P E R S P E C T I V E   F R O M   O U R   C E O

We are beginning to deliver underlying growth

A Q&A with Chris Weston, CEO

Q: What are the highlights of 2017 
for you?
A: Firstly, I want to thank all our people. 
The dedication to our customers and 
the focus on our strategic priorities have 
repositioned and stabilised Aggreko, 
providing a strong foundation from 
which to grow. This hard work is 
reflected in the underlying growth 
we are now seeing across the business 
when you exclude the legacy contracts 
in Argentina, which have repriced to 
reflect current market conditions.

The investment that we are making 
in the business, both for the immediate 
future and in recognition of longer term 
trends is exciting. Over the last three 
years we have taken over £100 million 
of cost out of the business and invested 
£20 million in new systems. This year 
we started to focus more on how we 
will take advantage of the energy market 
transition that is underway, and I am 
delighted with the work that our Global 
Solutions team are doing to lead this. 
It is the first time in Aggreko’s history 
that we have a dedicated team looking 
‘up and out’, identifying opportunities 
for sustainable growth. We have taken 
some important steps this year, including 
the deployment of our first solar-diesel 
hybrid project and the acquisition of 
Younicos, a business based in Berlin that 
specialises in integrated energy systems 
and energy storage.

The skills Younicos brings to the table fit 
well with our modular and mobile fleet. 
Combined, we can offer customers a 
flexible, reliable, lower carbon and lower 
cost energy solution, by integrating 
renewables, storage and thermal assets.

Q: And the lowlights?
A: It is inevitable that in any year there 
will be disappointments, but I was deeply 
saddened by an accident in Nigeria 
which caused the death of one of our 
technicians, Kingsley Inalu. We have 
investigated the accident and taken 
actions to remedy the causes, but of 
course, no actions taken today can 
undo what happened.

I cannot express to you how strongly 
I believe that safety is the number 
one priority at Aggreko. We deal with 
potentially dangerous equipment and 
it is imperative that we operate in a way 
that ensures everyone goes home safely 
at the end of the day. We have made 
good progress over the last few years 
but must redouble our focus on this 
critical area.

Q: You talk a lot about customer 
focus, why is this important when 
the majority of Aggreko’s customers 
are businesses?
A: Customers, whether consumers or 
businesses, are at the heart of everything 
we do. Ultimately we are dealing with 
people who have expectations that must 
be met. Anything that jeopardises this 
detracts from our ability to generate 
revenue and grow. 

End market conditions vary over time, 
commodity prices fluctuate, customers’ 
expectations evolve and competition is 
ever present. As a result, we need to work 
harder to maintain our leading position 
and to grow our market share.

Through focusing on our customers 
and the sectors they operate in; 
continuing to develop innovative 
and relevant applications and solutions; 
investing in our systems to enhance 
our service, we are improving our market 
position. Our ideal is to be a partner to 
our customers, developing long-term 
relationships shaped by their needs.

02

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Watch Chris discuss 2017 performance online: 
plc.aggreko.com/investors/investor-centre/ 
2017-annual-report-summary

After a challenging few years I am pleased 
to see growth, albeit on an underlying basis, 
return to Aggreko. Our strategic priorities 
of Customer Focus, Technology Investment, 
Capital & Operational Efficiency and 
Expert People, are beginning to deliver 
and I am excited for what the future holds.”

Chris Weston
Chief Executive Officer

Q: Can you update on your technology 
roadmap, have you made progress 
this year?
A: I have been pleased with the progress 
we have made in delivering our 
technology roadmap this year. We have 
upgraded 272 diesel engines to the 
market leading G3+ and it now makes up 
25% of the Group’s 1 MW diesel fleet. We 
have also invested in 252 MW of our new 
gas engines, and begun the roll-out of 
our medium speed Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) 
product, both of which went through 
extensive testing. All of these products 
are consistent with our strategy to 
provide customers with products 
that lower the total cost of energy. 

The Younicos investment is also an 
important step in lowering the total cost 
of energy, but importantly also reduces 
emissions. Harnessing renewables and 
using storage means that our thermal 
products can increasingly become a 
‘back-up’ option, significantly reducing 
the fuel used.

The technology roadmap is an evolving 
plan with ongoing investigation into 
new technologies to assess applicability 
in our business and I am very pleased 
with the progress the team has made.

Q: There have been some arrivals 
and departures in your top team, 
how has this impacted the business?
A: Early in 2017 Stephen Beynon joined 
Aggreko as the Director of our Power 
Solutions business, replacing Nicolas 
Fournier. Stephen comes with fantastic 
experience running large service based 
businesses, including divisions of Virgin 
Media and the business and residential 
divisions of British Gas. Stephen brings 
invaluable B2B experience, has been 
a great addition to the team, and has 
impressed me with his quick grasp 
of the challenges we face and the 
opportunities ahead.

Our CFO Carole Cran left the business 
at the end of 2017 after 14 years with 
Aggreko. Carole was a brilliant CFO and 
I am personally grateful for the time 
she invested in Aggreko. She has been 
succeeded by Heath Drewett, who joins 
us from WS Atkins, where he was also 
CFO. Heath has a great pedigree working 
in similar markets to Aggreko’s and I am 
excited by the insights he will inevitably 
bring to the table.

Grant Nairn, who has been with us 
four years, has been promoted to CIO 
and now sits on the Executive team. 
Other than that, the team is the same.

03

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONA   P E R S O N A L   P E R S P E C T I V E   F R O M   O U R   C E O   ( C O N T I N U E D )

D E C A R B O N I S A T I O N

D E C E N T R A L I S A T I O N

D I G I T A L I S A T I O N

Q: You purchased Younicos, a storage 
and integration business, why?
A: Rapid, large-scale changes are 
occurring in energy markets, driven 
by three major themes: decarbonisation, 
decentralisation and digitalisation. 
Decarbonisation is self-explanatory 
and is driven by renewables making 
up a greater proportion of generation. 
Renewables are now lower cost 
and more accessible, leading to 
decentralisation, where power supply is 
made up of smaller local power sources, 
such as domestic solar. At the same time 
we are seeing increased digitalisation; 
larger data flows required to manage 
integrated and smart energy systems.

These emerging energy systems are 
multi-dimensional and dynamic, with 
many more participants. This creates 
challenges in balancing supply and 
demand as higher proportions of 
renewables create volatility in the 
energy system. Balancing renewable 
and thermal generation will increasingly 
require storage and sophisticated 
systems and software.

This is an opportunity for us. Our modular 
and mobile thermal fleet is already well 
suited to a decentralised energy system; 
the addition of Younicos’ integration 
software and storage capabilities mean 
we are well placed to provide increasingly 
digitalised and renewable solutions.

The integration of renewable energy 
sources with batteries and thermal 
is also another way we can lower 
the cost of energy for our customers, 
whilst ensuring a reliable power supply.

Q: You talk about a sector focus, 
why not focus on all sectors?
A: We have focused the organisation 
on key sectors, such as Oil & Gas and 
Events (see page 24 for a full list). These 
sectors are aligned to where we believe 
our specialised engineering capability 
and high quality equipment can make 
the biggest difference to our customers.

By specialising in sectors we develop a 
detailed understanding of our customers’ 
business and are able to tailor products 
and services to support them. We are 
not just a rental company, we provide 
engineered solutions, something 
that really differentiates us from the 
competition.

It also means we are directing our 
resources efficiently and approaching 
the market in a focused manner. It is not 
an exclusive focus; we will always work to 
support customers in other sectors and 
incubate sectors that we expect to grow. 

Q: You have outlined medium-term 
targets for the business, are these 
still achievable?
A: As we approach the three year 
anniversary of establishing our Business 
Priorities, we are reflecting on what has 
been achieved. We believe that the 
initiatives we have delivered, particularly 
around sector focus, systems and 
technology investment, were the right 
actions to reposition this business for the 
future and this has been demonstrated 
by the improved performance in our 
Rental Solutions and Power Solutions 
Industrial businesses. Power Solutions 
Utility remains difficult and the market 

j
Y.Cube at our facility in Austin

Y.Cube is a fully integrated 
plug-and-play energy storage 
solution. In 2018, our engineers 
are redesigning this to fit within 
our standardised containers.

04

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017As energy markets continue to 
decarbonise, decentralise and 
become more digital, the integration 
and control of multiple energy 
sources, including thermal and 
renewable, will be essential to 
ensure the provision of reliable 
power. Our scale, fleet and global 
presence, coupled with a smart 
energy capability, will allow us to 
open up new markets and provide 
our customers around the world 
with a reliable, cheaper and 
cleaner source of energy.”

Chris Weston
Chief Executive Officer

S T A T E M E N T   O N   C L I M A T E   C H A N G E

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of 
this era. The 2015 Paris Agreement brought 195 countries 
to a consensus on the magnitude of the challenge. 
In the same year the United Nations launched its 
Sustainable Development Goals to help facilitate 
international development. Whilst Goal 13 (Climate Change) 
is clearly relevant to our business, we believe that the area we 
can have most impact is Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy).

In the energy sector we expect this to increase the emphasis 
on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the 
use of renewables, and stopping practices such as flaring 
gas. Whilst we have definitely seen this, we have also seen 
that for many developing countries the priority remains 
providing power and accessing the associated social and 
economic benefits. 

One of our strategic priorities is to invest in technology with 
the aim of lowering the cost of energy for our customers 
through improved fuel efficiency, whilst also working 
to reduce the environmental impact our products have. 
We are responsible for playing our part in addressing 
climate change and we acknowledge that this is inextricably 
linked to remaining a successful business in the future.

Read more about our Technology page 28

05

D
Our megawatt-scale  
technology centre in Berlin

This facility enables us to test  
and optimise energy storage  
systems and components,  
including generators,  
under real-life conditions.

has not recovered as we expected and, 
as a result, our returns are not where we 
want them to be. We continue to work 
on a number of initiatives to improve our 
returns, including utilisation and working 
capital. Finally, we are evolving our 
strategy to reflect the gathering pace 
of transition in the energy markets, 
and we will provide a further update on 
our strategic progress and its financial 
impact at our interim results in August. 

Q: As you look forward, what are you 
most excited about in 2018?

A: Seeing our new products come on 
line, particularly the hybrids; realising the 
benefits of the systems investments we 
are making, and at last being able to offer 
an online service to our customers; and 
seeing the results of the enhanced sales 
focus, leading to further top line growth. 
In short: the reality of the transformation 
we have all been working so hard on over 
the last three years.

We will also deliver some high profile 
events, including the PyeongChang 
Winter Olympics and the Commonwealth 
Games on the Gold Coast in Australia. 
These are important events where we 
are performing on the global stage and 
which make me very proud of Aggreko 
and what we do.

We operate in an exciting and evolving 
market, providing real and relevant 
services to our customers. The opportunity 
that the energy transition presents will 
become more real this year, demonstrating 
that we are well positioned to be a part 
of the future global energy market.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATION 
O U R   B U S I N E S S   T O D A Y

We are a global company focused on customers 
operating in key sectors. 
This sector focus allows us to build our expertise 
and develop products and solutions that address 
particular problems our customers face. To optimally 
deploy our equipment and expertise around the 
world we are organised into two business units: 
Rental Solutions and Power Solutions. 
We operate in over 80 countries through 
193 sales and service centres and with 
around 6,000 permanent employees.

O R G A N I S E D   T O   S E R V E   O U R   C U S T O M E R S

K E Y

Rental  
Solutions

Power  
Solutions

Offices/ 
Service centres

Rental Solutions includes our businesses in North America, 
Europe, Australia Pacific and Mexico. Power Solutions 
includes all our other businesses around the world.

06

For more information visit: aggreko.com/aboutus

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017W H A T   W E   D O   F O R   O U R   C U S T O M E R S

Identify need

Develop solutions

Mobilisation

Our global sales team 
will approach new and 
existing customers 
to understand their 
businesses and discuss 
their requirements.

We will tailor a sector 
specific solution and 
submit a detailed 
proposal for approval.

Once accepted, we will 
mobilise the equipment, 
install, test and either 
handover to the customer 
or begin operating by 
the specified deadline.

S T A R T   A G A I N

Operational 
support

Demobilisation

Our service engineers 
are on hand to provide 
support, together with 
remote monitoring 
systems that will 
alert us to problems 
before they occur.

Once the customer 
decides to off-hire we take 
the equipment back 
to our service centres 
to service or upgrade it 
and make it ready for 
the next customer.

Rental Solutions

Power Solutions

We provide power, heating and cooling to customers in 
developed markets. These requirements tend to revolve 
around smaller, short-term projects and key events.

We provide power, heating and cooling to emerging 
markets. These requirements tend to be larger industrial  
and utility customers with longer term power needs.

O U R   K E Y   S E C T O R S   %

O U R   K E Y   S E C T O R S   %

8

1

7

6

5

2

4

3

Revenue

£720m

45% of Group 

1  Business Services and
  Construction 
2  Petrochemical & Refining 
3  Utilities 
4  Events 
5  Oil & Gas 
6  Manufacturing 
7  Quarrying & Mining 
8  Other 

21
17
11
10
9
8
5
19

87

6

5

4

3

2

1  Utilities 
2  Oil & Gas 
3  Business Services and
  Construction 
4  Quarrying & Mining 
5  Manufacturing 
6  Events 
7  Petrochemical & Refining 
8   Other 

53
20

7
6
5
4
1
4

1

Revenue

£871m

excluding pass-through fuel
55% of Group

E V E N T S   C A S E   S T U D Y

U T I L I T Y   C A S E   S T U D Y

When one of the US women’s National Basketball Association 
teams made the playoffs, it moved to a bigger stadium which 
did not comply with strict league temperature regulations. 
Our specialist knowledge and equipment allowed us to 
provide the required temperature and humidity conditions.

The Sorovskoye oil field in Salym, Russia, has no available 
grid connection. We mobilised and installed 12 MW of our 
QSK60 gas engines, renowned for their ability to operate in 
extreme cold temperatures, to use by-product petroleum gas 
to power the oil field.

Read more about Rental Solutions on page 38

Read more about Power Solutions on page 40

07

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017OUR PERFORMANCEOVERVIEWGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGY 
 
T H E   M A R K E T P L A C E

We are positioned to benefit from long-term trends.
In developed markets, power and related products, 
like heating and cooling, are an essential part of everyday 
life and are taken for granted until they are not there.

In emerging markets power helps countries to industrialise 
and enhance living standards, for example hospitals to provide 
medical care and schools to educate future generations.

These can vary by country and sector, but can be broadly 
defined within global megatrends. These megatrends offer 
significant opportunities for our business. 

The global power generation market is undergoing substantial 
change. Whilst demand continues to grow, we are seeing a 
transformational shift in regulatory, environmental and societal 
expectations. In developing a long-term view on the market, 
many factors need to be considered.

We address the market through our two business units 
which are well positioned to provide solutions for our 
customers as energy markets transform.

G L O B A L   M E G A T R E N D S

Urbanisation
Urbanisation contributes to 
economic development, but is 
also a direct result of it. Today, 
more than half of the global 
population live in urban areas 
and the UN estimates that this 
is growing by 1.5 million people 
every week; this is already 
placing huge demands on 
infrastructure globally. 

1.5m  

urban population growth  
every week

In emerging markets, 
investment in new and 
replacement power supplies 
has not kept pace with 
demand, resulting in frequent 
breakdowns and damaging 
power cuts. As cities continue 
to grow, the increasing 
demand for power will 
be a major challenge.

Climate Change
Rising greenhouse gas 
emissions are causing average 
temperatures to rise which 
could result in significant 
and potentially irreversible 
environmental changes.

70%  

of greenhouse gas 
emissions come 
from cities

According to the World Bank, 
cities consume two-thirds 
of natural resources and 
account for over 70% of global 
greenhouse gas emissions. 
This has a significant impact 
on health and wellbeing, 
which in turn impacts 
economic performance. 
For example, it is estimated 
that in China air pollution 
costs the economy about 
6.5% of GDP annually. 
As governments in both 
developed and emerging 
markets introduce regulation 
to tackle emissions, we are 
seeing a shift in how power 
is generated, including a 
revolution in transportation 
with the growth of electric 
vehicles. This will change 
the demand for power and 
its associated infrastructure. 

Shift in 
Economic Power
As an economy grows, so does 
demand for power; businesses 
want to expand quickly and 
outsource the supply of 
power, heating and cooling 
to maintain productivity and 
capital efficiency. 
Whilst growth in emerging 
economies over the last few 
years has slowed, the long-term 
trends continue to suggest that 
emerging markets will grow 
faster than, and eventually 
overtake, many developed 
economies. The sharp decline in 
commodity prices experienced 
in 2014 was one of the biggest 
factors driving the downturn 
seen in many emerging 
economies, particularly 
in Africa.

4.9%  

expected growth in  
emerging markets 

In 2018, growth is expected 
to recover across emerging 
markets (estimated at 4.9%) 
and with the vast populations 
of China and India behind 
the economic recovery the 
shift in power will continue 
to move eastwards. 
Digital Revolution

Digitalisation is expected 
to play a major role in solving 
existing inefficiencies in power 
networks, many of which have 
arisen as a result of increasing 

demand and decarbonisation. 
Existing inefficiencies, which 
are particularly prevalent in 
developed markets, include 
the need for thermal base 
load power to cover the 
intermittency of renewables, 
which leads to uneconomic 
utilisation of these permanent 
power assets. 
In addition, huge volumes 
of data are collected 
by companies and this 
is increasingly being 
used to provide insight 
into how customers use 
products and services; this 
can then be translated 
into competitive advantage.

Population Growth
As populations continue to 
grow, demand for electricity 
increases; according to the 
UN, the global population 
is expected to rise by more 
than 1 billion by 2030.

1 billion 

global population growth 
by 2030 

Over 90% of this population 
growth will come from 
emerging or developing 
countries, which typically have 
low electrification rates and 
where electricity is available, 
reliability is often poor. 
Population growth will 
inevitably increase the 
power shortfall.

R E S U L T A N T   D R I V E R S   O F   O U R   B U S I N E S S

1

2

Increasing demand 
for power

Commodity  
prices

3

Regulation

4

5

Energy in transition
4a Decarbonisation
4b Decentralisation
4c Digitisation

Natural disasters  
and major events

08

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20171

Increasing demand for power

3

Regulation

Our markets have historically grown as a country’s economy 
grows, particularly in industrial sectors where finance is 
more available. The average GDP growth for the countries 
in which we operate is forecast to be around 2% per annum 
in Rental Solutions and 4% per annum in Power Solutions 
over the next few years (Source: IMF, October 2017). 

Governments around the world are removing restrictive 
legislation in order to support private investment and 
innovation in power infrastructure, thereby ensuring 
affordability and security of supply. In many countries this 
is the only way to provide the capital needed to generate 
and deliver more energy to support growing demand. 

In emerging markets, a lack of power can hinder a country’s 
economic development and as a result, we expect to see an 
increase in opportunities to support industrial customers in 
these markets. The Economist Intelligence Unit estimates that 
the average Sub-Saharan African manufacturing firm loses 
5.5% of annual sales due to power outages, over double the 
global average (2.6%). Nigeria has nearly 33 outages a month 
according to the World Bank.

+58%  

global power demand increase by 2040

In addition to increased economic activity, the longer term 
growth in global population and urbanisation will inevitably 
mean upward pressure on power demand and a worsening 
of the power gap in certain markets. Bloomberg New Energy 
Finance forecasts a 58% increase in global power demand 
between now and 2040. 

Policies supporting emissions reductions will continue to 
drive the growth in renewable energy. As renewable energy 
penetration increases, grids will become less stable and there  
will be a need for decentralised generation, such as ours, 
to provide stability and reliability. 

Ageing infrastructure in both developed and emerging 
economies and the retirement of technologies which are 
no longer deemed favourable, such as coal, will see a rise in 
construction of new power plants. However, with investment 
in developed market power infrastructure requiring trillions 
of dollars, we expect to see lower capital investment for power 
in emerging markets; this provides opportunities for us to meet 
bridging power needs for both utility and business customers 
in emerging markets, whilst deregulation offers opportunities 
for us in developed markets as energy systems decentralise.

2

4

Commodity prices

Energy in transition

Commodity dependent economies were particularly hard hit 
in recent years as prices fell substantially. In many countries 
this has driven diversification which, coupled with improving 
commodity prices in 2017, has resulted in a rise in industrial 
activity in many of our markets. Customers in these sectors 
have become more aware of the cost of energy and in 
response, we have been developing sector specific applications 
to meet their needs, such as the solar-diesel hybrid on mining 
sites and flare gas-to-power solutions.

The rise in oil prices, which fell below $30/bbl in 2016 and 
have since risen above $60/bbl, have varied effects on our  
customers. Those oil dependent countries should see 
liquidity constraints ease and commodity customers such 
as oil producers and miners may increase their output, which 
is beneficial for our business. However, higher oil prices will 
make power more expensive for other customers and so we 
continue to look at ways at reducing the overall cost of energy.

2016 Change in Commodity Prices

1.2

1.1

1.0

.90

.80

.70

Jan

Feb Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep Oct Nov Dec

Brent crude
Gold
WTI crude

Globally, the energy sector is going through a major transition; 
the challenge is to find the optimal way to secure energy 
supplies, affordably and sustainably.

There are three key themes of this transition: 

D E C A R B O N I S A T I O N

D E C E N T R A L I S A T I O N

D I G I T A L I S A T I O N

We are positioning ourselves for this future through the 
introduction of solar-diesel hybrid technology, next generation 
gas engines, increasing the overall efficiency of our engines and 
through the acquisition of energy storage integration specialist 
Younicos which will allow us to compete in the energy market 
of the future.

09

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017OUR PERFORMANCEOVERVIEWGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYT H E   M A R K E T P L A C E   ( C O N T I N U E D )

D E C A R B O N I S A T I O N

D E C E N T R A L I S A T I O N

4a Energy in transition:

Decarbonisation 

4b Energy in transition:

Decentralisation

Despite the US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement in 
June 2017, the transition towards clean energy will continue, 
as the world faces the realities of climate change. The US are 
now the only country in the world not to ratify the agreement, 
but individual cities and businesses are still working to comply.

In recent years, the price of renewables and storage has 
fallen substantially and innovation in technology, business 
models and payment structures will continue to support 
decarbonisation. Whilst 69% of electricity is still produced 
from fossil fuels globally, the International Energy Agency 
expects that 40% of total power needs will come from 
renewable energy by 2040. 

Fluctuations in power supply to the grid as renewable energy 
penetration rises will see an increasing need by utilities around 
the world for distributed generation such as ours, to stabilise 
the grid supply, and by businesses to guarantee reliability. 
Industrial customers are increasingly focused on decarbonising 
their operations where there is no economic penalty to do so, 
and our hybrid solutions enable them to do this. 

Future energy systems face the challenge of decarbonising at 
least cost while also ensuring that security of supply is met; 
distributed generation solves this problem. 

There is a clear trend towards distributed generation – 
in the UK, for example, power needs were previously met by 
80 power stations; now the UK has over 900,000 generating 
facilities, including domestic solar and wind. The rise of 
decentralised power has gone hand in hand with an increase 
in the number of individuals, organisations and communities 
setting up their own energy assets – commonly known as the 
democratisation of the energy system.

Our mobile and modular power is by its nature one of 
decentralised generation; we have the flexibility and the 
know-how to scale up or down, from large-scale utilities to 
small independent businesses, to meet our customer needs. 
Diesel generators have the fastest response time and relatively 
easy fuel sourcing, while gas and hybrid technologies offer 
a cheaper, cleaner alternative in certain conditions.

5

Natural disasters and major events

Reactive demand is caused by events that happen 
infrequently and cause a power shortage for a period 
of time. This is impossible to predict, but important work 
to support; reputation and fleet availability are essential to 
be able to respond to such an emergency and our global 
footprint enables us to deliver when we are needed most.

Typically this type of work is in response to a natural disaster 
or in post-conflict reconstruction and military support. 
Examples include Japan where we provided power 
following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Hurricane Harvey 
in North America and the Caribbean in 2017, and historically 
our military support in Iraq and Afghanistan.

10

High value, but low frequency events change the size of 
the market on a temporary basis with a need for short-term 
power, heating and cooling solutions. Typically these are major 
sporting occasions like the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup 
and Commonwealth Games. Our global scale, expertise and 
excellent reputation in executing these events means that we 
are well placed to win these contracts. In the last year we have 
won contracts for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 
2018 and the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 
in Australia. 

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017T H E   I M P A C T   O F   C O M P E T I T I O N

Across all our markets we compete with regional, 
national and local businesses. These are a mixture of 
privately-owned specialist rental businesses, divisions of 
large plant hire companies or OEM (Original Equipment 
Manufacturer) dealerships; few provide the sector specific 
solutions or engineering expertise that Aggreko does.

In developed markets, we have seen an increase in the 
larger general rental companies moving into speciality 
sectors, including power, heating and cooling over the 
last few years. This poses a potential threat to us and 
our strategic priorities and individual country and sector 
strategies are designed to address this.

In emerging markets we have several competitors who 
cover a wider geographical area across emerging markets, 
but we believe we are the only company with a truly global 
footprint. Overall demand has been slower in recent years 
due to the global economic downturn and, coupled with 
an oversupply situation, this has increased competitive 
tension in some markets. Our response, to maintain our 
position in this changing environment, has been to improve 
our technology offering, efficiency and customer focus.

D I G I T A L I S A T I O N

4c Energy in transition:

Digitalisation 

As energy systems become more complex, sophisticated 
systems and controls are required to integrate a variety of 
energy sources, whilst ensuring grid stability and reliability, 
and maximising efficiency. In addition, data connectivity 
and the associated data analytics and insight are transforming 
how we consume energy, by raising consumer awareness 
and giving more control over consumption. 

Digitalisation is also improving the operations of power 
generation, by giving instant feedback on outages, thus 
preventing failures and saving time and effort during repair. 
Furthermore, through our acquisition of Younicos we now have 
capabilities around storage and controls software enabling us 
to monitor and optimise energy production whilst ensuring 
stability and reliability.

We are also implementing several systems throughout our 
business and across different functions, such as our remote 
monitoring service, to change how we generate, deliver and 
maintain electricity generation for our customers.

S E C T O R   S P E C I F I C   M A R K E T   D R I V E R S

Demand  
for power
✔

Commodity 
prices
✔

Regulation
✔

✔

✔

✔

Utilities

Oil & Gas

Petrochemical & Refining

Quarrying & Mining

Events

Manufacturing

Business Services & Construction

Decarbonisation Decentralisation Digitalisation
✔

✔

✔

Natural disasters  
and major events
✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

11

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017OUR PERFORMANCEOVERVIEWGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYB U S I N E S S   M O D E L

We create value by providing innovative solutions in power,  
heating and cooling for our customers in key market sectors. 

The fundamental inputs we need are aligned with our strategic 
priorities, which will drive growth.

T H E   I N P U T S

65%  

net promoter score

1.2x  

net debt/ebitda

563 

development engineers

55 

years

Capital &  
operational 
efficiency
Our scale and strong balance 
sheet brings operational 
efficiencies and minimises our 
capital costs. Financial resources 
are allocated to deliver the best 
returns over the long term.

Customer  
focus
Our customers are the focus of 
everything that we do. Investing 
in our services to them enables 
us to deliver solutions with the 
power to make a difference for 
all our stakeholders.

Other stakeholder relationships
Engagement with all our 
stakeholders is critical 
in gaining and maintaining 
our license to operate, 
particularly in local 
communities.

Technology 
investment
Our engineers design 
and develop packages to 
deliver the lowest levelised 
cost of energy and unique 
tailored solutions for 
our customers.

Expert  
people
We have 55 years of operational 
experience and engineering 
capability which combined 
with sector expertise 
enables our people to 
make a massive difference.

Fleet
Our fleet is modular and mobile 
so can be configured into any 
number of different solutions 
and can be moved to where it is 
most needed around the world.

Read more about Customers  
on page 24 and our other 
stakeholders on page 26

Read more about Efficiency  
on page 27

Read more about Technology  
and Fleet on page 28

Read more about People  
on page 30

H O W   W E   
C R E A T E   
S H A R E D   
V A L U E

T H E   O U T P U T S

T H E   O U T C O M E S

Our outputs are the services we deliver to 
meet customer needs. Power, heating and 
cooling also result in unavoidable emissions, 
which we strive to minimise through our 
innovative approach.

4% underlying* revenue growth

£195m profit before tax and exceptional items

1.8% reduction in CO2 emissions

5   regions fully ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001
  certified with plans for global certification

*underlying excludes currency and pass-through fuel

Through our core business activities we 
create and sustain jobs, help businesses to 
thrive, pay taxes to government and enable 
countries and communities to develop. 
We believe that this opens up opportunity 
for people all over the world – Aggreko has 
the power to make a difference.

Taxes borne and collected £228m

Wages and benefits expended £401m

79% local workforce

Read more about our financial performance on page 36  
and about our CO2 emissions on page 101

Read more about  
our approach to tax on page 44

12

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017We focus on seven key sectors

Utilities

Petrochemical & Refining

Events

Business Services & Construction

Oil & Gas

Quarrying & Mining

Manufacturing

W H A T   W E   D O   F O R   O U R   C U S T O M E R S

Read more on page 7

Identify need

Develop solutions

Mobilisation

Operational  
support

Demobilisation

S T A R T   A G A I N

W H Y   O U R   C U S T O M E R S   B U Y   I N T E G R A T E D   S O L U T I O N S   F R O M   U S

Flexibility
Our customers value the flexibility that we 
offer them. That could be in the way that we 
can increase or decrease the services that we 
provide as their needs change, or in the way 
that we work to understand their particular 
needs and provide a tailored solution for them.

Scale
Our global reach combined 
with local presence means that we 
understand customer needs and market 
opportunities. We have the equipment 
and infrastructure in place to quickly 
serve customers around the world.

Total cost of energy
We are continually finding ways 
to reduce the cost of energy 
for our customers, be that 
through improved efficiency, 
introducing technology 
which uses cheaper fuels and 
increasingly the integration 
of thermal generation with 
renewables and storage.

C U S T O M E R 
F O C U S

Reliability
Many of the solutions we provide 
our customers are critical 
supply, where the opportunity 
cost for lost production or 
reputational damage are not 
an option. This makes reliability 
a critical factor and shapes the 
way we design our equipment 
and solutions.

Health, safety and ethics
The way we do business affects the 
world around us. We operate responsibly 
with a focus on health & safety and 
conduct ourselves ethically to support our 
customers, our people and the communities 
in which we operate.

Emissions
As climate change becomes an 
ever more important global issue, we have 
a responsibility to play our part. We constantly 
evolve our equipment to reduce emissions 
and explore new, more environmentally 
friendly fuels whilst also developing new 
ways to generate power, such as integrating 
renewables and storage.

Delivered by our two business units

D E V E L O P E D   M A R K E T S

Rental solutions

£720m  

Revenue

E M E R G I N G   M A R K E T S

Power solutions

£871m  

Revenue (excluding pass-through fuel)

13

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017OUR PERFORMANCEOVERVIEWGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGY 
 
 
 
 
 
O U R   S T R A T E G I C   P R I O R I T I E S

We have the power to make a difference

Our markets are dynamic and always evolving. To make sure that we 
remain well placed to optimise these opportunities and deliver improved 
financial performance, we are focused on four strategic priorities.

Customer Focus
Tailoring solutions to improve customer experience
 • Focusing on key sectors
 • Developing and deploying engineered solutions
 • Tailoring sales and service channels to customers
 • Maintaining good relationships with other stakeholders

Technology Investment
Reducing the total cost of energy through innovation
 • Develop market leading products
 • Improve fuel efficiency and environmental impact
 • Broaden range of energy sources
 • Maintaining an efficient and optimally sized fleet

Capital & Operational Efficiency
Optimising deployment of resources
 • Continued focus on costs
 • Improving processes and systems
 • Disciplined use of capital

Expert People
Cultivating a high performance organisation
 • Embedding our culture
 • Training and developing our people
 • Health, safety, wellbeing and security

14

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017O V E R V I E W

B U S I N E S S   S T R A T E G Y

O U R   P E R F O R M A N C E

G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L   &   
O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

S T O R I E S   A R O U N D   O U R   S T R A T E G Y

We have a huge sense of pride 
in delivering excellent, often time 
critical work for our customers,  
all over the world. 

These are some of the stories that 
show how we make a difference.

A G G R E K O   P L C  A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

15

C U S T O M E R   F O C U S

Providing solutions to our 
customers’ complex problems

Customers rely on Aggreko to use 
our 55 years of specialist knowledge, 
combined with a detailed sector 
focus, to provide services above 
and beyond the competition. 
A customer in the Petrochemical 
& Refining sector learned the 
value of the Aggreko approach 
when their flagship facility on 
the Gulf Coast experienced a 
collapse in its cooling tower.

The collapse meant that the capacity 
of the facility fell by between 20% 
and 40%, costing the plant $5 million 
a day. In 6 days the Aggreko Cooling 
Tower Services team designed 
and mobilised a solution involving 
9 miles of cable, 8 MW of gas 
power, diesel back‑up generators 
and 30,000 tons of cooling tower 
capacity. Initial estimates were that 
60,000 tons of cooling tower would 
be required, but despite the short 
timeframe the team managed to 
design a solution that cut this in 
half. So not only did the solution 
quickly prevent a $5 million a day 
loss, it did so efficiently.

TONS OF COOLING TOWERS SUPPLIED

16

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

30,000O V E R V I E W

B U S I N E S S   S T R A T E G Y

O U R   P E R F O R M A N C E

G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L   &   
O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

The team were able to use 
experience, engineering 
knowledge, and sector  
expertise to respond to  
an emergency situation  
with a high quality, efficient  
and effective solution.”

ROBERT HARRISON, REGIONAL SALES,  
SOUTHERN & CENTRAL UNITED STATES

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

17

6 DAYSDELIVERED IN8 MWC A P I T A L   &   O P E R A T I O N A L   E F F I C I E N C Y

Moving equipment to meet demand

Our equipment is designed and 
packaged to be moved with ease, 
so that we can follow customer need 
around the globe. Sometimes we 
need to move equipment quickly 
to meet our customers’ requirements.

Victoria, Australia was approaching 
the key Summer season with a tight 
power margin and needed a flexible 
solution that could help manage 
peak demand. They asked Aggreko to 
provide 110 MW for an initial period 
of 3 months, to help them ensure 
reliable supply.

The equipment had to comply with 
local noise and emission guidelines, 
so we needed to source it from a 
region with similar requirements. 
Another consideration was cost; 
shipping equipment costs money.

A site in Japan was off‑hiring, and 
by working with the customer, we 
were able to source the majority of 
the equipment from there. This has 
kept the costs low for our customer 
and has enabled us to maintain 
utilisation of the equipment, despite 
it having just off‑hired. Crucially, 
we have ensured that the people 
of Victoria will not suffer blackouts 
over the Summer.

74 MW SOURCED FROM JAPAN

18

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

110  MWprovidedMONTH INITIAL DURATIONO V E R V I E W

B U S I N E S S   S T R A T E G Y

O U R   P E R F O R M A N C E

G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L   &   
O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

19

110  MWprovidedT E C H N O L O G Y   I N V E S T M E N T

In July 2017 Aggreko acquired 
Younicos, a market leader 
in developing integrated 
energy systems

Younicos specialises in developing 
complex control systems to 
integrate renewable power sources 
with battery storage, and remove 
the intermittency in supply that 
renewables create. For example, 
a solar array can provide power to 
supply the grid, while also recharging 
the batteries, so these can take over 
at night or if there is cloud cover.

Aggreko’s traditional thermal 
offering, such as the G3+ diesel 
generators, or new gas engines, 
can easily be integrated in such a 
solution, providing back up power 
for periods of high demand, or 
where renewables are disrupted 
and the batteries run down. 
This means the customer has 
a guaranteed, reliable source of 
energy, and because the main fuel 
used is renewable, not fossil, they 
can substantially reduce their total 
cost of energy whilst reducing their 
environmental impact.

INVESTED IN R&D PRIOR TO THE ACQUISITION

20

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

OVER $100 MILLIONO V E R V I E W

B U S I N E S S   S T R A T E G Y

O U R   P E R F O R M A N C E

G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L   &   
O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

I am thrilled Younicos 
are joining the Aggreko 
team. With their skill 
set and knowledge 
of storage solutions 
and energy systems 
integration we can 
deliver environmentally 
friendly, economic 
solutions to our 
customer base. 
The possibilities 
are very exciting.”

DAN IBBETSON,  
MANAGING DIRECTOR, GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

YOUNICOS ALREADY HAS

OF INSTALLED SYSTEMS GLOBALLY

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

21

200 MWE X P E R T   P E O P L E

Coming together to help Houston

In August Hurricane Harvey had 
a devastating impact on Houston, 
the home of our Rental Solutions 
Head Office and many of 
our employees.

Our people wanted to help, and more 
than 70 volunteered to refurbish 
homes in the 5th ward, a historically 
underprivileged area that had been 
devastated. In particular, a complex 
of homes had been flooded by 15 feet 
of water and were unfit to live in.

Together with All Hands, a non 
profit organisation specialising in 
disaster recovery, the Aggreko team 
set about stripping out the homes 
and spraying them down with a 
toxin cleaner, so they were suitable 
for living and ready for further 
refurbishment. We also supplied 
our dehumidifiers to the site, for free, 
to help with the further recovery.

Our team had the chance to give 
back to their community, using 
their teamwork, the Aggreko values, 
and our market leading equipment.

It was great to see our 
equipment and our people 
make a real difference to the 
community in its time of need; 
it reminds me what we do 
every day across the globe.”

ERIKA LEE, COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, RENTAL SOLUTIONS

Aggreko
 employees
volunteered

DEHUMIDIFIERS SUPPLIED

22

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

778O V E R V I E W

B U S I N E S S   S T R A T E G Y

O U R   P E R F O R M A N C E

G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L   &   
O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

23

5 family homes restored O U R   S T R A T E G I C   P R I O R I T I E S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

How we have the power 
to make a difference

We expect to grow ahead 
of our markets and deliver 
margins and returns around 
20% in the medium-term.

C U S T O M E R   F O C U S

Tailoring solutions to improve customer experience

C A P I T A L   &   O P E R A T I O N A L   E F F I C I E N C Y

Optimising deployment of resources

T E C H N O L O G Y   I N V E S T M E N T

C U S T O M E R   F O C U S

Customers are at the heart of what we do. We are focused on 
how we interact with them: how we identify them, sell to and 
service them, and deliver the products and solutions that they 
need to deliver an exceptional customer experience. 

We have a deep understanding of customer needs and we 
use this to constantly create new applications to help solve 
their problems and expand our market opportunity. We are 
focused on providing a more tailored service to customers 
by better allocating our resources and being smarter about 
the way we meet customer needs. 

Our customers range from the very transactional who want 
standard equipment packages, an easy and repeatable 
experience and typically minimal human interaction, to full 
solution customers, who value our engineering and technical 
expertise. In both cases they can benefit from our detailed 
understanding of key sectors and the systems and processes 
that we are investing in to improve the customer experience. 

Market & Sector Expertise
We are focused on seven key sectors where we have a deep 
understanding of customer needs. In these sectors our ability 
to provide complex, integrated solutions that help solve our 
customers’ problems differentiates us from our competitors. 
For customers in these sectors, the opportunity cost of 
lost production or reputational damage are not an option. 
This is not an exclusive focus and we will invest in new sectors 
as they emerge.

The development of our Market Intelligence Platform, which 
gives us an in depth understanding of the market dynamics 
affecting the customers in each of our geographic markets, 
has enabled us to focus our attention on areas with the 
greatest opportunities for our business. It uses data from 
multiple sources to give our sales teams a detailed view 
of their markets under key areas such as economic and 
political stability; ability of customers to pay; the electricity 
supply and demand balance; and fuel availability and pricing.

Reducing the total cost of energy through innovation

Key sectors

Utilities
Expertise in high voltage and grid connections, providing 
solutions from emergency response to base load power.

Petrochemical & refining
Power and temperature control solutions optimise processes 
and improve production rates.

Events
A valued and trusted partner, offering high profile event 
knowledge and experience, combined with flexibility. 

Business services & construction
Provision of reliable power, heating, cooling and 
dehumidification solutions to our customers in construction, 
services and contracting. 

Oil & gas
Solutions where the grid is unavailable, to eliminate bottlenecks 
and monetise gas by-products, from exploration to production.

Quarrying & mining
Fully flexible, cost effective, solutions for every stage of the 
mining life cycle. 

Manufacturing
Solutions to enhance processes and overcome power and 
temperature control challenges, reducing costly downtime.

E X P E R T   P E O P L E

Cultivating a high performance organisation

24

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

Systems & Processes
We have introduced an enhanced customer relationship 
management (CRM) system, which has been rolled out 
across most of the business and will be complete early in 2018. 
This allows us to better understand customer requirements 
by analysing history and service provision, which will benefit 
both customer service and sales. It is also changing the way 
we work, increasing collaboration and the speed with which 
we can serve our customers.

During the year we also implemented a new website and 
improved digital offering. In time this will evolve to be an 
ecommerce platform, providing a more agile, cost-effective 
sales channel and a better service proposition.

Sales Capability & Training
We have invested some of the savings generated from 
streamlining our operating model in recruiting more sales 
people with specific industry expertise in our key sectors. 
The majority of these are local hires with strong networks 
and complement the wealth of experience we already have. 
To develop our sales capability, we have created a bespoke 
training programme for all of our sales people including the 
new joiners. This is supported by a new online tool which 
builds detailed knowledge of our products, how we deliver 
them and our key market sectors, as well as ethics and 
safety. Our classroom and on the job training modules are 
comprehensive, ensuring our people are well-equipped to 
understand our customers’ needs and to propose solutions.

Global Accounts & Lines of Business
For smaller product lines that are common across 
the Group we have established global lines of business. 
This includes our renewables and storage offering, as well 
as power adjacencies such as temperature control and 
loadbanks. By creating a global accountability for these 
products we are incubating them as we look to capture 
incremental adjacencies. 

As a global business, we serve a number of customers 
in multiple countries and we are uniquely positioned 
to provide services globally. For these larger customers 
we are implementing global account management. 
These are existing customer relationships which we can 
develop across geography or sector to replicate solutions, 
savings and share learnings whilst delivering growth and 
a better customer experience.

Given the opportunity we see in this area, this has 
become a standalone business unit, Global Solutions, 
in 2018 and will be led by Dan Ibbetson. As the contracts 
will mainly be delivered through the Rental Solutions 
and Power Solutions businesses, it will not result in any 
change in reporting structure. 

I N N O V A T I N G   T H E   W A Y   
W E   C O L L E C T   C U S T O M E R   F E E D B A C K

As we began our transformation we undertook detailed 
research into our customers’ views. We also realised that 
our existing tool for collecting more regular feedback was 
inadequate for today’s market. Towards the end of the year 
we upgraded our Net Promoter Score (NPS) programme 
which is now called Aggreko Listens.

The new programme is designed to engage customers and 
help us address issues that matter most to them. This will 
help us accelerate revenue growth by uncovering new 
opportunities and prioritise investments that will benefit our 
customers. The programme incorporates both experiential 
feedback (about particular steps in the customer journey) 
and relationship feedback (capturing how customers 
feel about being an Aggreko customer). Every member 
of our customer facing team will have access to real-time 
feedback from their customers via their mobile phones, 
and the solution is fully integrated into our CRM system.

Home
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+  Add Dashboard 

Executive

Time period: Past 6 weeks 
Calculation: Average

Show Filters

Overall NPS >

Response Rate – Overall >

0

-25

25

-50

50

-75

-100

53

75

100

30

20

10

0

40 50 60

13.6

70

80

90

100

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NPS Percentages

e
g
a
t
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e
c
r
e
P

150

100

50

0

46.7

65.8

53.6

16.7

Week of 12/17

Week of 12/24

Week of 12/31

Week of 01/07

Week of 01/14

Week of 01/21

Week of 01/28

Month

NPS        Detractor        Passive        Promoter

We are transforming the way we do business and serve 
our customers. Improving the way we collect feedback 
is just another piece of the puzzle that will strengthen 
our customer relationships going forward.

Watch Dan discuss how energy markets are changing online: 
plc.aggreko.com/investors/investor-centre/ 
2017-annual-report-summary

Read more about NPS on page 32

25

OUR PERFORMANCEOVERVIEWGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
O U R   S T R A T E G I C   P R I O R I T I E S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

S O C I A L

C U S T O M E R   F O C U S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Other key stakeholder relationships

Our objective is to remain the leading provider of modular, mobile power, heating and cooling, delivering long-term value 
to Shareholders, outstanding service to customers and rewarding careers to our employees. 

Open and honest engagement is critical in gaining and maintaining our licence to operate. As we work in a wide variety of countries, 
and the end user of our products is not always our customer, it is particularly important that we build and maintain constructive 
relationships in the communities in which we operate.

Our key stakeholders and what we offer them are outlined below:

£

Investors

Local 
Communities

 • Investment in long-term growth with good returns

 • Supporting industry and commerce

 • Exposure to a mix of developed and emerging markets

 • Providing power for communities

 • Sustainable dividend policy

 • Local employment and skills development

Employees

Suppliers

 • Potential to develop skills and opportunities

 • Partnership

 • Strong ‘Always Orange’ culture

 • Shared insights and innovation

 • The power to make a positive difference 

 • Consistent commercial terms being implemented 

across the Group

Read more about our people page 30

Read more about how we engage with our stakeholders page 74

26

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
C A P I T A L   &   O P E R A T I O N A L   E F F I C I E N C Y

We finance our business with a combination of equity 
and debt; our scale brings operational efficiencies and 
minimises our capital costs. Financial resources are allocated 
where they can deliver the best returns over the long term, 
always ensuring we retain a strong balance sheet. 

Beyond organic investment our capital allocation framework 
looks to bolt-on acquisitions for scale or capability where 
we see opportunities for growth. We remain committed to 
a sustainable ordinary dividend and where we have excess 
capital will look to distribute it to our Shareholders.

Given fast changing customer expectations and a competitive 
environment, it is important that we continue to drive efficiency 
improvements through our business and optimise deployment 
of our resources. 

Operational efficiency
Over the last few years our focus has been on a number 
of specific actions, in particular removing duplication and 
streamlining back office processes. Efficiency is a continuous 
process and we are working to deliver ongoing savings across 
the Group through a continued analysis of costs and improving 
processes and systems. 

Our procurement programme has now delivered savings 
of around £60 million and we expect it to continue to realise 
further incremental savings. We are now looking at how 
we can improve fleet utilisation through further automating 
fleet management and implementing condition based 
servicing. This will help drive an improvement in return 
on capital employed.

The actions that we are taking will enhance our capability and 
improve our competitive position whilst providing customers 
the best possible service at the lowest possible cost.

Read more about fleet utilisation page 33

Capital allocation
Effective capital allocation is critical to delivering value 
given the capital intensive nature of our business. We take 
a disciplined approach to allocating our capital, forecasting 
returns for each project before, during and after its completion. 
This keeps the business focused on return on capital employed 
which is a key metric for ensuring we deliver long term value.

How we plan to use our capital

Capital allocation framework

Invest  
for  
growth

Bolt-on  
M&A  
opportunities

Sustainable 
dividend

Return  
surplus 
cash to  
Shareholders

Maintain strong balance sheet 
Leverage c.1 x net debt/EBITDA

Balance sheet strength
Our aim is to maintain a balance sheet structure that safeguards 
our financial position through economic cycles. 

Given the proven ability of the business to fund organic growth 
from operating cash flows, and the nature of our business 
model, we believe it is appropriate to run the business with a 
modest amount of debt. However, given our high operational 
gearing we believe that it is unwise to also have high financial 
gearing. Therefore, we believe gearing of around one times net 
debt to EBITDA is appropriate, recognising from time to time it 
may be higher for a period of time as investment opportunities 
present themselves. At the end of 2017, net debt to EBITDA was 
1.2 times (2016: 1.2 times).

During the year, cash flows from operations were £450 million 
and, subject to Shareholder approval, the proposed final 
dividend of 17.74 pence will result in a full year dividend 
of 27.12 pence per Ordinary Share.

Read more about our approach to financing page 47

Read more about return on capital employed page 35

Our priority is to invest for long-term growth. We retain 
our fleet throughout its useful life, and therefore invest 
in fleet maintenance. As demand grows, we invest 
against the opportunities, both with existing and new 
technologies. During the year we spent £246 million 
on fleet capital expenditure.

27

OUR PERFORMANCEOVERVIEWGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
O U R   S T R A T E G I C   P R I O R I T I E S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

E N V I R O N M E N T A L

T E C H N O L O G Y   I N V E S T M E N T

We innovate and invest in our technology to better meet 
customer needs, either saving our customers money by 
lowering the total cost of energy, or reducing emissions. 
At a minimum, all our solutions are fully compliant with local 
emissions regulations, which vary from country to country.

We have built a team of specialist engineers at our in-house 
manufacturing and technology facility in Dumbarton, 
Scotland. They intimately understand the requirements 
of the environments in which the fleet operates and in the 
last few years we have strengthened our capability to adapt 
to the changing market conditions.

Technology life cycle

Our substantial knowledge of customer wants and needs 
by sector and geography allows us to focus on developing 
products to suit them. We then invest to make sure we 
have the best equipment in the market. Out in the field, our 
engineers develop unique tailored solutions for our customers 
which in some cases are patented. These can then be shared 
globally to benefit all our customers.

As we design and develop our equipment in-house, we have 
considerable intellectual property. To capitalise on this we 
have implemented a process to capture and manage it.

Our technology investment is focused on two main areas,  
reducing the total cost of energy and our environmental impact.

O U R   K N O W L E D G E   O F   T H E   G L O B A L   M A R K E T S   A N D   C U S T O M E R   N E E D S

Decommission

Refurbish

Project feedback

In-house  
design and  
manufacture

3rd-party buy

Project

New product  
development

T E S T ,   V A L I D A T E

28

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
E N V I R O N M E N T A L

T E C H N O L O G Y   I N V E S T M E N T   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Reducing the total cost of energy

As fuel is the greatest element of cost in producing power, particularly diesel, we have worked to improve the fuel efficiency 
of our equipment and continue to do so under our strategic priorities.

Upgrading our existing fleet to improve efficiency
Diesel: 25% of our 1 MW fleet is now refurbished to the market 
leading G3+. This delivers a five percentage point improvement 
in fuel efficiency and a 14 percentage point increase in 
power output versus the original engine. We undertake this 
refurbishment in-house for a lower capital cost than the 
original engine. 

In 2018 we plan to complete around a further 200 MW 
of refurbishments, and will also introduce an even more 
fuel efficient variant, the G16.

Introducing new fuel types and integrating renewables
Solar diesel hybrid: in 2017 we signed our first solar-diesel  
hybrid contract in Eritrea. This integrates solar panels with 
our existing diesel solution. By prioritising solar energy 
and using diesel when there is insufficient sun or at night, 
the customer lowers its total cost of energy.

Younicos: during the year we purchased Younicos, 
a specialist in battery storage and the integration 
of multiple energy sources.

Flexibility and reliability of fleet
Our fleet is modular and mobile, so it can be configured 
to provide any number of different solutions to meet our 
customers’ needs. It can also be moved to where it is most 
needed around the world, which enables us to quickly 
respond to our customers whilst ensuring optimum utilisation. 

There are three main product types: power generation, 
temperature control and oil free air. Power generation 
is the largest part of the fleet, with a net book value 
of £831 million and generating £1,010 million of revenue.

Gas: we are gradually replacing our legacy gas fleet with 
a market leading engine, Next Generation Gas (NGG). 
We have 252 MW of these new engines in the fleet, and will 
bring more in with market demand and as we replace the 
older engines at the end of their useful life. It delivers greater 
power output at a lower capital cost and offers customers 
a 10 percentage point improvement in fuel efficiency versus 
the QSK60, which equates to c.£5 million of savings a year 
for a customer running 80 MW of gas as base load.

By integrating our diesel or gas fleet with renewables and 
storage we can offer customers lower cost, cleaner and more 
reliable solutions.

HFO: we have introduced 177 MW of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) 
engines to our fleet. HFO is a less expensive fuel than diesel, 
but is more readily available than gas.

By working closely with our strategic suppliers we take 
established, but market leading, technology and use our 
engineering expertise to package it in a modular, mobile 
format. Our equipment is designed and assembled by us, 
most commonly into 20 foot shipping containers which 
makes it easy to move, at the lowest possible cost.

Our supplier agreements cover the life of the assets, and 
through looking at the ongoing planned and unplanned 
maintenance as well as the initial build cost, we are reducing 
the total cost of ownership. The substantial performance 
data that we collect on our equipment also enables us to 
gain insight into the optimum operating conditions over the 
lifetime and provide a differentiated service to our customers.

Environmental impact

The provision of electricity, heating and cooling are essential 
activities in our global economy; however, they come with 
challenges, particularly environmental. As a consequence of 
the fuel sources that we use in our products, it is inevitable that 
some of our activities will have an impact on the environment. 

Our equipment and processes are designed to comply with 
applicable laws, regulations and industry standards wherever we  
operate in the world. We are constantly exploring new ways of  
reducing emissions from our fleet and increasing fuel efficiency. 
We regularly review product technologies, looking for advances  
that we can adopt into our product portfolio; our technology 
roadmap is looking at bio-fuels, fuel cells and waste heat recovery.

We acknowledge that the carbon footprint of our fleet 
is substantial. However, in countries where electrification 
rates are low, there is understandably less interest in the 
environmental impact; cost is more important as power 
helps economic development and improves the quality of 
life for local communities. That said, it is our responsibility to 
mitigate the carbon footprint of our products where we can.

Read more about our greenhouse gas emissions page 101

In 2017, 99% of our greenhouse gas emissions came from the 
operation of our fleet. Three main factors drive our emissions: 
the fuel type our customers use; the pattern of their usage; 
and the fuel efficiency of our fleet.

We are also aware of the other environmental impacts of our 
operations, such as refrigerant emissions and noise pollution. 
In each case we continuously work to reduce the impact that 
we have on the environment, for example using custom-built 
acoustic enclosures, high performance isolation and 
attenuation systems to reduce noise.

P O W E R I N G   A   R E M O T E   M I N E   I N   E R I T R E A

In May we signed a 10-year contract to provide solar-diesel 
hybrid power to a mining customer, Nevsun, in Eritrea. 

Our solar-diesel hybrid package combines cost-effectiveness 
and clean renewable energy with the reliability of diesel-
generated power to provide uninterrupted power 24/7. 

Our solution comprises 22 MW of diesel and 7.5 MW of 
solar-generated power and has reduced the customer’s 
fuel consumption by 3.8 million litres, avoiding 10,500 tons 
of CO2 annually. 

29

OUR PERFORMANCEOVERVIEWGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
O U R   S T R A T E G I C   P R I O R I T I E S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

S O C I A L

G O V E R N A N C E

E X P E R T   P E O P L E

Our people are central to the great service Aggreko provides 
and are a critical contributor to our success. We have 55 years  
of operational experience and engineering capability, 
combined with sector expertise and customer focus, 
and it is key that we retain this.

Selecting the right people, continuous development, and 
training for capability are important areas we continue to  
improve, coupled with an intent to foster a safe, supportive 
and stimulating environment for our employees. Through our 
Always Orange culture, we are focused on providing our people 
with the power to make a difference.

Ensuring a safe place to work
Our business involves electrical equipment which can pose 
safety issues when not handled properly. We have a number 
of established policies and protocols designed to protect 
our employees and customers, including effective training, 
testing and risk assessments. During the year we implemented 
an authorisation process for all our people that work on our 
equipment. It is with deep regret that we report that one of 
our employees lost his life in an electrical accident during the 
year. An in depth investigation into the cause of this accident 
has been carried out and recommendations implemented in 
the country concerned. These are now being rolled out more 
widely across the Group.

Given that we operate in many areas of the world which can 
be categorised as high risk, we consider the safety and security 
of our employees working in these locations to be our most 
critical issue. We want everyone who works for Aggreko to 
return home safely every day. 

During the year we implemented a single global travel 
management system which enables us to know where our 
people are at all times. Our Group security function works 
with external advisers, who provide us with the on-the-ground 
knowledge that we need to make decisions on our operations 
in high risk areas; this includes a mobile phone app which 
allows our people to check the latest advice for any country 
around the world and automatically updates key advice for 
the country which they are in. It also has the capability to 
track travellers and an added ‘alarm’ function, which triggers 
an emergency response. 

Read more about Lost Time Injuries page 34

Read more about safety and security risk page 52

Always Orange
Aggreko is a strong and unique business and our culture 
reflects that. We have a clear purpose underpinned by 
four values and associated behaviours.

Our purpose
We believe in the positive impact of power and the ability 
to control temperature. We believe it opens up opportunity 
and creates potential for individuals, communities, industries 
and societies all over the world. 

Together and over time, we believe our services make 
a massive difference.

30

O U R   V A L U E S   A R E :

Be Dynamic

We use our entrepreneurial passion to deliver and  
we thrive on making great things happen.

Be Expert

We use our blend of experience, expertise and  
planning to keep us ahead of the game.

Be Together

We ask the best of each other and harness our scale and 
diverse skills to grow stronger together.

Be Innovative

We learn from the world for a better today and  
for great leaps tomorrow.

Together these embody our culture:  
Always Orange.

Making a massive difference
Aggreko is fortunate to work in a wide variety of countries 
and our social contribution is one way of giving back to the 
community. During 2017 we began implementing our new 
community investment strategy. 

We actively engage in supporting the local communities 
we work in and we do this in a number of ways. We are 
proactive in recruiting locally from the community, with over 
100 nationalities across the Group; for example, in both Brazil 
and Russia, 99% of the workforce is comprised of local staff. 
We provide extensive on-the-job training for new recruits and 
give them the skills to become technicians. We also get the 
benefit of highly skilled staff, trained on our own equipment. 
It helps us build relationships in the local community which are 
very important when we might be operating a contract for a 
number of years. Our charitable donations are largely focused 
on the education and wellbeing of children and 2017 marked 
the 10th anniversary of our partnership with BookAid.

Attracting and developing great people
We recognise that localisation of talent provides many benefits 
to the Group and to the communities in which we operate, 
which is why we actively recruit local people wherever 
possible, training them and providing them with career 
opportunities with the Group. Globally, 79% of our workforce 
is locally employed. We also have a number of programmes 
around the world to develop the skills of school-leavers, such 
as Aggreko University (Ivory Coast), SelecTech (USA) and our 
UK apprenticeship programme. 

This year we delivered over 115,000 hours of employee training 
and development, particularly focused on our growing sales 
team. Whilst it is essential that our people are properly trained, 
we recognise that investment in our employees has a direct 
and positive impact on our employee retention rates and 
the engagement levels of our staff; training is a combination 
of on-the-job learning and specific skill development through 
training courses. Succession planning is used to identify 
employees for potential future roles and align development 
with this objective to ensure that the Group continues 
to have effective management well into the future.

Read more about Talent Management risk page 51

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
Recognising performance
Aggreko’s remuneration arrangements seek to support the 
delivery of our business strategy by attracting, retaining and 
motivating talented people at all levels.

Pay for performance and rewarding value creation is at the 
heart of Aggreko’s remuneration approach. The Company’s 
remuneration policy is aligned with the key objectives of 
growing earnings and delivering strong returns on capital 
employed. These metrics are used for the Group’s long-term 
incentive scheme and senior managers’ annual bonuses.

Read more about remuneration policy page 90

Increasing employee engagement
‘Be Heard’ is our quarterly survey to capture sentiment 
across the Group on a regular basis. We assess three areas: 
Say, whether an employee is an advocate for Aggreko; 
Stay, whether an employee remains loyal and committed 
to the business; and Strive, whether an employee does the 
best that they can within their team. The responses can be 
distilled down into an overall employee engagement score, 
which for the most recent survey was 75%, up 3% on last year. 
Within this, 88% of people said they are proud to work for 
Aggreko, again up 3%.

Read more about employee turnover page 34

Diversity
We are acutely aware that our long-term success depends on 
the people that we attract, retain and develop. In a diverse and 
competitive world a workforce that reflects the diversity of our 
customers and the communities in which we operate, together 
with an inclusive culture, is critical to ensure that we can 
deliver a better service for our customers. Improving diversity 
and inclusion – including gender, ethnicity, social mobility, 
age, religion, disability and sexuality – is therefore becoming 
increasingly important for us. We are on a journey to shape 
the awareness, attitude and behaviour of our people to 
diversity and inclusion.

Our workforce of around 6,000 people comprises over 
100 nationalities, whilst our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) of 
around 70 individuals, includes 16 nationalities, demonstrating 
that we are already bringing together a variety of experiences 
and views. During the year, we also introduced a diversity 
policy for the Board.

The UK Government requires UK businesses with more than 
250 employees to publish their Gender Pay Gap Reporting 
statistics as at 5 April 2017 within one year of this date, and 
then on an annual basis. Whilst the gender pay gap is not 
about equal pay for men and women doing the same job, 
ensuring that we equally pay men and women wherever we 
operate in the world is imperative. The gender pay gap takes 
into account all jobs, at all levels and all salaries within an 
organisation. This means the gender pay gap paints a picture 
of the level of roles that women carry out in an organisation.

In common with many other businesses in our sector, women 
in Aggreko are disproportionally represented in more junior 
verses more senior roles; this will be reflected in our Gender 
Pay Gap data. We have always considered ourselves to be 
welcoming of women at all levels and believe that diversity 
and inclusion more broadly promotes the inclusion of 
different perspectives, which has been proven to deliver 
better business outcomes. 

Diversity and inclusion, and the gender pay gap in particular, are  
now an area of focus as we acknowledge the need, and desire, 
to address the imbalance. We are establishing a team which 
will look at diversity on a group-wide basis, determine what 
changes need to be made and work with the business to 
implement them over the next few years. Our full gender pay gap 
disclosure, including the actions we are taking, will be published 
on our website in line with the government guidelines. 
Our diversity statistics for 31 December 2017 are below.

Gender of Executive Committee*

Male
Female

No.

7
2

%

78%
22%

*  Since Carole Cran’s departure and the appointment of Heath Drewett, in January 2018, 
our current Executive Committee gender balance is Male 8 (89%) and Female 1 (11%).

I N V E S T I N G   I N   T H E   F U T U R E

Gender of Executive Committee direct reports*

It is important that we provide a lasting legacy in the 
communities in which we operate. In the Ivory Coast, 
close to our 200 MW gas power station, we worked with 
the Vridi Canal Group of schools to provide electrical 
expertise and supplies as part of their refurbishment. 

Our engineers helped train the local school technicians 
in how to install lighting, switches and other related 
equipment we donated, along with basic electrical safety 
skills. This investment will help secure a better future 
for these children, their families and their country.

Male
Female

No.

33
11

%

75%
25%

*  We have selected the direct reports of our Executive Committee as we believe this 
to be a better reflection of our senior management structure than the composition 
of our subsidiary companies, which is made up of 112 males and 13 females.

Gender of permanent employees

Male
Female

Nationality diversity of permanent employees

European (incl. Russia)
North American
Latin American
Asian
African
Australian
Middle Eastern

Read more about Board diversity pages 61 and 67

No.

4,847
906

No.

1,813
1,045
919
1,013
588
301
74

%

84%
16%

%

32%
18%
16%
18%
10%
5%
1%

31

OUR PERFORMANCEOVERVIEWGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
O U R   K E Y   P E R F O R M A N C E   I N D I C A T O R S

How we performed 

Customer Focus, Capital & Operational Efficiency, Technology Investment 
and Expert People and their related KPIs provide a clear tool to measure the 
delivery of our strategic priorities; the remaining financial KPIs are directly 
impacted by this performance and are the resulting outcome.

Customer loyalty

Customer activity

C U S T O M E R   F O C U S

Measure
Net Promoter Score (NPS). From 2018 
this will be known as Aggreko Listens. 
The data gathered will be more 
comprehensive and therefore 
how we present this may change. 

Relevance
It is important that we understand the 
extent to which we meet our customers’ 
needs. NPS measures the proportion 
of our customers who think we do an 
excellent job against those who think 
we are average or worse.

Target
Sustainable improvements in the NPS 
over time.

Performance
The improvement in the year has mainly 
been driven by an improvement in 
customer feedback in Rental Solutions, 
as the strategic measures we have 
implemented take effect. 

Net Promoter Score

65%

Group Average Power MW on-hire

6,613 MW

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

j

6,613

6,571

6,771

6,621

6,625

Measure
Group average power megawatts 
on-hire. Historically we have reported 
Power Solutions Utility order intake 
and off-hire rate. This does not represent 
the whole Group, only a part of it and 
therefore this year we have changed the 
metric to better reflect the business mix. 

Relevance
Average megawatts on-hire across the 
year provides a good measure of the 
activity of the business globally. It also 
provides a good indicator of how our 
strategy, sales approach and pricing 
are being received in the market.

Target
Over time we aim to increase the 
average megawatts on-hire, however 
this cannot be at the expense of 
price and therefore this KPI should 
always be considered alongside the 
financial metrics. 

Performance
During the year we have seen a very 
slight improvement in the average 
megawatts on-hire, however the 
chart also shows that over the past 
five years this metric has been fairly 
steady. This demonstrates the resilience 
of our business and the strength of the 
product and brand.

j

65%

63%

63%

58%

64%

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

32

Read more about our 

  customer initiatives page 24

Read more about the performance  

  of the business page 36

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017  
  
 
C A P I T A L   &   O P E R A T I O N A L   E F F I C I E N C Y

T E C H N O L O G Y   I N V E S T M E N T

Capital activity

Measure
Fleet utilisation by business unit.

Relevance
We are a capital intensive business and 
in order to generate strong returns on 
our capital investment our fleet needs 
to be well utilised. Across our businesses 
we use physical utilisation as a metric 
(average MW on-hire divided by the 
total fleet size in MW).

Target
In our Rental Solutions and Power 
Solutions Industrial businesses we are 
targeting utilisation of between 60-70%, 
whilst in our Power Solutions Utility 
business we target over 80%.

Performance
In 2017 we saw utilisation in our 
Rental Solutions and Power Solutions 
Industrial businesses improve as our 
business priority initiatives helped 
grow our businesses. We need to see 
further improvements to meet our 
targets, but the progress is encouraging. 

In our Power Solutions Utility business 
order intake was slow in the first part 
of the year, and so utilisation fell.

Power Solutions: Industrial Utilisation

68%

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Power Solutions: Utility Utilisation

74%

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Rental Solutions Utilisation

56%

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

j

68%

63%

65%

65%

62%

x

74%

79%

77%

76%

74%

j

56%

52%

55%

57%

57%

Fleet size and composition

Measure
Total power fleet size (in MW), split 
between generation type (diesel, 
diesel G3+, gas, Next Generation Gas 
(NGG), HFO).

Relevance
Our strategy is to grow ahead of the 
market. To remain competitive we 
have to offer our customers cheaper 
and cleaner sources of energy that 
can be adapted to meet their needs. 
The best way to do this is through more 
fuel efficient engines and using cheaper 
and cleaner fuels where appropriate.

Target
Increasing proportions of our market 
leading products in fuel efficiency, 
the diesel G3+ and Next Generation Gas 
engine, and the introduction of clean 
energy sources such as solar and storage. 

Performance
During the year we have refurbished 
more diesel engines to the G3+ and 
introduced more NGG engines. We have 
also begun to introduce solar, but this 
is immaterial in the context of the 
overall fleet. 

Power Fleet Composition at 31 December 2017 

9,920 MW

1  Diesel 64% (71%)

2  Diesel G3 +14% (8%)

3  Gas 18% (18%)

4  NGG 3% (2%)

5  HFO 2% (1%)

2

(2016 total: 9,666 MW
 figures in parentheses)

4 5

3

1

33

Read more about 

  Capital & operational efficiency page 27

Read more about our  

  technology initiatives page 28

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017  
  
O U R   K E Y   P E R F O R M A N C E   I N D I C A T O R S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

S O C I A L

E X P E R T   P E O P L E

G R O U P   F I N A N C I A L   P E R F O R M A N C E

Safety

Employee satisfaction

Underlying revenue growth

Measure
Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR).

Measure
Employee turnover.

Relevance
Rigorous safety processes are absolutely 
essential if we are to avoid accidents 
or incidents which could cause injury 
to people and damage to property 
and reputation. The main KPI we use 
to measure safety performance is Lost 
Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) which 
takes the number of lost time injuries 
and divides by the number of man 
hours worked. A lost time accident is 
a work related injury that results in an 
employee’s inability to work the shift 
after the initial injury.

Target
Continued reduction in accident rates.

Performance
Safety has been an area of focus in 2017, 
with a number of initiatives to improve 
awareness, such as Energy Safety Rules 
and a manual handling programme. 
Importantly, there have been more 
management safety walks and safety 
conversations, all of which helped drive 
the reduction in LTIFR. 

Relevance
It is the attitude, skill and motivation of 
our people which makes the difference 
between mediocre and excellent 
performance. We monitor permanent 
employee turnover as a reasonable proxy 
for how employees feel. It is measured 
as the number of employees who left the 
Group (other than through redundancy) 
during the period as a proportion of 
the total average employees during 
the period.

Target
We aim to keep permanent employee 
turnover below historic levels in 
order to retain the skill base that 
we have developed.

Performance
This year employee turnover was slightly 
lower than the prior year as the business 
has stabilised and measures taken to 
improve engagement begin to have 
an effect.

Measure
Revenue growth excluding the 
impact of currency movements 
and pass-through fuel.

Relevance
As a business that is exposed to different 
cycles, we look at revenue growth over 
time and compare this to how the 
market has performed in order to deliver 
Shareholder value. This is calculated as 
the adjusted revenue growth over the 
previous year.

Target
Our medium-term strategy is to grow 
ahead of our markets.

Performance
Revenue declined in Power Solutions 
Utility as a result of the repricing of 
contracts in Argentina. Across the 
rest of the business adjusted revenue 
grew, with Rental Solutions up 9% and 
Power Solutions Industrial up 20%. 

Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate

Employee Turnover

Underlying Revenue Growth

0.25

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

x

8%

0.25

2017

0.45

2016

0.39

2015

0.40

2014

0.68

2013

J

8%

9%

4%

2017

2016

11%

2015

13%

2014

11%

2013

D

4%

(10)%

(3)%

9%

0%

Read more about  

  health and safety page 30

Read more about 
  our people page 30

Read more about  
  our markets page 8

34

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017  
  
  
G R O U P   F I N A N C I A L   P E R F O R M A N C E

Pre-exceptional operating 
profit margin

Pre-exceptional return  
on capital employed

Pre-exeptional diluted 
earnings per share

Measure
Pre-exceptional operating profit margin.

Relevance
Our business has a large fixed cost 
base, therefore strong operating profit 
margins demonstrate variable cost 
control and leverage of the fixed asset 
base. This is calculated as operating 
profit pre-exceptional items divided 
by revenue.

Target
Our medium-term strategy is for 
Group operating profit margins to 
be around 20%.

Performance
The operating profit margin was 
adversely impacted by the decline in 
revenue following contract repricing in 
Argentina. Further detail is provided in 
the Performance Review on page 36.

Measure
Pre-exceptional return on capital 
employed (ROCE).

Relevance 
In a business as capital intensive as 
Aggreko’s, profitability alone is not an 
adequate measure of performance: it is 
perfectly possible to be generating good 
margins, but poor value for Shareholders, 
if assets (and in particular, fleet) are 
being allocated incorrectly. We calculate 
ROCE by dividing operating profit 
pre-exceptional items for a period by the 
average of the net operating assets as at 
1 January, 30 June and 31 December.

Target
Our medium-term strategy is for ROCE 
to be around 20%.

Performance
The ROCE was adversely impacted by 
the lower operating profit. Further detail 
is provided in the Performance Review 
on page 36.

Measure
Pre-exceptional diluted EPS.

Relevance
We believe that EPS, while not perfect, 
is an accessible measure of the returns 
we are generating as a Group for our 
Shareholders, and reflects both revenue 
growth and trading margins. So, for 
the Group as a whole, the key measure 
of short-term financial performance is 
diluted EPS, pre-exceptional items. EPS is 
calculated based on profit attributable to 
equity Shareholders (adjusted to exclude 
exceptional items) divided by the diluted 
weighted average number of Ordinary 
Shares ranking for dividend during the 
relevant period.

Target
Whilst we are exposed to different 
cycles and EPS varies accordingly, 
we target growing EPS in line with 
our strategic aims.

Performance
EPS was impacted by lower operating 
profit. Further detail is provided in the 
Performance Review on page 36.

Pre-exceptional Operating 
Profit Margin

Pre-exceptional Return On 
Capital Employed

Pre-exceptional Diluted EPS

13%

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

J

13%

16%

11%

2017

2016

18%

2015

20%

2014

23%

2013

J

11%

13%

53.94p

2017

2016

16%

2015

19%

2014

21%

2013

Metrics that are used for remuneration

Metrics that are used for remuneration

Read more about 

  our financial performance page 36

Read more about  

  capital efficiency page 27

Read more about our 

  earnings per share page 129

J

53.94p

61.95p

71.68p

82.49p

92.03p

35

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017  
  
  
G R O U P   P E R F O R M A N C E   R E V I E W

Underlying Group revenue  
was up 4% on the prior year, 
with Rental Solutions up 9%, 
Power Solutions Industrial 
up 20% and Utility down 9%.

Heath Drewett
Chief Financial Officer

Group revenue and growth

£1,730m 

+4%

Operating margin (pre-exceptional items)

13%

ROCE (pre-exceptional items)

11%

1   Underlying change excludes currency, pass-through fuel and exceptional 

items. A reconciliation between reported and underlying change is detailed 
on page 44. 

2 Pre exceptional items.

3  Group and PSU reconciliation excluding Argentina is detailed on page 44.

36

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

This year’s performance has been materially impacted by 
the repricing and off-hire of our utility contracts in Argentina, 
which masks the underlying improvement in performance 
across the rest of the business. These contracts were signed  
in 2008 when market conditions were significantly more 
favourable and the country was a much higher risk environment. 
We will make clear the impact of these contracts on the 
Group’s performance where appropriate. 

Underlying1 Group revenue was up 4% on the prior year. 
Rental Solutions underlying1 revenue was up 9%, with 
solid growth in Europe and a small increase in Australia 
Pacific. North America saw an uplift from hurricane related 
work, with revenue up 10% on the prior year (4% excluding 
hurricanes). Although revenue from Oil & Gas in North America 
was lower year on year, it has stabilised and delivered growth 
in the second half. Outside of this sector, revenue in North 
America grew 14%. Power Solutions Industrial underlying1 
revenue increased 20% with strong growth from Eurasia 
and Africa, while Power Solutions Utility underlying1 revenue 
was down 9% due to repricing and off-hires in Argentina. 
Excluding the impact of Argentina, underlying Power Solutions 
Utility revenue was in line with the prior year3.

The Group operating margin2 was 13% (2016: 16%), with 
the year on year decline driven by Power Solutions Utility. 
In Rental Solutions the margin2 was up three percentage 
points on last year, at 11%, driven by the increase in revenue 
together with the benefits from the implementation of our 
Business Priorities investment programme in North America. 
The Power Solutions Industrial margin2 was up four percentage 
points at 16%, due to the growth in Eurasia and restructuring 
of our businesses in Latin America. The Power Solutions Utility 
margin2 was down eleven percentage points at 18%, driven by 
the volume and price reduction in Argentina, an increase in 
our overall overdue debt provision for the business, and also the 
impact of one-off benefits in the prior year. The lower Group 
margin impacted the Group’s return on capital employed 
(ROCE)2, which was 11% (2016: 13%). 

The Group delivered profit before tax2 of £195 million 
(2016: £221 million). Diluted earnings per share2 (DEPS) 
was 53.94 pence (2016: 61.95 pence). 

Reported financial measures
Reported revenue and operating profit include the 
translational impact of currency as our revenue and profit 
are earned in a number of different currencies, most notably 
the US Dollar, which are then translated and reported in 
Sterling. The movement in exchange rates in the period had 
the translational impact of increasing revenue by £84 million 
and operating profit by £9 million. 

In addition, the Group separately reports fuel revenue from 
contracts in our Power Solutions Utility business in Brazil 
and Mozambique, where we manage fuel on a pass-through 
basis on behalf of our customers. The reason for the separate 
reporting is that fuel revenue on these contracts is entirely 
dependent on fuel prices and the volume of fuel consumed, 
and these can be volatile and may distort the view of the 
performance of the underlying business. In 2017, fuel revenue 
from these contracts was £139 million (2016: £60 million).

Reported Group revenue was up 14% on the prior year, with 
Rental Solutions up 15% and Power Solutions Industrial and 
Utility up 30% and 7% respectively.

During the period the Group incurred exceptional costs 
relating to the implementation of our Business Priorities 
programme of £41 million (2016: £49 million). This spend was  
split across Rental Solutions £13 million (2016: £40 million), 
Power Solutions Utility £17 million (2016: £6 million) and 
Power Solutions Industrial £11 million (2016: £3 million), 
and is explained further on page 43.

Group operating margin post-exceptional items was 
11% (2016: 13%). The Rental Solutions margin was up 
eight percentage points on a post-exceptional basis at 
10%. The increase in the margin on a post-exceptional 
basis is higher than on a pre-exceptional basis because 
of the higher exceptional charge in 2016, due to the prior 
year impairment of small gas generators used in the 
North American Oil & Gas sector. 

The Power Solutions Industrial margin was up two percentage 
points on a post-exceptional items basis. The Power Solutions 
Utility margin, excluding pass-through fuel and on a 
post-exceptional items basis, was down 13 percentage points. 

Group ROCE post-exceptional items was 9% (2016: 10%). 
Profit before tax and post-exceptional items was £154 million 
(2016: £172 million) and diluted earnings per share  
post-exceptional items was 41.51p (2016: 48.86p). 

Dividends
The Group is proposing to maintain the final dividend 
at 17.74 pence per share. Subject to Shareholder approval, 
this will result in a full year dividend of 27.12 pence (2016:  
27.12 pence) per ordinary share; this equates to dividend 
cover pre-exceptional items of 2.0 times (2016: 2.3 times). 
Dividend cover post-exceptional items is 1.5 times (2016:  
1.8 times). Dividend cover is calculated as basic earnings per share 
for the period divided by the full year dividend per share.

Cash flow and balance sheet
During the year, we generated an operating cash inflow of 
£450 million (2016: £388 million). The increase in operating 
cash flow is mainly driven by lower working capital outflows 
year on year, with an outflow of £51 million in 2017 compared 
to £119 million in 2016. This year’s outflow reflects a £163 million 
increase in trade and other receivables, offset by a £113 million 
inflow from trade and other payables. The receivables and 
payables balances include fuel balances from our contracts 
in Brazil. 

At the start of 2017 we embarked on a global working capital 
improvement initiative to drive a sustainable improvement 
across the three main areas of working capital: receivables, 
payables and inventory. Following an initial diagnostic and 
scoping phase, the implementation began in Q2, focusing 
initially on the Aggreko locations where we believed the 
largest improvements could be made. The implementation 
was then extended to the rest of the Group during Q3 and 
our heightened focus on working capital has continued into 
this year.

The increase in trade and other receivables is analysed by 
business unit as a £86 million increase in the Power Solutions 
Utility business, a £30 million increase in Power Solutions 
Industrial and a £47 million increase in Rental Solutions. 
The increases in Power Solutions Industrial and Rental 
Solutions are driven primarily by the growth and improved 
activity levels in these businesses. In Power Solutions Utility, 
£54 million of the increase in the debtor book relates to new 
contracts in Brazil which were commissioned in the first half 
of 2017 and include fuel, therefore the revenue per megawatt 
generated is much greater. The remaining increase is driven 
by a few customers in Africa and Venezuela who are taking 
longer to pay. No customers dispute the debt and we continue 
to believe that the primary reason for delay in payments is 
liquidity and access to US Dollars. We recognise the increase 
in the debtor book and as a result we have increased the 
Power Solutions Utility debtor provision to $86 million, 
$23 million higher than December 2016 and $13 million 
higher than June 2017. 

The increase in trade and other payables balances is a reversal 
after a number of years of outflow, following the establishment 
of the Group’s procurement function. We have improved 
supplier terms, through the adoption of best practice, to fully 
leverage our scale and spend. Despite increased levels of 
activity in 2017, inventory has remained broadly flat year on year. 
Inventory held for the production of NGG and HFO sets at the 
end of 2016 has been consumed this year, offset by purchases 
during the second half supporting major events and growth 
in Eurasia.

Fleet capital expenditure was £246 million (2016: £241 million) 
which was 0.9 times fleet depreciation (2016: 0.9 times), 
reflecting our drive to increase asset utilisation. Of this, 
£78 million was invested to continue to develop our medium 
speed HFO fleet and £46 million in continuing to refurbish our 
diesel fleet to the more fuel efficient, higher output G3+ engine; 
this engine now makes up around 31% of the Power Solutions 
Utility diesel fleet.

Net debt of £652 million at 31 December 2017 was similar 
to the prior year (2016: £649 million), with net debt to EBITDA 
on a rolling 12-month basis of 1.2 times (2016: 1.2 times).

Going concern
The Directors are confident that it is appropriate for the 
going concern basis to be adopted in preparing the 
financial statements. The Group balance sheet shows 
consolidated net assets of £1,317 million (2016: £1,368 million) 
of which £1,104 million (2016: £1,203 million) relates to fleet 
assets. The defined benefit pension deficit is £25 million 
(2016: £30 million), representing only 2% of the Group’s 
net assets. The retained earnings of the Company as at 
31 December 2017 are £428 million and the majority of these 
earnings are distributable, enabling the Company to continue 
making dividend payments. As noted above, net debt is similar 
to the prior year, resulting in significant headroom under our 
committed facilities.

Outlook
We have seen good growth and improved profitability and 
returns in our Rental Solutions and Power Solutions Industrial 
businesses this year which we expect to continue into 2018 
as we benefit from our Business Priorities programme and 
further growth.

In Power Solutions Utility we have previously highlighted two 
notable off-hires impacting 2018. In Argentina we have 174 MW 
of fixed site contracts which at the time of our last market 
update we expected to off-hire this year. We now expect that 
these sites will renew, although at a further price discount to 
the extensions secured in 2016. In Japan, we updated in Q3 
that 74 MW of 148 MW had off-hired early, and we continue to 
expect the remaining volume to off-hire in March. Order intake 
in the year to date for 2018 is 137 MW (2017: 81 MW).

The global provision and consumption of power is experiencing 
a significant transition as markets seek to decarbonise, 
decentralise and digitalise. As a result, we are investing for 
future growth, particularly in distributed energy solutions, 
where our modular, mobile fleet combined with storage 
and renewables integration capability position us well in this 
changing landscape. These initiatives will be captured within 
our new Global Solutions business, under the leadership of 
Dan Ibbetson. We see clear opportunities, and to capitalise on 
these benefits for the future we must invest today; in 2018 we 
expect this investment to be around £9 million (2017: £7 million).

Overall, we anticipate that the Group’s underlying profit 
before tax in 2018, before the impact of currency, will be in 
line with 2017. As in 2017, these results will be weighted to the 
second half.

37

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Market Context
Rental Solutions is a cyclical business and exposed to 
economic factors in each of the countries we operate in and 
in 2017 we have largely seen an improvement in our markets. 
North America continues to be strong with good opportunities 
across most sectors, the exception being Oil and Gas. 
In Australia and Northern Europe, market conditions have 
been largely favourable, although in each case some sectors 
are performing better than others. In Continental Europe the 
picture has been more mixed, with Germany, Italy and Spain 
performing well, whilst Benelux and France underperformed. 

The competitive environment across all our markets remains 
stable and we do not currently expect market conditions to 
prevent us from growing. 

Financial & operating review
Our Rental Solutions business had a good year with 
revenue excluding the impact of currency up 9% on the 
prior year and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) 
up 49%. This performance was supported by incremental 
work following the hurricanes that impacted the southern 
United States and Caribbean, which was in part off-set 
by loss of work in our base business in these regions. 
Excluding this net incremental activity revenue increased 5%.

The increase in operating margin for the year was driven by 
the increase in revenue, together with the operational benefits 
from the Business Priorities programme in North America.

North American revenue excluding currency was up 10% 
on the prior year; 4% excluding the impact of the hurricanes. 
The decline in the Oil & Gas sector that we saw throughout 2016  
has stabilised, although against stronger prior year comparators 
revenue was down 10%; quarter on quarter Oil & Gas revenue 
has been improving. Elsewhere in North America most of the 
other sectors grew well, with revenue excluding Oil & Gas  
increasing 14%. There was also a strong performance in 
temperature control, up 10%. Overall operating profit 
(pre-exceptional items) was up 90%. 

In our Australia Pacific business revenue excluding currency 
increased 2%, a good performance given the 108 MW Tasmania 
utility contract in the prior year. We saw good growth in the 
Mining and Construction sectors, although this was partially 
offset by a decline in Oil & Gas and Utilities.

In Continental Europe, revenue excluding currency increased 
3%, supported by growth in the German Manufacturing 
and Telecom sectors and fuel revenue in Eastern Europe. 
This partially offset a weaker Shipping sector in the Netherlands 
and tougher comparators in France, which had revenue from 
the European Football Championships in 2016. The Northern 
European business delivered good growth with revenue 
excluding currency increasing 12%, driven by the Utility and 
Construction sectors.

G R O U P   P E R F O R M A N C E   R E V I E W   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Rental Solutions

Our Rental Solutions business 
had a good year with solid growth 
in Europe, a steady performance 
in Australia Pacific and the 
benefit of hurricane related 
work in North America.

Bruce Pool
President, Rental Solutions

I am pleased to see an improving 
financial performance as we 
begin to benefit from the 
initiatives that have been 
implemented over the last few 
years. We are well positioned 
for continued growth in 2018.

Underlying revenue up 9% 

Underlying operating profit up 49% 

41 MW of Next Generation  
Gas contracts won

Underlying temperature control  
revenue up 9%

38

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

B U S I N E S S   U N I T   P E R F O R M A N C E   R E V I E W

Rental Solutions

Revenue

Operating Profit

Pre-exceptional items £ million

Operating margin pre-exceptional items

2017
720

2016

629

Change

15%

Post-exceptional items £ million

720

629

15%

Operating margin post exceptional items

Change 
excl. 
currency

9%

9%

2016

Change

Change 
excl. 
currency

57%

49%

509%

450%

52

8%

12

2%

2017
81

11%

68

10%

Sector performance
During the year, the strongest sector performances 
were seen in Petrochemical & Refining, Manufacturing 
and Business Services and Construction, particularly in 
North America. Business Services and Construction is 
now the largest sector, and in North America, Australia 
and Northern Europe market conditions have been good, 
particularly in construction. Historically Oil & Gas has been 
the largest sector for Rental Solutions, but has declined 
substantially in recent years; in Europe the sector remains 
subdued, whilst we are seeing some improvement in North 
America. Utilities are a growing part of the business, with 
growth experienced in North America and new opportunities 
identified in our Australian and European markets; this 
has been supported by better sales deployment and 
understanding of customer issues. 

Outlook
We expect to deliver growth in 2018 as the impacts of our 
sector deployment strategy take effect and we fully leverage 
the benefits of our new systems. These will also enable us 
to more efficiently service customers who have less technical 
needs and already know what they want. We are also working 
to finalise our ecommerce plans which we hope to roll out in 
early 2019.

E N V I R O N M E N T A L

G O I N G   U L T R A   L O W

In 2017 the UK business replaced more than 6% of its 
car fleet with electric vehicles as part of its commitment 
to reducing its impact on the environment. Across  
Northern Europe more broadly, we have implemented other 
initiatives, such as fitting energy efficient and automatically 
controlled lighting and automated roller shutters to regulate 
and maintain ambient temperatures. Whilst some of these 
initiatives are costly to implement, they are the right thing to 
do and benefit our people and our planet in the long term. 

These actions have resulted in our Northern Europe 
business being recognised with CEMARS (Carbon and 
Energy Management Reduction) and therefore being 
awarded ISO 14065 status, one of only 100 companies 
worldwide to do so. In addition, we have been recognized 
by Go Ultra Low, a joint-funded government and automotive 
campaign to raise awareness and encourage businesses 
to run low-emissions vehicles.

39

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Market Context
For our Power Solutions business, demand has been impacted 
by the economic cycle across our markets. Much of our business 
is in sectors and countries with exposure to commodities, and 
movements in these prices have had an impact. In our Utility 
business lower commodity prices have been challenging, 
with this directly impacting liquidity in many of our key 
markets reducing both our customers’ appetite to fund new 
power projects and their ability to pay in a timely manner. 
Our Industrial business is also exposed to commodity prices 
as many of its customers are involved in production of oil and 
gas or minerals, but in this segment we have seen growth this 
year, most significantly in Eurasia. Competition remains broadly 
stable, overcapacity still exists within the market but in general 
competitors are behaving rationally and returns on new 
projects have remained consistent. We expect the Industrial 
business to continue to grow in 2018, particularly as the wider 
commodity environment continues to improve. The Utility 
business tends to lag the Industrial business and should 
broadly stabilise as the economic cycle improves.

Financial & operating review
Overall, our Power Solutions business saw revenue excluding 
currency and pass-through fuel in line with last year and 
operating profit (pre-exceptional items) decrease 26%.

In our Power Solutions Industrial business revenue excluding 
currency increased 20%. In Eurasia revenue grew 64% driven 
by continued strength in the Oil & Gas sector. In the Middle 
East revenue grew 7% with good growth in Dubai and Kuwait 
partially offset by a decrease in Saudi Arabia. Revenue in Africa 
increased 15%, albeit off a low base, with particular strength 
in Nigeria and Angola. In Asia, revenue was flat, while in 
Latin America the restructuring work and cost base reduction 
has progressed well and, despite revenue being down 15%, 
operating profit (pre-exceptional items) was up by £7 million. 
We also benefited from the first tranche of revenue from the 
South Korea Winter Olympics (£17 million).

Our Power Solutions Utility business saw revenue excluding 
currency and pass-through fuel decrease 9% due to repricing 
and off-hires in Argentina, which represented a reduction 
of £59 million on 2016. Excluding the impact of Argentina, 
revenue was in line with the prior year1. The operating margin 
decreased to 18% (2016: 29%); this was driven by a number of 
factors, including the flow through from Argentina, an increase 
in the debtor provision, and one-off benefits in the prior year 
comparatives, most notably in indirect tax and service material 
costs. Excluding the impact of Argentina, the operating 
margin decreased by four percentage points1. In Argentina 
we expect our existing fixed site contract, providing 174 MW, 
to be extended until the end of 2018 at a discount to the 
current rates. The standby contract of 30 MW is in the process 
of fully demobilising.

G R O U P   P E R F O R M A N C E   R E V I E W   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Power Solutions

Power Solutions Industrial 
delivered a strong performance, 
particularly in Eurasia. Power 
Solutions Utility was impacted 
by repricing and off-hires 
in Argentina.

Stephen Beynon
Managing Director, Power Solutions

We are addressing the 
underperformance of our 
Utility business, which has 
taken longer than anticipated. 
The Industrial business is 
performing well and I am pleased 
with the progress that has been 
made restructuring the business 
and further reducing our cost base.

Industrial underlying operating  
profit up 53%

Utility impacted by legacy contracts  
in Argentina

Utility debtor provision increased  
by $23 million 

66 MW of Next Generation Gas 
contracts won

1  PSU reconciliation excluding Argentina is detailed on page 44.

40

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

B U S I N E S S   U N I T   P E R F O R M A N C E   R E V I E W   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Power Solutions

Revenue

Operating Profit

Pre-exceptional items £ million
Industrial

Utility excl. pass-through fuel

Pass-through fuel

Total Power solutions

2017

340

531

139

1,010

2016

Change

262

564

60

886

30%

(6)%

129%

14%

Operating margin

Industrial

Utility excl. pass-through fuel

Total Power Solutions excl. pass-through fuel

Change 
excl. 
pass- 
through 
fuel and 
currency
20%

(9)%

103%

–%

Change 
excl. 
pass- 
through 
fuel and 
currency
53%

Change
71%

(42)%

(42)%

2016
32

164

–

(100)% (100)%

196

(25)%

(26)%

12%

29%

24%

2017

55

96

(3)

148

16%

18%

17%

Revenue

Operating Profit

Post-exceptional items £ million

Industrial

Utility excl. pass-through fuel

Pass-through fuel

Total Power solutions

2017

340

531

139

1,010

2016

Change

262

564

60

886

30%

(6)%

129%

14%

Operating margin

Industrial

Utility excl. pass-through fuel

Total Power Solutions excl. pass-through fuel

Change 
excl. 
pass- 
through 
fuel and 
currency

20%

(9)%

103%

–%

Change 
excl. 
pass- 
through 
fuel and 
currency

2017

2016

Change

44

79

(3)

120

13%

15%

14%

29

158

52%

(51)%

34%

(51)%

–

(100)% (100)%

187

(37)%

(37)%

11%

28%

23%

We continued to see delays in customer payments in 
Power Solutions Utility, in particular on a handful of projects 
in Africa and as a result of the ongoing economic situation 
in Venezuela. Our overdue debt provision increased through 
the year by $23 million to $86 million to reflect these issues. 

Overall order intake for the year in our Power Solutions Utility 
business was 799 MW (2016: 1,057 MW). New business included 
295 MW in Bangladesh, 78 MW in Malawi, 60 MW in Yemen 
and 60 MW in Sri Lanka. We are pleased to have won 66 MW 
of Next Generation Gas contracts (in addition to the 41 MW won 
in Rental Solutions) as well as initial contracts for HFO (28 MW, 
Madagascar) and solar-diesel (7 MW, Eritrea). Our sales pipeline 
for HFO and NGG contains a number of opportunities which 
are well progressed. 

At the end of the period, our order book was over 78,000 MW 
months, the equivalent of 30 months’ revenue at the current 
run-rate (2016: 22 months), albeit off a lower revenue base. 
The off-hire rate was 32% (2016: 30%).

Sector performance
During the year, the strongest sector was Oil & Gas fuelled 
by high growth in Eurasia, where we benefited from our 
customers’ continued drive for high output coupled with an 
increasing propensity to rent as a means of reducing capital 
expenditure. Oil & Gas continues to be our primary sector 
in the Middle East, albeit with some price pressure from our 
customers, and continues to grow in Latin America. The Utility 
sector remained subdued with liquidity pressures impacting 
both new project activity and timeliness of payments, 
especially in Africa. Events had a good year, with part of the 
South Korea Winter Olympics impacting the second half 
of 2017.

Outlook
We expect to deliver continued growth in 2018 in our Industrial 
business as the impacts of our restructuring take effect and 
market conditions continue to improve. In Utility we are 
anticipating increased traction from our new technology with 
a strengthening pipeline for both HFO and Next Generation 
Gas laying the foundations for 2019 and beyond. However, 
with the off-hire of Japan and market conditions remaining 
challenging, we expect a lower performance year on year.

41

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017F I N A N C I A L   R E V I E W

Why invest in Aggreko?

Our objective is to be the global 
specialist in modular, mobile 
energy services and related 
solutions. Acting as a partner  
to our customers through the 
energy transition, we aim to 
deliver sustainable long-term 
value to all our stakeholders.

1.   We operate in attractive markets which  

provide significant opportunity for growth

 • Global megatrends underpin an increasing demand 
for power whilst climate concerns require ever more 
innovative solutions

 • In emerging markets there is a structural power deficit, 

whilst in developed markets decarbonisation and 
decentralisation are increasingly impacting energy services

 • We are focused on seven core sectors and use our expertise 
and leading technology to provide specialist solutions to our 
customers, which often save money, optimise performance 
or simply keep the lights on

Read more about our markets on page 8

2.  We have several important competitive 

advantages that make us unique in our markets

 • Specialised engineered solutions

 • Integrated renewables and storage

 • Sector expertise

 • Flexible and reliable technology

 • Ability to adapt to changing market conditions

 • Strong health & safety and ethical culture

Read more about our business model on page 12

3.   We are strengthening these competitive 

advantages through our strategic priorities

 • Tailoring solutions to improve customer experience

 • Reducing the total cost of energy through innovation

 • Optimising deployment of resources

 • Cultivating a high performance organisation

Read more about our strategic priorities on page 14

4.  The combination of attractive markets,  

our competitive advantages and our strategic 
priorities will generate sustainable returns  
for all our stakeholders

 • Support industry and commerce

 • Provide critical services to countries and communities

 • Rewarding careers for our people

 • Sustainable returns for Shareholders

Read more about stakeholder engagement page 74

42

A G G R E K O   P L C  A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

 
 
 
 
Exceptional items
An exceptional charge of £41 million before tax was recorded in 
the year to 31 December 2017 in respect of the implementation 
of the Group’s Business Priorities programme. These costs 
include employment costs, professional fees, severance costs 
and facility closure costs directly related to the programme.

Interest
The net interest charge of £34 million was £7 million higher 
than last year, reflecting higher average net debt year on year 
and an increase in the effective interest rate. Interest cover, 
measured against rolling 12-month EBITDA (Earnings before 
Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) remained 
strong at 16 times (2016: 20 times) relative to the financial 
covenant attached to our borrowing facilities that 
EBITDA should be no less than four times interest.

Capital structure & dividends
The objective of our strategy is to deliver long-term value 
to Shareholders while maintaining a balance sheet structure 
that safeguards the Group’s financial position through 
economic cycles. Given the risk profile of the Group we 
believe gearing of around one times net debt to EBITDA is 
appropriate, recognising that from time to time it may be 
higher for a period of time as investment opportunities present 
themselves. From a capital allocation perspective our priority 
is to invest in organic growth. As well as investing organically, 
there are opportunities for growth through acquisition, both 
for scale and capability, including into product adjacencies 
such as temperature control and loadbanks. Acquisitions are 
subject to our disciplined capital allocation process and will 
have to meet appropriate hurdle rates of return. While our 
first priority is investment to generate growth, we recognise 
the importance of the dividend in providing value to our 
Shareholders. Finally, as and when the opportunity arises, 
we will look at returning surplus capital to Shareholders. 
The retained earnings of the Company as at 31 December 
2017 are £428 million and the majority of these earnings 
are distributable.

Subject to Shareholder approval the proposed final dividend 
of 17.74 pence will result in a full year dividend of 27.12 pence 
(2016: 27.12 pence) per Ordinary Share, giving dividend cover 
(Basic EPS pre-exceptional items divided by full year declared 
dividend) of 2.0 times (2016: 2.3 times). Dividend cover 
post-exceptional items is 1.5 times (2016: 1.8 times).

Cash flow
The net cash inflow from operations during the year totalled 
£450 million (2016: £388 million). The increase in cash inflow 
from operations was mainly driven by the reduction in the 
working capital outflow of £68 million. This operating cash flow 
funded capital expenditure of £272 million (2016: £263 million), 
of which £246 million (2016: £241 million) was spent on fleet. 
The working capital movements are explained on page 37.

A summarised Income Statement for 2017 as well as related 
ratios are set out below. The first table excludes exceptional 
items and the second table includes exceptional items.

Pre-exceptional items

Revenue

Operating profit

Net interest expense

Profit before tax

Taxation

Profit after tax

Diluted earnings  
per share (pence)

Operating margin

ROCE

Revenue

Operating profit

Net interest expense

Profit before tax

Taxation

Profit after tax
Diluted earnings  
per share (pence)

Operating margin

ROCE

2017 
£m

1,730

229

(34)

195

(57)

138

53.94

13%

11%

2017 
£m
1,730

188

(34)

154

(48)

106

41.51

11%

9%

Change excl. 
pass-through 
fuel and 
currency

4%

(10)%

2016 

£m Change

1,515

248

(27)

221

(63)

158

61.95

16%

13%

14%

(8)%

(28)%

(12)%

9%

(13)%

(13)%

(3)pp

(2)pp

Post-exceptional items

Change excl. 
pass-through 
fuel and 
currency
4%

(7)%

2016 

£m Change
14%

1,515

199

(27)

172

(47)

125

48.86

13%

10%

(6)%

(28)%

(11)%

(1)%

(15)%

(15)%

(2)pp

(1)pp

Currency translation
The movement in exchange rates in the period had the 
translational impact of increasing revenue by £84 million and 
operating profit by £9 million. This was driven by the strength, 
against Sterling, of nearly all the principal currencies impacting 
the Group, but most notably the US Dollar. Currency translation 
also gave rise to a £98 million decrease in the value of net assets. 
Set out in the table below are the principal exchange rates 
which affected the Group’s income statement and net assets.

(per £ Sterling)

Average

Year end

Average Year end

2017

2016

Principal Exchange Rates

United States Dollar 

Euro

UAE Dirhams

Australian Dollar

Brazilian Reals

Argentinian Peso

Russian Rouble

(Source: Bloomberg)

1.29

1.14

4.74

1.68

4.12

21.36

75.19

1.35

1.13

4.96

1.73

4.48

25.92

78.15

1.36

1.22

4.98

1.83

4.74

20.00

91.04

1.23

1.17

4.53

1.71

4.01

19.61

75.23

43

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
F I N A N C I A L   R E V I E W   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Reconciliation of underlying movement to reported movement
The tables below reconcile the reported and underlying revenue and operating profit movements:

Revenue

2017 
£m

720

–

–

720

As reported

Pass-through fuel

Currency impact 

Underlying

Operating profit

RS

2016 
£m

Change 
%

629

15%

–

34

663

PSI

PSU

Group

2017 
£m

340

–

–

2016 
£m

Change 
%

262

30%

–

22

2017 
£m

670

(139)

–

531

2016 
£m

Change 
%

7%

624

(60)

28

592

2017 
£m

1,730

(139)

–

2016 
£m
1,515

Change 
%
14%

(60)

84

9%

340

284

20%

(9)%

1,591

1,539

4%

RS

PSI

PSU

Group

2017 
£m

2016 
£m

Change 
%

68

–

–

13

81

12

–

3

40

55

509%

49%

2017 
£m

44

2016 
£m

Change 
%

29

52%

–

–

11

55

–

4

3

36

53%

2017 
£m

76

3

–

17

96

2016 
£m

158

Change 
%
(52)%

–

2

6

166

(42)%

2017 
£m
188

3

–

41

232

2016 
£m
199

Change 
%
(6)%

–

9

49

257

(10)%

As reported

Pass-through fuel

Currency impact 

Exceptional items

Underlying

Note (i)  RS – Rental Solutions; PSI – Power Solutions Industrial; PSU – Power Solutions Utility.
Note (ii)  the currency impact is calculated by taking 2016 numbers in local currency and retranslating them at 2017 average rates.

Group and PSU Reconciliation excluding Argentina

Revenue excl. pass-through fuel and currency impact

Less Argentina

Operating profit (pre-exceptional items)  
excl. pass-through fuel and currency impact

Less Argentina

2017 
£m

531

(53)

478

96

(23)

73

Operating Margin ex pass-through fuel

Operating Margin ex pass-through fuel & Argentina

18%

15%

29%

19%

PSU

2016 
£m

592

(112)

480

Change 
%
(9)%

Group

2017 
£m
1,591

(53)

2016 
£m
1,539

Change 
%
4%

(112)

–%

1,538

1,427

9%

166

(42)%

(73)

93

(23)%

(10)%

13%

232
(23)

209

14%

14%

257
(73)

184

17%

13%

Taxation
Tax Strategy
We operate in an increasingly complex global environment, 
doing business in over 80 countries, many of which have 
uncertain or volatile tax regimes. To ensure that our tax affairs 
are correctly and consistently managed, Aggreko’s tax strategy 
is applied to all taxes in all countries in which we operate.

Our approach towards dealing with tax authorities
We seek to build good working relationships with local tax 
authorities based on trust, respect and professionalism. 
We will proactively engage, either directly or through local 
advisers, with the authorities to ensure that our business 
and tax positions are understood and to confirm our tax 
positions in a timely manner.

Our tax strategy is reviewed and revalidated annually, and 
is revised as appropriate to reflect any material changes in 
our business or in tax legislation. Our strategy is to ensure 
that we pay, in a timely manner, the appropriate amount 
of tax commensurate with the activities performed in each 
country in which we operate. In particular, we recognise the 
importance of the tax we pay to the economic development 
of the countries in which operate. We aim to be transparent 
in terms of the geographic spread of where we pay tax with 
a breakdown provided in figures 1-3.

In applying the tax strategy, we undertake to comply with the 
applicable tax legislation in all countries in which we operate 
utilising, where appropriate, any available legislative reliefs. 

44

Tax governance
Our tax governance framework is encompassed within 
a set of documented policies and procedures covering the 
application of the strategy and operational aspects of tax. 
Ultimate responsibility for tax risk and tax operations rests 
with our Chief Financial Officer, with day-to-day responsibility 
delegated to the Director of Tax and the tax function. To ensure 
that we fully understand our tax obligations and any legislative 
change, advisory and technical support is provided by large 
accounting firms with which the Group has a long association. 
The use of the Group’s external auditor for advisory work is 
not permitted.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Approach to tax risk
The Group’s appetite for risk, including tax risk, is reviewed 
regularly by the Group Risk Committee and ratified annually 
by the Board. Given the risk profile of many of the countries 
in which we operate, we seek to structure our tax affairs in 
a way that has a low degree of risk. Only the Director of Tax 
is permitted to consider any tax planning opportunities and 
permission to implement any planning must be obtained 
from the Board or Finance Committee as appropriate. 
We do not actively seek to implement any tax planning 
that is not driven by commercial aims or where the sole 
aim is to deliver tax benefit.

Tax management and provisioning
Given the complex, uncertain and often volatile nature of 
the tax environment in many of the countries in which we 
operate, local compliance and governance are key areas of 
focus. This is particularly so for our Power Solutions business, 
where we may only be in a country on a temporary basis. 
While we will always seek to manage our tax affairs to agree 
and confirm our tax positions in a timely manner, it can often 
take some time to settle our tax position and uncertainties 
may exist for some time with respect to complex or changing 
legislation. We may therefore need to create tax provisions 
for any potential uncertain tax positions. These provisions 
are based on reasonable estimates of the possible outcomes 
and management then uses its judgement to determine 
the appropriate level of provision, taking into account 
that differences of interpretation may arise depending 
on a number of different factors.

As at 31 December 2017 we held tax provisions totalling 
£31 million, of which £29 million is in respect of direct taxes 
and £2 million for indirect taxes (2016: £39 million, £37 million 
for direct and £2 million for indirect taxes). The movement 
in provisions between 2016 and 2017 is principally due to the 
utilisation of a provision in respect of an ongoing matter in 
Bangladesh, which has now been referred to the High Court 
and is likely to take several years to be resolved. Supported by 
strong legal opinion, we believe that we have a robust defence 
on this issue and therefore no further amounts have been 
provided in respect of this matter. The remaining provisions 
are principally held to manage the tax impact of various 
potential historic tax exposures, largely in connection with 
our Power Solutions Utilities business in Africa and Latin 
America, and potential transfer pricing risks faced by the 
Group with respect to how we transact internationally within 
the business. In order to ensure that all potential risks are 
properly understood and mitigated, we look to ensure that 
our local tax filings are made on a timely basis, appropriate 
advice is taken and that we proactively work with local tax 
authorities when issues arise.

The risk that the application of management judgements 
and estimates in our tax forecasting fails to represent a 
true and fair view of our tax position is an area that receives 
significant focus from management, tax advisers and the 
Group’s external auditor. In order to mitigate this risk, our 
tax position is internally reviewed four times per year by 
the Group tax team and any unanticipated variances to the 
forecast are reconciled and explained. In addition to the 
work done by the Group’s external auditor to confirm the 
appropriateness of our tax provisioning, tax is a matter that 
is regularly considered and discussed by the Audit Committee. 
The Group’s Internal Audit team will also consider any relevant 
tax risks as part of its core assurance programme and report 
on these to management as appropriate. 

Legislative change
Through the course of 2017, while we continued to monitor 
global legislative change driven largely as a result of the 
OECD’s work on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and 
Country-By-Country Reporting (CBCR), our main focus has 
been on the tax reform agenda in the US. We anticipate that 
going forward, the US tax reform will have a positive impact 
on our tax position. While the process of assessing the full 
impact of the US tax reform is ongoing, due to the relative 
size of the US business in comparison to the rest of the Group 
we do not anticipate that the impact of this rate change on 
the Group tax rate will be material. We do however recognise 
that the interpretation of new legislation can be subjective 
in the period immediately following implementation and 
we therefore continue to follow developments in this area. 

As the UK’s Brexit negotiations with the EU continue, we are 
closely following developments. However, at this stage we 
continue to believe that Brexit will have not have a material 
tax impact for our business.

Taxes Paid
In 2017, Aggreko’s worldwide operations resulted in direct 
and indirect tax payments of £228 million (2016: £215 million) 
to tax authorities in the various countries in which we operate. 
This amount represents all corporate taxes paid on operations, 
payroll taxes paid and collected, import duties, sales taxes 
and other local taxes.

Fig. 1: Total taxes paid by region £m

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Africa

Asia

Australia
Pacific

Europe

Latin
America

Middle
East

North
America

2017

2016

Fig. 2: Total corporate taxes paid and collected by region £m  

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

-5

Africa

Asia

Australia
Pacific

Europe

Latin
America

Middle
East

North
America

2017

2016

In comparison to the prior year, corporate taxes paid in 2017 
increased by £5 million to £69 million. While there were small 
increases in several countries, the main increase was in the 
US where we had a refund position in 2016 due to the late 
extension of the accelerated tax depreciation regime, which 
was not repeated in 2017. These increases were partially offset 
by a large decrease of the tax paid in Latin America, driven by 
the reduction of profits in Argentina following the off-hiring 
of equipment.

45

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017F I N A N C I A L   R E V I E W   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Fig. 3: Total indirect taxes paid and collected by region £m

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Africa

Asia

Australia
Pacific

Europe

Latin
America

Middle
East

North
America

2017

2016

Overall our indirect tax costs in 2017 increased by £8 million to 
£159 million. Underlying the net increase is a reduction in the 
amount of sales taxes paid in Argentina as a result of off-hires, 
which is offset by increased payroll taxes in North America and 
Europe, principally in the UK and Russia (where our headcount 
has increased).

Tax Charge
The Group’s pre-exceptional effective corporation tax rate 
for the year was 29% (2016: 28%) based on a tax charge of 
£57 million (2016: £63 million) on a pre-exceptional profit before 
taxation of £195 million (2016: £221 million). While the Group’s 
effective tax rate has risen in 2017 as a result of an increase 
in profits in higher tax locations such as North America (due 
to additional work following the hurricanes), the underlying 
rate increase has been offset by a one-off tax benefit due to 
the US tax reform which was passed into law in December 
2017. As a result of the US reform, the Group benefited from 
a one-off tax credit following the revaluation of our deferred 
tax liabilities in respect of the US business.

Further information, including a reconciliation of the current 
year tax charge, is shown at Note 10 in the Annual Report 
and Accounts.

Looking beyond 2017, our effective tax rate will continue to depend 
principally on the geographical mix of profits, the resolution of 
open issues and whether there are any changes in tax legislation 
in the Group’s most significant countries of operation.

Reconciliation of the Group’s income statement tax charge 
and cash taxes
The Group’s total cash taxes borne and collected were 
£228 million, reflecting £159 million of non-corporate taxes and 
£69 million of corporate taxes. The latter cash tax figure differs 
from the Group’s post-exceptional tax charge of £48 million 
reported in the income statement, with the difference 
analysed in the table below.

£ million

Cash taxes paid 

Non-corporate taxes

Corporate tax paid
Movements in deferred tax1

Differences relating to timing of tax payments – US

Differences relating to timing of tax payments – Argentina

Other differences relating to timing of payment of taxes

Post-exceptional corporate tax charge  
per the income statement

1  Of this amount £10 million relates to US tax reform.

228

(159)

69

(27) 

9

(4)

1

48

46

Net operating assets
The net operating assets of the Group (including goodwill) 
at 31 December 2017 totalled £2,078 million, £46 million lower 
than 2016. Excluding the impact of currency, net operating 
assets are £101 million higher. The main components of 
net operating assets are detailed in the table below.

£ million

Rental fleet 

Property & plant 

Inventory

Net trade debtors

2017

1,104

110

232

490

2016 Movement

1,203

106

247

454

(8)%

4%

(6)%

8%

Movement 
excl. the 
impact of 
currency

(1)%

9%

–%

16%

A key measure of Aggreko’s performance is the return 
(expressed as adjusted operating profit) generated from 
average net operating assets (ROCE). We calculate ROCE 
by taking the operating profit for the year and expressing 
it as a percentage of the average net operating assets 
at 31 December, 30 June and the previous 31 December. 
In 2017 the ROCE decreased to 11% compared with 13% 
in 2016, primarily driven by the decrease in the Group’s 
operating margin.

Property, plant and equipment
Rental fleet accounts for £1,104 million, which is around 
91% of the net book value of property, plant and equipment 
used in our business. The great majority of equipment in 
the rental fleet is depreciated on a straight-line basis to 
a residual value of zero over 8 years, with some classes of 
rental fleet depreciated over 10 and 12 years. The annual fleet 
depreciation charge of £275 million (2016: £261 million) relates 
to the estimated service lives allocated to each class of fleet 
asset. Asset lives are reviewed at the start of each year and 
changed if necessary to reflect their remaining lives in light 
of technological change, prospective economic utilisation 
and the physical condition of the assets.

Acquisitions
During the year we made three acquisitions, Younicos, a 
pioneer and global market leader in the development and 
deployment of integrated energy systems; KBT, an Indonesian 
utility business; and TuCo a US based temporary heat and air 
conditioning business. Further details on these acquisitions 
can be found in Note 29 to the accounts.

IFRS 15
IFRS 15, ‘Revenue from contracts with customers’, is 
effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 
2018. Under the standard, revenue is recognised when an 
entity transfers control of goods or services to a customer. 
The costs to fulfil the service to a customer (mobilisation and 
demobilisation costs) will be amortised over the period of 
the initial contract, in line with when we are earning revenue. 
We have assessed the impact on 2017, which would have been 
an immaterial impact on profit before tax; revenue would have 
been £2 million higher, and costs £5 million higher, resulting 
in a £3 million reduction in profit before tax. When we report 
our 2018 interim and full year results we will restate the 2017 
comparative numbers to take account of IFRS 15. Note 1 to the 
accounts explains these changes in detail. 

Shareholders’ equity 
Shareholders’ equity decreased by £51 million to £1,317 million, 
represented by the net assets of the Group of £1,969 million 
offset by net debt of £652 million. The movements in 
Shareholders’ equity are analysed in the table below:

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Movements in Shareholders’ equity

£ million

£ million

As at 1 January 2017

Profit for the period post-exceptional items

Dividend1

Retained earnings

Employee share awards

Remeasurement of retirement benefits

Currency translation 

PDVSA private placement notes:  
net change in fair value

Movement in hedging reserve

Other

As at 31 December 2017

106

(69)

1,368

37

8

5

(98)

(4)

3 

(2) 

1,317

1 

 Reflects the final dividend for 2016 of 17.74 pence per share (2015: 17.74 pence) 
that was paid during the period.

Pensions
Pension arrangements for our employees vary depending 
on best practice and regulation in each country. The Group 
operates a defined benefit scheme for UK employees, 
which was closed to new employees joining the Group after 
1 April 2002. Most of the other schemes in operation around 
the world are defined contribution schemes.

Under IAS 19: ‘Employee Benefits’, Aggreko has recognised 
a pre-tax pension deficit of £25 million at 31 December 
2017 (2016: £30 million) which is determined using actuarial 
assumptions. The decrease in the pension deficit is primarily 
driven by higher than expected returns achieved on the 
scheme’s assets over the year and additional contributions 
by the Company, partially offset by the impact of a lower 
discount rate being applied to the scheme’s liabilities. 

The sensitivities regarding the main valuation assumptions 
are shown in the table below.

Deficit
(£m)

Income 
statement cost 
(£m)

Increase/ 
(decrease)

(Increase)/ 
decrease

(Increase)/ 
decrease

0.5%

(0.5)%

0.5%

1 year

(2)

(21)

(20)

(5)

–

(1)

(1)

–

Assumption

Rate of increase  
in salaries

Discount rate

Inflation  
(0.5% increases on 
pensions increases,  
deferred revaluation 
and salary increases)

Longevity

Treasury
The Group’s operations expose it to a variety of financial risks 
that include liquidity, the effects of changes in foreign currency 
exchange rates, interest rates, and credit risk. The Group has a 
centralised treasury operation whose primary role is to ensure 
that adequate liquidity is available to meet the Group’s funding 
requirements as they arise, and that financial risk arising from 
the Group’s underlying operations is effectively identified 
and managed. 

The treasury operations are conducted in accordance with 
policies and procedures approved by the Board and are 
reviewed annually. Financial instruments are only executed 
for hedging purposes, and transactions that are speculative 
in nature are expressly forbidden. Monthly reports are 
provided to senior management and treasury operations 
are subject to periodic internal and external review.

Liquidity and funding
The Group maintains sufficient facilities to meet its funding 
requirements over the medium term. At 31 December 2017,  
these facilities totalled £1,283 million in the form of committed 
bank facilities arranged on a bilateral basis with a number 
of international banks and private placement lenders. 
The financial covenants attached to these facilities are 
that EBITDA should be no less than four times interest 
and net debt should be no more than three times EBITDA; 
at 31 December 2017, these stood at 16 times and 1.2 times 
respectively. The Group does not expect to breach these 
covenants in the year from the date of approval of these 
financial statements.

The Group expects to be able to arrange sufficient finance to 
meet its future funding requirements. It has been the Group's 
custom and practice to refinance its facilities in advance 
of their maturity dates, providing that there is an ongoing 
need for those facilities.

Net debt amounted to £652 million at 31 December 2017 
(2016: £649 million) and, at that date, undrawn committed 
facilities were £624 million. 

Interest rate risk
The Group’s policy is to manage its exposure to interest rates 
by ensuring an appropriate balance of fixed and floating rate 
debt. At 31 December 2017, £610 million of the net debt of 
£652 million was at fixed rates of interest resulting in a fixed to 
floating rate net debt ratio of 94:6 (2016: 59:41). The proportion 
of our debt with fixed interest rates is higher than usual at the 
year end ahead of some fixed rate debt maturities in the first 
half of 2018.

Foreign exchange risk
The Group is subject to currency exposure on the translation 
into Sterling of its net investments in overseas subsidiaries. 
In order to reduce the currency risk arising, the Group uses 
direct borrowings in the same currency as those investments. 
Group borrowings are predominantly drawn down in the 
currencies used by the Group, namely US Dollar, Indonesian 
Rupiah, Mexican Peso, Indian Rupee, Brazilian Reals and 
Russian Rouble.

The Group manages its currency flows to minimise 
foreign exchange risk arising on transactions denominated 
in foreign currencies and uses forward contracts and 
forward currency options, where appropriate, in order 
to hedge net currency flows.

Credit risk
Cash deposits and other financial instruments give rise to 
credit risk on amounts due from counterparties. The Group 
manages this risk by limiting the aggregate amounts and their 
duration depending on external credit ratings of the relevant 
counterparty. In the case of financial assets exposed to credit 
risk, the carrying amount in the balance sheet, net of any 
applicable provision for loss, represents the amount exposed 
to credit risk.

Insurance
The Group operates a policy of buying cover against the 
material risks which the business faces, where it is possible 
to purchase such cover on reasonable terms. Where this is 
not possible, or where the risks would not have a material 
impact on the Group as a whole, we self-insure.

47

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
R I S K

R I S K   F A C T O R S   T H A T   C O U L D   A F F E C T   B U S I N E S S   P E R F O R M A N C E

G O V E R N A N C E

Risks

The Group recognises the importance of identifying and 
actively managing the financial and non-financial risks facing 
the business. We want our people to feel empowered to 
take advantage of attractive opportunities, yet we want them 

to do so within the risk appetite set by the Board. It is important 
that we have in place a robust, repeatable risk management 
framework to facilitate this.

R I S K   M A N A G E M E N T   F R A M E W O R K   –   R O L E S   A N D   R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S

The Board has implemented a risk management framework that is summarised in the diagram below.

Ultimate  
Responsibility
Board

Oversight
Audit Committee
(makes recommendations  
to the Board)

Management & Monitoring
Group Risk Committee
(makes recommendations  
to the Audit Committee and Board)

Ownership
Business Units, Senior Leadership Team  
and Group Functions
(supported by Group Risk)

 •  Ultimate responsibility for risk management and 

internal control

 •  Approves the risk management framework
 •  Approves the risk appetite and monitors compliance
 •  Approves the Group Register of Principal Risks
 •  Approves the viability statement

 •  Responsible for reviewing the effectiveness 
of the Group’s systems for internal control 
and risk management

 •  Reviews and challenges the risk 

management framework

 •  Reviews the effectiveness of the control environment
 •   Reviews the effectiveness of and approves the 

approach for the viability statement

 •  Responsible for implementing and embedding 

risk management and internal controls

 •  Defines the risk management process to be 

followed by the business (including risk appetite) 

 •  Reviews and challenges the Group Register 

of Principal Risks ensuring controls identified  
are operating and tracks closure of items
 •  Facilitates risk process, collating risk registers 
and consolidating the Group risk register 

 • Aligns assurance activity

 •  Responsible for identification, prioritisation, 

assessment and monitoring of risk which may 
arise in the business

 •  Risks and associated controls are owned and 

operated by management

 •  Risk registers are maintained and form the basis 

of the Group risk register

Read more about roles and responsibilities for risk 
management in the Governance section on page 71

Read about our risks and viability 
statement on page 55

48

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
Approach to managing risk
Our approach to risk management aims to deliver 
effective and efficient management of risk, whilst 
also making a positive contribution to effective 
decision making and performance improvement.

The Group compiles a Register of Principal Risks from risk 
registers held by our Business Units and Central Functions. 
We monitor the level of each risk against our appetite for 
it using quantitative and qualitative measures and identify 
any actions required to manage the residual risk after 
considering our existing controls.

Risk appetite
The Group is willing to take and manage considered risks 
within clear boundaries set by the Executive Committee 
and approved by the Board. We have defined our appetite 
for risks in each of the categories below and use that to 
decide what mitigation is required for each risk.

Risk categories
We allocate risks into the five categories below and use them 
to help define our risk appetite.

Strategic Risk

Operational Risk 

Hazard Risk

Compliance Risk

Financial Risk

Risks related to the 
Group’s ability to deliver 
on  strategic priorities.

Risks arising from people, 
processes and systems 
impacting upon efficient  
and effective operations.

Risks related to the  
wellbeing of our people  
and the wider stakeholders  
with whom we interact.

Risks related to  
non-compliance 
with government and 
regulatory requirements 
in the jurisdictions 
in which we operate.

Risks which might impact 
upon our ability to meet  
our financial expectations 
and obligations.

 • People, Organisation  

 • Asset Life Cycle

 • Health & Safety

 • Ethics

& Culture

 • Mergers & Acquisitions

 • Technology

 • Market Dynamics

 • Service Delivery

 • Security

 • Supply Chain

 • Contractual

 • Information Technology

 • Information Security

 • Environment

 • Corporate Governance

 • Laws and Regulations

 • FX and Interest 
Rate Volatility

 • Liquidity and Funding

 • Credit Risk

 • Tax

 • Financial Management 

and Control

Risks removed from last year’s register:

 • Change management relating to our new business 

priorities: We have made good progress towards delivery 
of the Business Priorities programme and many of the 
initiatives have now been incorporated into our business 
as usual activities. 

 • An environmental incident occurs due to a project 

delivery failure: Whilst we do not believe this risk has 
been eliminated, we believe we have improved our 
management of this area and will continue to monitor 
this risk within our Business Unit risk registers.

 • Unanticipated tax liabilities in developing countries: 
Robust tax risk management processes have allowed 
us to reduce this risk’s expected impact and likelihood 
in the future.

  Determining whether appropriate direct and indirect 

tax provisions are in place in respect of contentious historic 
or current liabilities remains a primary area of judgement 
for the Audit Committee. See page 69 for details of how 
this is addressed.

Focus during the year
In 2017 we have further developed our methodology and 
continued to embed the risk framework into the business. 
We have assessed estimates of the likelihood of each risk and 
the potential impact. We have also agreed actions to increase 
the effectiveness of risk prevention and mitigation.

Changes since 2016
Our Group Register of Principal Risks will change from time 
to time as we take action to improve the management of 
risks, improve the processes we use to identify risks and 
as the business environment in which we operate evolves. 
This year we have seen three additional risks elevated to 
the Group register and three risks have been removed. 

Risks elevated to the Group’s register this year: 

 • Disruptive technology: Alternative and more distributed 
energy sources are becoming increasingly available and 
affordable. This could affect our competitiveness as power 
providers. In recognition of this, we acquired Younicos in 
2017, introducing new technology and micro-grid capability, 
and have evolved our business strategy to incorporate this 
new offering.

 • Equipment obsolescence: We are introducing new fleet 

and technologies into the business as some of our existing 
fleet is approaching the end of its useful life. The older 
fleet is still available for rent and is required for specific 
applications within our business. We are focussing on 
ensuring the continued utilisation of this fleet.

 • Working capital management: Our working capital has 
increased in recent years, mainly driven by an increase 
in trade and other receivables. We have implemented a 
working capital improvement initiative to drive a sustainable 
improvement and are already seeing the results in trade and 
other payables.

49

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R I S K   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Primary strategic area affected symbols

Customer

Technology

Efficiency

People

P R I N C I P A L   R I S K S   A N D   U N C E R T A I N T I E S

The Directors have carried out a robust assessment of the principal risks and uncertainties facing Aggreko, including 
those that would threaten our future performance, business model, solvency and liquidity. The list below is not exhaustive; 
our operations are large and geographically diverse and the list might change if something that seems immaterial today 
becomes more important tomorrow.
The order in which our principal risks are presented follows our risk categorisation model.

S T R A T E G I C

Market dynamics – Power Solutions
Executive responsible: Stephen Beynon, Managing Director Power Solutions

Primary strategic area affected

Risk

Primary KPIs 
impacted

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

Changes in power 
market dynamics 
result in major 
contracts maturing 
with no equivalent 
replacements.

 • Fleet size 

and composition

A change in power market dynamics could have 
a material impact on revenue and profit.

 • A diverse customer base and development of our 

Industrial business

 • Capital activity
 • Margins
 • Returns

The impact of low commodity prices on the 
economies of developing countries has reduced 
their capacity to pay for temporary power.

Customer buying power has increased because 
of more competition for power projects.

 • Mobile, modular, homogeneous equipment allows 

transfer between markets

 • Improved sales capability, resourcing 

and performance management

 • Technology improvements make our offerings 

more competitive

Changes during 2017: We have had a challenging year within the Power Solutions Utility as the impact of repricing and off-hires in Argentina 
significantly impacted results. Power Solutions Industrial had a strong year as our strategic priorities begin to take effect. 

Read more about Power Solutions performance on page 40

Market dynamics – Rental Solutions
Executive responsible: Bruce Pool, President Rental Solutions

Primary strategic area affected

Risk

Challenging 
market dynamics 
reduce volume 
and profitability 
in our Rental 
Solutions business.

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Revenue growth
 • Margins
 • Returns
 • Capital activity

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

North America is the largest region in 
Rental Solutions. Oil & Gas and Petrochemical 
& Refining have traditionally been its largest 
market sectors, so continued challenges in 
these sectors have had a material impact on 
revenues and profits.

Customer buying power has increased because 
of an increase in supply of fleet in the market 
and increased competition.

 • Diversification into other market sectors
 • Mobile, modular, homogeneous equipment allows 

transfer between markets

 • Improved sales capability, resourcing and 

performance management

 • Delivery of our strategic priorities to improve the 

ease with which customers can do business with us

 • Continued development of our Temperature 

Control business to offset slower growth in power

Changes during 2017: Despite ongoing competitive pressures, the changes we are making to our business processes and systems have begun 
to deliver benefits and Rental Solutions had a good year in 2017. Further strategic progress, as we differentiate our offering, positions us well 
going forward.

Read more about Rental Solutions performance on page 38

Disruptive technology
Executive responsible: Volker Schulte, Group Manufacturing and Technology Director

Primary strategic area affected

Risk

The introduction 
of new technology 
into the power 
market reduces 
our ability 
to remain 
competitive.

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Fleet size 

and composition

 • Returns
 • Capital activity

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

Alternative and more distributed energy 
sources are becoming increasingly available 
and affordable. 

New energy business models using technology 
to manage the on- and off-grid environment 
are emerging. 

 • Diversified product portfolio
 • Technology roadmap for existing and 

alternative technologies

 • Bolt-on acquisition of new technologies 

and capabilities

 • Market requirements monitoring

These developments could affect our 
competitiveness as power providers.

Changes during 2017: We acquired Younicos in 2017, introducing a new technology and micro-grid capability. We have updated our business 
strategy to incorporate this new offering and are developing opportunities to utilise this new capability in tandem with our existing offerings.

Read more about the technology developments taking place as part of our Strategic Priorities on page 28

50

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017S T R A T E G I C   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Talent management 
Executive responsible: Anna Filipopoulos, Group Human Resources Director

Primary strategic area affected

Risk

Failure to attract, 
retain and develop 
key personnel.

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Employee 
satisfaction

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

Our people make the difference between great 
performance and mediocre performance. 

We are keenly aware of the need to attract the 
right people, establish them in their roles and 
manage their development.

Failure to do so could result in loss of productivity 
and intellectual capital, increased recruitment 
costs and lower staff morale.

 • Succession planning
 • Talent management reviews and 

development plans

 • Feedback from staff surveys incorporated into 

strategic priorities

 • Remuneration and benefits to attract and retain 

the required talent

 • Long-term incentive Plans

Changes during 2017: Staff turnover reduced slightly in 2017. When issues arise in specific jurisdictions, we take action to address them or 
implement our succession plans. There were fewer instances of this kind than there were in 2016. Several new high potential managers were 
recruited in the year.

Read more about People on page 30

New technology market introduction
Executive responsible: Stephen Beynon, Managing Director Power Solutions

Primary strategic area affected

Risk

Ineffective 
new product  
development  
and market  
introduction 
hinders growth.

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Fleet size 

and composition

 • Capital activity 
 • Revenue growth
 • Margins
 • Returns

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

New product development and introduction 
is one of our key strategic priorities. 

 • New product introduction process identifies and 

resolves product performance issues

New products introduced recently 
include: engines with greater fuel efficiency 
(e.g. Next Generation Gas); alternative fuel 
technology (e.g. Heavy Fuel Oil); and renewable 
technology (e.g. diesel/solar hybrid).

Failure to develop and introduce new products 
may lead to product obsolescence and reduce 
revenue and profit.

 • Standard operating procedures for new technology 
facilitate effective commissioning and operation
 • Marketing strategies formulated for new products
 • Training delivered to the sales team on the product, 

market opportunities and commercial risks 
associated with new technology

 • Sales champions identified for new technology 

in each region

 • Monitoring of pipeline conducted on 

a monthly basis

Changes during 2017: We are satisfied with the operational performance of our new technology products and are introducing them to the 
market. This has been a slower process than originally anticipated but there is a stable pipeline of customer interest.

Read more about the technology developments taking place as part of our Strategic Priorities on page 28

O P E R A T I O N A L

Cyber security
Executive responsible: Grant Nairn, Group Chief Information Officer

Primary strategic area affected

Risk

A cyber security 
incident leads to a 
loss of data, a loss 
of data integrity 
or a disruption 
to operations.

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Revenue growth
 • Customer loyalty
 • Earnings 
per share

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

A cyber security incident may be caused by an 
external attack, internal attack or by user error.

Such an incident may lead to the loss of 
commercially sensitive data, a loss of data 
integrity within our systems or the loss of 
financial assets through fraud.

A successful cyber attack on our systems 
could also result in us not being able to deliver 
service to our customers, As a result, we could 
suffer reputational damage, revenue loss and 
financial penalties.

 • A cyber security forum has been formed to monitor 

risk threats and ensure appropriate actions are 
being taken

 • Suite of security technology in place including 

antivirus and malware software, firewalls, email 
scanning and internet monitoring

 • Third-party expertise engaged to assist with 

incident response and security penetration testing

 • User awareness training designed and rolled out 

across the organisation

 • Future system developments incorporate 
encryption and security at design stage

Changes during 2017: Whilst we believe we have implemented significant improvements over the course of this year, there has been an increase 
in the number of firms suffering cyber security breaches. As a result of the general increase in the level of threat we believe that this risk score has 
increased since last year.

51

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R I S K   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Primary strategic area affected symbols

Customer

Technology

Efficiency

People

O P E R A T I O N A L   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Equipment obsolescence
Executive responsible: Stephen Beynon, Managing Director Power Solutions

Primary strategic area affected

Risk

Equipment 
becomes obsolete 
before the end 
of its expected 
useful life.

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Capital activity
 • Returns

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

We are introducing new fleet and technologies 
into the business as some of our existing fleet 
is approaching the end of its useful life.

Whilst the older fleet is still available for 
rent and is required for specific customer 
applications, there is an increased likelihood 
that the utilisation of this older equipment 
falls as it is displaced by new equipment.

 • Mobile, modular, homogeneous equipment allows 

transfer between markets

 • Sales team training on applications for 

older equipment

 • Equipment disposal policy to optimise our sales 
process in the event that excess fleet is identified
 • We design and manufacture our own fleet allowing 
us to undertake refurbishment programmes which 
extend its useful life, improve performance and 
avoid obsolescence

Changes during 2017: We are focussing on ensuring the continued utilisation of our older fleet. We have identified specific applications where 
this fleet can best serve our customers and are taking advantage of the mobile, modular nature of our equipment to redeploy this equipment 
where necessary.

H A Z A R D

Health & Safety
Executive responsible: Chris Weston, Chief Executive Officer

Primary strategic area affected

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Safety

Risk

A health and safety 
incident occurs 
which results in 
serious illness, 
injury or death.

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

The business of the Group involves transporting, 
installing and operating large amounts of heavy 
equipment, which produces lethal voltages or 
very high pressure air and involves the use of 
millions of litres of fuel. All of these could cause 
serious damage to our people and third parties 
if not handled with care.

Some of our people work in high risk locations. 
Besides the security considerations (discussed 
below), issues facing these personnel include: 
poor road infrastructure, a lack of availability 
of healthcare and exposure to contagious 
diseases. We also operate on high risk customer 
sites such as offshore oil and wind platforms 
and at mine sites.

 • Group HSE policy communicated globally in all 

relevant languages

 • Appropriate training is delivered to all staff
 • Staff are empowered to stop work when they feel 

safety may be compromised

 • HSE risk assessments are undertaken and safety 
procedures developed in line with our standard 
operating practices

 • HSE compliance audits are conducted regularly 

and all staff are encouraged to report risks 
and incidents

 • Our equipment is subject to rigorous testing prior 

to use and is maintained to a high standard

 • Where health matters are of concern, we 

implement stringent testing procedures and 
restrict access to our sites

 • Comprehensive site induction materials are 

provided to all visitors and staff deployed into 
a new country

 • Defensive driving training is provided in 

high risk countries whilst journey management 
is an important part of our HSE system

Changes during 2017: Our lost time accident frequency rate fell markedly in 2017. We continue to improve our online risk and accident management 
system and, since the introduction of reporting capability through mobile devices, we have seen a significant upturn in the volume of risk reports. 
Energy Safety Rules training has continued at pace throughout 2017 with all relevant employees now authorised. Tragically, one of our technicians 
was fatally injured when he came into contact with an exposed live electrical cable while working at a customer’s site. We held a safety stand 
down and briefing across all operational sites across the Group and have taken additional steps to reduce further the likelihood of such an event 
occurring again.

Read more about Health & Safety on page 30

52

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Security
Executive responsible: Chris Weston, Chief Executive Officer

Primary strategic area affected

H A Z A R D   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Risk

A security incident 
occurs which 
affects our people, 
assets, or our 
operations.

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Safety
 • Fleet size 

and composition
 • Revenue growth

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

A security incident may adversely affect 
the wellbeing of our people, the security 
of our assets, our reputation or our ability 
to generate revenue.

 • Group security policy communicated globally 

in all relevant languages

 • Group Security team under the direction of the 
Group Head of Security provides guidance and 
direction on appropriate security requirements
 • Monitoring of security environments in countries 

where we operate

 • Security compliance reviews undertaken 

periodically by the Security team

 • Group-wide Travel Management System, provides 

pre-travel guidance and allows monitoring 
of travellers

 • Head of Security provides monthly briefings 

to the Executive management team

 • In some cases, insurance against losses has 

been procured

Changes during 2017: Whilst we continue to face specific security challenges in Afghanistan, Iraq, Venezuela and Yemen, we have taken further 
steps to reduce our risk exposure with the communication of our Security Policy and implementation of our group-wide travel management 
system this year.

C O M P L I A N C E

Failure to conduct business dealings with integrity and honesty
Executive responsible: Peter Kennerley, Group Legal Director & Company Secretary

Primary strategic area affected

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Customer loyalty
 • Revenue growth
 • Margins

Risk

We are prosecuted 
as a result of 
an employee or 
person acting on 
our behalf having 
made a payment 
which is, or is 
perceived to be, 
a bribe.

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

The scale and global nature of much of our 
business exposes us to risks of unethical 
behaviour. 

 • Anti-bribery and corruption framework designed 

in line with UK Government guidance and 
implemented across the Group

This risk is particularly relevant owing to the 
following factors:

 • We operate in several countries with perceived 

high levels of corruption;

 • We participate in tenders for high value 

contracts involving public procurement; and 

 • Our business model involves the use of 
third-party sales consultants/agents in 
some countries where we do not have 
a permanent presence

We are aware of the potential reputational 
and financial impact of such behaviour 
and we have in place a robust compliance 
programme to mitigate our exposure to this risk.

 • Board-level leadership through our Ethics 

Committee which oversees the compliance policies 
and procedures and aims to foster a culture of 
integrity and honesty in all of our business dealings
 • Ethics policy in place with which employees, agents 

and sales consultants are required to comply

 • Training of employees and third-party sales 

consultants on anti-bribery and corruption policies 
and procedures. 

 • Due diligence undertaken on sales consultants 

and agents. Once appointed we regularly monitor 
their performance, audit payments and refresh 
due-diligence at least every two years

 • Head of Compliance and Internal Audit team 

monitors compliance with policy requirements 
in this area

 • An independent whistle-blowing system is in 

place which allows employees to report concerns 
confidentially and anonymously. Any reports 
received are fully investigated

Changes during 2017: No material changes during 2017. We have continued to undertake training for all new starters and high risk  
third-party relationships.

Read more our ethics policy and anti-bribery and corruption framework on page 73

53

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R I S K   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Primary strategic area affected symbols

Customer

Technology

Efficiency

People

Failure to collect payments or to recover assets
Executive responsible: Heath Drewett, Chief Financial Officer

Primary strategic area affected

F I N A N C E

Risk

Significant 
customer 
payment default 
or impounding 
of assets.

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Margins
 • Earnings 
per share

 • Returns

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

The Group has some large contracts in 
emerging market countries where payment 
practices can be unpredictable, where their 
liquidity has been adversely affected by a 
fall in commodity prices or where they have 
competing demands on a limited budget. 
There is a risk that we do not obtain payment for 
a large project (or combination of projects) and/
or that a material value of assets are confiscated. 

We take a rigorous approach to credit risk 
management and to date have not suffered 
a significant loss. 

 • Regular monitoring of the risk profile and debtor 

position for large contracts

 • Mitigation techniques will vary from customer 
to customer, but include obtaining advance 
payments, letters of credit, and in some cases 
insurance against losses

 • Active customer relationship management, 
including escalation to senior management
 • The scale of our business and diversity of our 
customer portfolio make it less likely that any 
unprovided for bad debt or equipment seizure 
would be material to the Group’s balance sheet

A customer’s non-payment would result in an 
increased bad debt provision or write-off of the 
debt. Should our assets be seized, we would also 
lose future revenue and profit associated with 
that equipment whilst having to write off its 
residual value.

Changes during 2017: Our risk in this area has risen in 2017 with debtor days increasing. While we have not suffered a significant loss in this area 
during the year, we have chosen to increase the provision against overdue debts in Power Solutions Utility due to delays in payment. 

Read more about Power Solutions performance on page 40

Working capital management
Executive responsible: Heath Drewett, Chief Financial Officer

Primary strategic area affected

Primary KPIs 
impacted

 • Capital activity
 • Returns

Risk

Unexpected 
funding 
requirement for 
working capital 
affects our ability 
to fund the 
strategic plan.

Background and impact

Prevention and mitigation

A large, unexpected increase in working capital 
could reduce the amount of funds available for 
our strategic priorities and make it more difficult 
to deliver our strategic plan.

 • We maintain financial headroom over the forecast 

level of gross debt in the form of undrawn 
committed debt facilities to cope with unexpected 
funding requirements

 • Working capital is monitored and managed 

to reduce the likelihood of unexpected 
funding requirements

 • We maintain access to diverse sources of funds to 

meet additional funding requirements should they 
arise at short notice

 • A working capital improvement programme to 

improve creditor days, inventory levels, debtor days 
and related processes

Changes during 2017: A project to improve working capital was launched in 2017 with the help of external advisers which will continue into 2018. 
We have already seen a significant improvement in creditor days and, towards the end of the year, some improvement in debtor days. 

Read more about our financial performance on page 36

54

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Brexit
The main impact of Brexit to date has been the depreciation 
of the Pound. A weaker Pound has increased the Sterling 
value of our revenues, the majority of which are denominated 
in US Dollars. The Sterling value of our debt and borrowing 
facilities has increased by similar amounts. We believe it is too 
early to determine the impact of the UK leaving the European 
Union on the Group’s activities, although we do not expect 
it to be material because a large majority of the Group's 
business is outside of the UK and the EU. We will continue 
to follow developments closely.

With the above as background, the Board approached the 
viability assessment as follows:

 • It carried out the viability assessment over a three-year 

period to 2020. Although the Board considers prospects 
of the Group over a longer period, three years was deemed 
appropriate for the viability assessment because:

 — The Group’s funding requirement can be forecast with 

sufficient accuracy over the viability period.

 — The Board expects to be able to arrange sufficient finance 
to meet its funding requirement over the viability period.

Assessment of prospects and viability
The prospects for our Rental Solutions business are linked 
to growth in local economies and commodity cycles. 
Our Power Solutions Industrial business is driven by growth 
in developing markets, which can be commodity dependent, 
whilst Power Solutions Utility is driven by shortfalls in 
permanent capacity caused by economic growth, ageing 
power infrastructure, hydro-shortages and social pressures.

The Executive Committee and the Board regularly discuss 
factors that might affect Aggreko’s prospects. The 12 principal 
risks, which the Board concluded could affect business 
performance, are set out on the previous pages.

 — Power Solutions Utility’s historical off-hire rate of 

30% suggests an average contract life of three years. 
Rental Solutions and Power Solutions Industrial have 
shorter hire periods than Power Solutions Utility.

 • It stress-tested the Group’s strategic plan to 2020 by 
modelling scenarios linked to each principal risk. 

 • It stress-tested the Group’s strategic plan to 2020 by 

modelling scenarios of combinations of principal risks.

The results of this stress-testing showed that the Group 
has sufficient scale, diversity and balance sheet strength 
to withstand the impact of these scenarios by making 
adjustments to its operating plans within the normal course 
of business.

Based on the results of this analysis, the Directors have a 
reasonable expectation that the Group will be able to continue 
in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the 
three-year period of their detailed assessment.

55

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYGOVERNANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONOUR PERFORMANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017C H A I R M A N ’ S   I N T R O D U C T I O N

G O V E R N A N C E

Ken Hanna
Chairman

The governance framework put in 
place by the Board to support the 
delivery of our strategic priorities 
is starting to deliver results.”

Compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code
Aggreko is committed to maintaining high standards 
of corporate governance; it is the way we do business 
and it is at the core of everything we do. Summarised on 
the page opposite and explained in detail throughout this 
report, we have described the key elements which we believe 
are essential for good corporate governance. We follow the 
UK Corporate Governance Code (the ‘Code’), as published by 
the Financial Reporting Council in April 2016 and are pleased 
to report that Aggreko has complied in full with all relevant 
provisions of the Code throughout the year.

56

Overview

Although 2017 shows another year of earnings per share 
decline, the underlying business unit results demonstrate 
significant progress on a number of our strategic priorities.

Both Rental Solutions and Power Solutions Industrial 
business units reported significant increases in Operating 
Profits. However as has been the case for several years, Group 
Performance has been materially affected by a significant 
decline in the Power Solutions Utility business, and in 2017 
this was almost exclusively due to the off-hire and repricing 
of our long standing ‘legacy’ contracts in Argentina.

The Board believes that the strategic priorities of the Group 
are totally appropriate and will position Aggreko for a return 
to growth.

Corporate governance reform and 
consideration of all stakeholders

We have paid close attention to the debate on corporate 
governance reform in 2017 and will continue to do so, 
amending our internal policies, procedures and disclosures, 
as guidance is formalised in 2018. One area of particular 
note is the move towards asking Boards to improve their 
disclosures in the annual report in relation to stakeholders. 
Stakeholders are key to the successful and sustainable 
development of any business and, without good relationships, 
we would not have a business to report on. We also believe 
that trust in our business and our reputation is driven by how 
we engage with our stakeholders. With all of that in mind, we 
have expanded our usual disclosure to include consideration 
of a number of other key stakeholders. We hope that this new 
section is useful and informative.

Diversity

The Board believes that diversity, both in the Boardroom 
and throughout the organisation, is key to our success. 
I am pleased to report that 30% of our Board roles are currently 
held by women (40% prior to Carole Cran’s departure at the 
year end). For the first time, we formalised our approach to 
Board diversity by adopting a Board diversity policy in 
December 2017, you can read more about this on page 67. 
We do, however, acknowledge that there is more to do to 
ensure the development of diversity across the organisation. 
Diversity and inclusion, and the gender pay gap in particular, 
are now an area of focus as we acknowledge the need, and 
desire, to address the imbalance. We support management 
in their efforts to address this by establishing a team which 
will look at diversity on a group-wide basis, determine what 
changes need to be made and work with the business to 
implement them over the next few years. Our full gender pay gap  
disclosure, including the actions we are taking, will be published 
on our website in line with the government guidelines.

Talent, development and succession

During the year the Board spent considerable time reviewing 
succession plans for the Executive Committee and their direct 
reports. This was a key area of focus arising from the 2016 Board 
Evaluation Exercise. I am pleased to report significant progress 
on the strengthening of our talent management programme 
together with the external recruitment of a number of high 
potential managers.

We worked closely with the Nomination Committee to make 
a  number of changes to our Board in 2017 and early 2018. 
In March 2017, we were delighted to announce the appointments 
of Barbara Jeremiah and Miles Roberts as Non-executive 
Directors. Barbara and Miles undertook comprehensive 
inductions into the business and the detail on their appointment 
and induction processes were provided in last year’s report.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Our CFO, Carole Cran, left the business in December 2017 
after 14 years with Aggreko. The Board and I are extremely 
grateful to Carole, her support and dedication to Aggreko 
over the years has been outstanding. Carole was succeeded 
by Heath Drewett in January 2018. Heath brings a wealth of 
experience as a finance professional and his full biography 
is set out on page 58. 

After nine years with Aggreko, Russell King will retire from 
the Board at our 2018 AGM. During this time, Russell has 
served as Chairman of our Remuneration Committee and 
Senior Independent Director. His experience with Aggreko 
has brought stability and oversight and the Board and I are 
extremely grateful for his service. I am pleased to announce 
that Barbara Jeremiah will succeed Russell as Remuneration 
Committee Chair and Uwe Krueger will be appointed as 
Senior Independent Director. Further detail on both of these 
appointments can be found on page 67.

These appointments bring energy, challenge and oversight 
to the Board. 

Board oversight and monitoring

The Audit Committee has played a key role in ensuring that 
there was appropriate challenge and governance around the 
accounting treatment of the decisions taken during the year 
and ensuring robust risk management, controls and assurance 
were in place.

Following the withdrawal of the proposed resolutions relating 
to a new Remuneration Policy and Restricted Share Plan at 
our AGM in 2017, fairness and pay has also featured strongly 
in the Board’s debate this year. Whilst we were disappointed 
to make the decision to withdraw these resolutions, we were 
not comfortable with the level of support received from 
Shareholders and felt we should do better. The Remuneration 
Committee has supported this work by reviewing our 
remuneration framework and overall policy, going back 
to Shareholders to discuss areas of particular concern or 
misunderstanding. We believe that the new proposed 
Remuneration Policy for approval at the 2018 AGM takes 
account of those discussions and aligns Aggreko’s interests 
with those of Shareholders and management. Further detail 
on the proposed Remuneration Policy is on page 76.

Looking ahead to 2018

The Board remains committed to ensuring the highest 
standards of corporate governance across the Group in all 
aspects of the delivery of our strategic priorities. I am confident 
that our people understand fully that how we work is as 
important as what we achieve and that, by focussing on our 
always orange culture and core values, we will deliver on those 
priorities. Finally, I would like to thank our employees for their 
dedication and support during 2017.

Leadership

Accountability

The Board rigorously challenges strategy, performance, 
responsibility and accountability to ensure that every 
decision we make is of the highest quality.

All of our decisions are discussed within the context 
of the risks involved. Effective risk management 
is central to achieving our strategic objectives.

Read more about  

  our Leadership page 58

Read more about  

  our Accountability page 68

Effectiveness

Relations with Shareholders

The Board continuously evaluates the balance of 
skills, experience, knowledge and independence of 
the Directors. We ensure that all new Directors receive 
a tailored induction programme and we scrutinise 
our performance in an annual effectiveness review.

Maintaining strong relationships with our Shareholders, 
both  private and institutional, is crucial to achieving 
our aims. We hold events throughout the year 
to maintain an open dialogue with our investors.

Read more about  

  our Effectiveness page 63

Read more about  

  our Shareholders and Stakeholder Relations page 74

Remuneration

Having a formal and transparent procedure for 
developing policy on remuneration for Executive 
Directors is crucial. Our remuneration policy aims 
to attract, retain and motivate by linking reward 
to performance.

Read more about  

  our remuneration page 76

57

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
 
 
L E A D E R S H I P

Our Board

K E N   H A N N A

Chairman

C H R I S   W E S T O N

Chief Executive Officer

Appointed:
Non-executive Director in October 2010 and 
Chairman in April 2012.

Appointed:
January 2015.

H E A T H   D R E W E T T

Chief Financial Officer

Appointed:
January 2018.

Experience
Ken has international experience, bringing 
financial and leadership expertise to Aggreko. 
He possesses knowledge of many different 
business sectors and is an experienced 
senior executive and leader, promoting 
robust debate and a culture of openness 
in the Boardroom.

Ken is also currently Chairman of Inchcape Plc 
(a position he will retire from at their AGM in 
May 2018), Chairman of Arena Events Group 
Plc, an AIM-listed company, and Chairman 
of Shooting Star CHASE Charity. Until 2009, 
Ken spent five years as Chief Financial Officer 
of Cadbury Plc. He has also held positions 
as Operating Partner for Compass Partners, 
Group Chief Executive at Dalgety Plc, Group 
Finance Director of United Distillers Plc 
and Group Finance Director of Avis Europe 
Plc. He is also a fellow of the Institute of 
Chartered Accountants.

Experience
Chris has experience at a senior level in 
the energy industry, proven leadership 
skills in a large international business and 
has consistently succeeded in driving 
performance and growth in his career. 

Prior to his appointment as CEO in January 2015, 
Chris was Managing Director, International 
Downstream at Centrica plc, where he was 
the Executive Director responsible for the 
Group’s largest division. In this role Chris was 
operationally responsible for both British 
Gas in the UK and Direct Energy in the USA. 
He joined Centrica in 2001 after a successful 
career in the telecoms industry, working for 
both Cable & Wireless and One.Tel. Before that, 
Chris served in the Royal Artillery. He has a BSc 
in Applied Science, as well as an MBA and PhD 
from Imperial College London. Chris was also 
appointed as a Non-executive Director of the 
Royal Navy in January 2017.

Experience
Heath is an experienced CFO and proven 
leader with experience in the engineering, 
leisure, transportation and industrial 
sectors. He has 28 years of experience 
within various finance, corporate finance, 
business performance, financial and strategic 
planning roles. He has extensive international 
experience in both M&A and corporate 
development activities.

Prior to his appointment at Aggreko, Heath 
was Group Finance Director for eight 
years at WS Atkins plc where, following 
the acquisition of WS Atkins by SNC-
Lavalin, he was most recently appointed 
President, with responsibility for its global 
engineering, design, project and programme 
management business. Before that, Heath 
worked at British Airways plc within corporate 
strategy, business planning and finance. 
Heath is a chartered accountant, having 
trained at PwC, with a MA in Mathematics 
from Cambridge University.

R U S S E L L   K I N G

D A M E   N I C O L A   B R E W E R

B A R B A R A   J E R E M I A H

Senior Independent Director

Non-executive Director

Non-executive Director

Appointed:
Non-executive Director in February 2009 and  
Senior Independent Director in April 2014.

Appointed:
February 2016.

Appointed:
March 2017.

Experience
Russell brings international experience, 
acquired across a number of sectors including 
mining and chemicals, together with strong 
experience in strategy. 

Experience
Nicola Brewer brings extensive geo-political 
and diplomatic experience to Aggreko, having 
worked in many of the developing regions 
in which we operate.

Experience
Barbara brings extensive international Non-
executive experience largely in the USA and 
Australia together with an executive career in 
the mining, exploration and energy industries.

An experienced Non-executive Director, 
Russell currently sits on the boards of 
Spectris Plc as Senior Independent Director 
and Remuneration Committee Chairman 
and Interserve plc as Senior Independent 
Director. He is also Chairman of Hummingbird 
Resources plc and a Non-executive Director  
at BDO LLP. Prior to this, Russell spent 
eight years at Anglo American Plc, latterly 
as Chief Strategy Officer and spent 20 years 
in senior roles at ICI.

Russell will retire as Non-executive Director 
with effect from the close of the 2018 AGM.

Nicola is currently Vice Provost at University 
College London, responsible for international 
strategy. She is also a Non-executive Director 
of Scottish Power and a trustee of Prince 
Harry’s southern African charity, Sentebale. 
In her previous diplomatic career, she worked 
in Mexico, India and France, was a member 
of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 
Board from 2004 to 2007, and was High 
Commissioner to South Africa, Lesotho and 
Swaziland from 2009 to 2013. As a member of 
the board of the Department for International 
Development, she supervised all UK bilateral 
aid programmes in Africa, Asia, Eastern 
Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

An experienced Non-executive Director, 
Barbara currently sits on the boards of the 
Weir Group, Russel Metals and Allegheny 
Technologies having recently retired as 
Chairwoman of Boart Longyear, a US based 
company in the minerals drilling sector. 
Until her retirement in 2009, Barbara spent 
over 30 years in a number of roles in Alcoa 
Inc. (now demerged into Alcoa and Arconic 
Inc.), the world leader in the production of 
aluminium and related products. Her roles 
in Alcoa included Assistant General Counsel, 
VP Corporate Development and Executive VP 
in charge of strategy and M&A. Barbara is an 
American citizen with a BA in political science 
and is a qualified lawyer.

58

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017U W E   K R U E G E R

Non-executive Director

Appointed:
February 2015.

D I A N A   L A Y F I E L D

Non-executive Director

Appointed:
May 2012.

Experience
Uwe brings expertise of the engineering, services 
and renewable energy sectors. He is a physicist 
with a PhD and an honorary professorship 
from the University of Frankfurt and an 
honorary PhD from Heriot-Watt University. 
Most of his career has been spent leading 
engineering and consulting organisations. 

Uwe is currently Global Senior Managing 
Director, Head of Business Services and 
Co-Head of Portfolio Management for 
Temasek. He also sits on the boards of 
SUSI Partners AG and Ontex S.A. and lectures 
at the University of Frankfurt on renewable 
energy. Before joining Temasek, Uwe was 
Chief Executive Officer of WS Atkins plc, 
Chief Executive Officer of Oerlikon, Senior 
Advisor at Texas Pacific Group, President 
of Cleantech Switzerland, and held various 
senior leadership positions at Hochtief AG.

Uwe will be appointed as Senior Independent 
Director, following Russell King’s retirement 
at the 2018 AGM.

Experience
Diana brings extensive international 
experience and detailed understanding of 
how to operate successfully across emerging 
markets, particularly in Asia and Africa. 
She also brings experience in technology, 
finance, sales and strategy.

Diana is Vice President, Next Billion Users at 
Google Inc, developing products and services 
for users in emerging markets, and in Fintech. 
Before joining Google, she was Chief Executive, 
Africa Region for Standard Chartered Plc 
and held a number of senior leadership 
roles over 11 years at Standard Chartered. 
Prior to Standard Chartered, Diana was Chief 
Executive Officer of Finexia Ltd, a technology 
firm, and a consultant with McKinsey & Co, 
an international strategy consulting firm. 
Diana has a BA from the University of Oxford 
and a Master’s degree in International 
Economics and Public Administration 
from Harvard University.

I A N   M A R C H A N T

Non-executive Director

Appointed:
November 2013.

M I L E S   R O B E R T S

Non-executive Director

Appointed:
March 2017.

Experience
Ian brings knowledge of the domestic and 
international energy markets, along with 
a substantial understanding of associated 
strategic, financial and regulatory issues. 
Until his retirement in June 2013, Ian spent 
21 years at SSE Plc, most recently as Chief 
Executive, and prior to that as Finance Director.

Ian is an experienced Non-executive Director, 
currently serving as Chairman of John 
Wood Group Plc and Chairman of Thames 
Water Utilities. He is also a Member of the 
Prince’s Council of the Duchy of Cornwall, 
Honorary President of RZSS, Chairman of 
the advisory board of the Centre of Energy 
Policy at Strathclyde University and former 
Chairman of Scotland’s 2020 Climate Group.

Experience
Miles brings extensive international business 
experience both as a Chief Executive and 
Finance Director.

Miles is currently Chief Executive Officer 
of DS Smith Plc, a FTSE 100 international 
packaging group with operations in nearly 
40 countries. Prior to joining DS Smith Plc 
in 2010, Miles was Group Chief Executive 
of McBride plc having previously been 
Group Finance Director. Prior to this, Miles 
worked for Costain Group plc and Vivendi 
UK. He also has non-executive experience, 
having served on the boards of Poundland 
Group plc as Senior Independent Director 
and Care UK plc as a Non-executive Director. 
Miles has a degree in Engineering and is 
also a chartered accountant.

K E Y   T O   C O M M I T T E E   M E M B E R S H I P

Audit

Remuneration

Nomination

Ethics

P E T E R   K E N N E R L E Y

Company Secretary

Appointed:
October 2008.

Peter is our Group Legal Director & 
Company Secretary.

Further details appear on page 60.

Other Directors who served during 2017:

C A R O L E   C R A N

Chief Financial Officer  
until 31 December 2017.

Board attendance in 2017

Name of Director

Board  
meetings

%  
attended 

Ken Hanna
Chris Weston
Carole Cran
Nicola Brewer
Barbara Jeremiah1
Russell King
Uwe Krueger2
Diana Layfield
Ian Marchant
Miles Roberts3

A
6
6
6
6
5
6
6
6
6
5

B
6
6
6
6
5
6
5
6
6
4

100
100
100
100
100
100
83
100
100
80

A 

B 

 1 
2 

3 

 maximum number of meetings Director could 
have attended.
 actual number of meetings Director attended.

 Barbara Jeremiah joined the Board in March 2017.
 Uwe Kruger was unable to attend the June 2017 meeting 
owing to a pre-existing arrangement.
 Miles Roberts joined the Board in March 2017 and at the 
time of his appointment, advised that he would be unable 
to attend the July 2017 meeting.

59

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017L E A D E R S H I P

Our Executive Committee

The Executive Committee meets every month and operates 
under the direction and authority of the Chief Executive Officer; 
it is responsible for supporting him in all aspects of his role. 
Each of the principal risks and uncertainties outlined in the 
Strategic Report has been individually assigned to a member 
of the Executive Committee.

At least twice a year, the Executive Committee members meet as 
the Group Risk Committee to review the risks; this helps to embed 
our risk management processes within our management teams.

1   C H R I S   W E S T O N

4   A N N A   F I L I P O P O U L O S

6   P E T E R   K E N N E R L E Y

8   B R U C E   P O O L

Chief Executive Officer

Appointed: January 2015.
Tenure with Aggreko: 3 years.

Full biography appears on 
page 58.

2   H E A T H   D R E W E T T

Chief Financial Officer

Appointed: January 2018. 
Tenure with Aggreko: less than 
1 year.

Full biography appears on 
page 58.

3   S T E P H E N   B E Y N O N

Managing Director, 
Power Solutions

Appointed: May 2017.
Tenure with Aggreko: less than 
1 year. 

Stephen has responsibility 
for the leadership of the 
Power Solutions business 
and overseeing the delivery 
of our strategic priorities 
within Power Solutions.

Group Human 
Resources Director

Group Legal Director & 
Company Secretary

President,  
Rental Solutions

Appointed: April 2016.
Tenure with Aggreko: 2 years.

Appointed: October 2008. 
Tenure with Aggreko: 9 years. 

Appointed: December 2015.
Tenure with Aggreko: 19 years. 

Anna has responsibility for 
human resources and internal 
communications, focusing 
on talent and leadership 
development, employee 
engagement and culture.

Peter has overall responsibility 
for the management of 
legal and ethical risk and for 
supporting the Board in setting 
and maintaining standards 
of corporate governance.

Bruce has responsibility 
for the leadership of the 
Rental Solutions business 
overseeing the delivery of 
our strategic priorities within 
Rental Solutions.

5   D A N   I B B E T S O N

7   G R A N T   N A I R N

9   V O L K E R   S C H U L T E

Managing Director, 
Global Solutions

Group Chief 
Information Officer

Group Manufacturing and 
Technology Director

Appointed: October 2016.
Tenure with Aggreko: 10 years.

Appointed: May 2017.
Tenure with Aggreko: 4 years.

Appointed: August 2015. 
Tenure with Aggreko: 3 years. 

Dan has responsibility for 
the leadership of our Global 
Solutions business. This includes 
global business development, 
account management and 
M&A coordination, providing 
a critical focus on securing 
growth and maximising 
opportunities into the future.

Grant has responsibility for 
developing and implementing 
Aggreko’s digital platform with 
the goal of improving customer 
service and efficiency. He is also 
responsible for building our 
advanced analytics capability 
and for cyber security.

Volker is responsible for global 
engineering and technology, 
including our newly acquired 
battery storage and software 
capability, manufacturing, 
product management and 
strategy, as well as our digital 
and data strategy for serving 
our fleet of assets with the aim 
of delivering market leading 
products to our customers.

8

5

1

9

6

7

2

3

4

60

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Diversity metrics

B O A R D   C O M P O S I T I O N   A N D   R O L E S   A T   3 1   D E C E M B E R   2 0 1 7

Executive/Independent Non-executive composition of Board

Sector experience of Board

1

1  Executive

2  Non-executive* 

No.

2

7

%

Customer

22%

78%

2

Gender of Board*

2

*   As required by Code provision B.1.2, this 

calculation excludes the Chairman when 
looking at the Independent Non-executive 
composition of the Board.

Finance

Energy

1  Male

2  Female

No.

6

4

%

60%

40%

1

*   Since Carole Cran’s departure and appointment  
of Heath Drewett, in January 2018, our current 
Board gender balance is Male 7 (70%) and 
Female 3 (30%).

Geo-politics/diplomacy

Operational

Technology

90%

50%

70%

20%

70%

20%

Tenure of Non-executive Directors

Independence of Directors

3

1   0-3 years

2  3-6 years

3  6-9 years

2

1

No.

4

2

1

%

57%

29%

14%

The Board reviews the independence of its Non-executive 
Directors as part of its annual Board effectiveness review. 
The Chairman is committed to ensuring the Board comprises 
a majority of independent Non-executive Directors who 
objectively challenge management, balanced against the 
continuity on the Board. The Board considers that all of the 
Non-executive Directors bring strong independent oversight 
and continue to demonstrate independence.

Chairman 

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

H O W   W E   D I V I D E   U P   O U R   R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S

Responsible for leading the Board, its effectiveness and governance. Setting 
the agenda to take full account of the issues and concerns of the Directors and 
ensuring the links between the Shareholders, Board and management are strong.

Responsible for the day-to-day leadership, management, HSE statement and 
control of the Group, for recommending the Group strategy to the Board and 
ensuring that the strategy and decisions of the Board are implemented via the 
Executive Committee.

Responsible for the day-to-day management of the financial risks of the Group and 
providing general support to the Chief Executive Officer including the operational 
performance of the business and chairing the Group Risk Committee.

Senior Independent Director

Provides a sounding board for the Chairman, acts as an intermediary for the 
other Directors when necessary and is available to meet with Shareholders.

Independent Non-executive Directors

Constructively challenge the Executive Directors and monitor the delivery of 
the Group strategy within the risk and control environment set by the Board.

Company Secretary

Supports the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and is available to all Directors 
for advice and support. Informs the Board and Committees on governance matters 
and is responsible for development of corporate governance policies.

61

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017L E A D E R S H I P   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Role of the Board and Committees

The Board is responsible for the long-term success of the 
Group. It sets our strategy and oversees its implementation, 
ensuring decisions made reflect our risk appetite. It provides 
leadership and direction and has responsibility for corporate 
governance and the overall financial performance of the Group. 
The Board is supported in this role by its principal Committees, 
outlined in the table below.

Read our Schedule of Matters reserved for the Board: 

  www.plc.aggreko.com

To retain control of key decisions, the Board has a schedule 
of matters reserved for the Board that only it can approve, 
with other matters, responsibilities and authorities delegated 
to its Committees.

Board

A U D I T 
C O M M I T T E E

R E M U N E R A T I O N 
C O M M I T T E E

N O M I N A T I O N 
C O M M I T T E E

E T H I C S 
C O M M I T T E E

Ensures the integrity 
of Aggreko’s financial 
statements, the 
relationship with the 
external auditor, internal 
auditor and provides 
oversight of our systems 
for internal control and 
risk management.

Determines the 
remuneration for the 
Chairman, Executive 
Directors and the Executive 
Committee members 
and oversees Aggreko’s 
overall remuneration 
policy, strategy 
and implementation.

Monitors and reviews 
the composition and 
balance of the Board 
and its Committees to 
ensure Aggreko has the 
right structure, skills and 
experience in place for the 
effective management 
of the Group.

Monitors compliance 
with, and oversees the 
effectiveness of, our ethical 
policies and procedures 
to ensure that Aggreko 
conducts its business with 
integrity and honesty and 
in accordance with the law.

Committee report 
page 68

Committee report 
page 76

Committee report 
page 66

Committee report 
page 72

CEO

G R O U P   R I S K 
C O M M I T T E E

Responsible for the 
implementation of 
our risk framework, 
and processes for 
risk reporting.

D I S C L O S U R E 
C O M M I T T E E

F I N A N C E 
C O M M I T T E E

A L L O T M E N T 
C O M M I T T E E

E X E C U T I V E 
C O M M I T T E E

Responsible for 
approving financial 
facilities, bonds 
and guarantees.

Responsible for the 
allotment of shares.

Operates under 
the direction and 
authority of the CEO 
and is responsible for 
supporting the 
CEO in all aspects 
of his role.

Overseas compliance 
with Market Abuse 
Regulation and 
supports the Board 
in approving the 
final form of any 
announcement or 
statement relating 
to the performance 
of the Group, or any 
other potentially price 
sensitive information.

K E Y   T O   C O M M I T T E E S

Board

Non-Board

62

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
 
 
E F F E C T I V E N E S S

Board meetings in 2017

B O A R D   M E E T I N G S

Jan 17

Feb 17

Mar 17

Apr 17

May 17

Jun 17

Jul 17

Aug 17

Sep 17

Oct 17

Nov 17

Dec 17

In 2017, the Board held six scheduled meetings. At each 
scheduled meeting the Board received reports from:

 • The CFO on the performance of the business, capital 

structure, fleet, budget, treasury and investor relations.

 • The CEO on strategic, operational and business 

 • The Chairmen of each of the Board Committees on 

developments, people and health and safety. This report 
is a particularly important tool, focussing on the key issues 
affecting the business, so that the Board really understands 
the current status.

matters discussed at their meetings. 

The Board also received reports on our ethics compliance 
framework and new technology and product updates.

Topic

Strategy

I N   A D D I T I O N   T O   T H E   R E G U L A R   I T E M S ,   T H E   K E Y   A R E A S   O F   F O C U S   W E R E :

Activity/Discussion

Actions arising/Progress

Monitor progress 
against our 
strategic priorities 
of technology 
investment, 
customer focus, 
capital and 
operational 
efficiency and 
expert people

Monitor 
opportunities 
for acquisitions

Held a one day strategy review session to discuss current thinking, progress 
and developments:

 • Reviewed our Group strategy for the next five years.

 • Examined the impact of general rental companies on our Rental Solutions business 

in North America.

 •  Looked at the sustainability of our order pipeline in Power Solutions utility and 

industrial sectors.

 • Analysed the likely impact of new technology on our core markets, including 

renewables and distributed energy.

 • Received a detailed update on technology and operations.

Monitored the roll out and performance of field trials and pilot sites for new technology.

Reviewed progress against our digital technology strategy, looking at CRM, cyber security 
and site performance management.

Received detailed updates on strategic initiatives in the Rental Solutions and 
Power Solutions businesses.

Monitored the integration of Younicos into Aggreko to ensure an effective operating 
model and engagement of Younicos employees.

Approved the creation of a standalone business unit, Global Solutions. Global Solutions 
is responsible for smaller product lines common across the Group, such as renewables 
and storage offering, as well as power adjacencies such as temperature control and 
loadbanks. Global Solutions is also responsible for global account management for 
larger customers, replicating solutions, savings and sharing learnings, across geography 
and sectors, whilst delivering growth and a better customer experience.

Reviewed a number of opportunities in 2017.

Approved the acquisition of Younicos, a global market leader in the development 
and deployment of integrated energy systems, based on battery storage. 
This acquisition strengthened our position and is in line with our strategy to 
invest in technology in order to reduce the cost of energy for our customers.

Approved the acquisition of KBT, an Indonesia-based power rental company. 
This acquisition strengthened our relationship with PLN, the local utility company 
in Indonesia, adding 200 MW to the 140 MW Aggreko had already contracted.

Approved the acquisition of TuCo Industrial Products, a North American specialist 
provider of heat and air conditioning equipment to the construction, industrial, 
commercial and special events industries. Strengthening our business in these sectors.

Read more about  

  our Business Priorities page 14

63

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017  
E F F E C T I V E N E S S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Board meetings in 2017 (continued)

In addition to the regular items, the key areas of focus were:

Topic

Activity/Discussion

Actions arising/Progress

Governance, 
risk 
management 
and internal 
control

Regulatory 
environment and 
internal governance 
processes

Reviewed our own processes against the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act and 
approved our modern slavery statement for website publication.

Approved updates to the delegated authority matrix.

Board evaluation

Assessed the outcome of the 2017 Board evaluation and approved the action plan for 2018.

Half yearly and 
annual review 
of Group risk profile

Received regular reports from the Group Risk Committee.

Reviewed the Group risk register, risk appetite and effectiveness of the risk management 
process to ensure we have a robust risk management framework which delivers an 
effective and efficient approach to risk management and positively contributes to 
effective decision making.

Approved the Group risk register.

Approved updates to the risk management methodology. 

Read more about  
  our Risks page 48

People, 
culture and 
values

Succession  
planning

Discussed succession and talent development for CEO and CEO-1.

Received an update on the Executive Committee work on succession planning for roles 
at CEO-2 and CEO-3.

Reviewed movements within the Senior Leadership Team.

Employee 
engagement 
and culture

Approved Board diversity policy and working group to look at diversity across the Group 
and identify actions to close gaps.

Monitored the launch of the refreshed culture, including regular updates on employee 
engagement scores.

Approved all employee sharesave offer.

Safety

In addition to regular HSE update in CEO’s report, received biannual update on HSE and 
approved HSE priorities for 2018.

Ongoing training, 
development 
and stakeholder 
engagement for 
Board members

Board visit to South Africa and Zimbabwe in June 2017 to promote interaction between 
the Board and employees and provide insight for the Board into the Power Solutions 
business in Africa.

Completed induction programmes for Barbara Jeremiah and Miles Roberts.

Shareholders  Strong engagement 

with stakeholders 
and investors

Received regular Investor Relations reports on all Shareholder contact, including 
an update on a teach-in on our customer business priority; covering how this work 
is refocusing our businesses and providing more detail on some of our key sectors. 
The teach-in included presentations from our senior and operational management.

Following Shareholder feedback on the RSP element of the remuneration policy 
proposed for the 2017 AGM and withdrawal of associated resolution at the AGM, 
sought more detailed Shareholder engagement on a new remuneration policy 
to put to Shareholders for approval at the AGM in 2018.

Read more about our Stakeholder and 

  Shareholder Engagement Programme page 74

T H I S   Y E A R ’ S   B O A R D   E V A L U A T I O N   E X E R C I S E

In line with the UK Corporate Governance Code, we undertake a formal and rigorous annual evaluation of our own performance 
and that of our Committees and individual Directors each year. We operate a three-year cycle of Chairman’s review, Company 
Secretary’s review and externally facilitated review. Aggreko’s last externally facilitated evaluation took place in 2015, so this year 
the review was carried out by the Company Secretary.

A series of open questions were prepared for one-to-one discussion between the Company Secretary and the Directors, 
focusing on the actions from the 2016 review; namely, strategy and succession.

The conclusions of this year’s review have been positive, confirming that the Board and its Committees operate effectively 
and that each Director contributes to the overall effectiveness and success of the Group.

64

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017  
  
Governance in action

S O C I A L

Board meeting in South Africa 
and Zimbabwe, June 2017
Site visits give the Board key insights 
into the business; at least one meeting 
each year is held at a location outside 
London or Glasgow to give the Directors 
an opportunity to review operations 
and meet local employees.

In June 2017, the Board met at our Midrand Industrial depot 
in Johannesburg, a key location for our Sub-Saharan Africa 
business. During their visit, the Directors received presentations 
from the Africa management team and toured the depot. 
The depot tour included a number of informative carousels 
to highlight activities and opportunities being explored by 
the industrial business in Sub-Saharan Africa. There were also 
carousels on health and safety, HR, mining and Aggreko’s 
Remote Monitoring. The Board hosted a lunch with the 
sales, operations and depot staff and dinner with the Africa 
management team to give the Board an opportunity to 
engage with the presenters informally. Chris Weston also 
addressed the lunch audience to update them on Aggreko’s 
global plan and the important role the Power Solutions 
Industrial business had to play in achieving growth, inviting 
questions from the audience.

The Board also visited a large diesel fuelled site in Harare, 
Zimbabwe. As our largest customer sites are often in remote 
locations, the proximity of the site in Harare to the depot in 
Johannesburg presented a rare opportunity for the Board to 
visit and understand the operations of a project site. The Board 
learned about safety at the site, partaking in a ‘management 
safety walk’, received a presentation from management at 
the site and met with local employees based there, to hear 
their views about working for Aggreko and answer questions. 

This site was built to provide power to the city of Harare. 
Owing to problems with the local infrastructure, the local 
utility company was losing a significant amount of power 
during the transmission process from their power plant 
900km away, so an efficient solution was to set up a power 
plant specifically to supply the city. It took 16 weeks from 
signing the contract to providing power to the grid, and the 
delivery of over 300 containers to set up the site. In keeping 
with our commitment to support the local communities 
in which we work, we employ as many local people at the 
site as possible and are proud that 90% of the employees 
at the Harare site are local staff. We provide extensive 
on-the-job training for new recruits and give them the 
skills to become technicians.

Employees at the Aggreko site in Harare, Zimbabwe

This gives us the benefit of highly skilled staff, trained in 
our own equipment and helps us build relationships in 
communities where we may be operating for many years. 
We also like to support initiatives to improve children’s 
welfare and education, so for the schools within one kilometre 
of the site, we drilled and equipped boreholes to provide 
a safe source of drinking water and built toilet blocks to 
improve sanitation. Basic initiatives like this provide a more 
stable and secure environment for children, allowing them 
to focus on their education.

Key priorities for 2018

 • Track progress against the actions agreed upon following 
the strategy review discussions in Q4 2017 and ensure 
good governance around this.

 • Ensure a thorough induction programme to Aggreko for 
Heath Drewett, so that he is able to perform effectively 
in his new role as CFO.

 • Continue to closely monitor the integration of Younicos 

into Aggreko.

 • Plan an externally facilitated Board evaluation.

 • Plan a Board visit to Dubai to learn more about the 

Middle East business and engage with local employees 
and other stakeholders.

 • Monitor the work of the team established to look at diversity 

on a group-wide basis.

 • Continue to monitor developments in corporate governance 

reform, amending our processes and procedures 
where necessary.

65

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017E F F E C T I V E N E S S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Nomination Committee report

Ken Hanna
Nomination Committee Chairman

The Nomination Committee’s 
role is to monitor and review the 
composition and balance of the 
Board and its committees to ensure 
Aggreko has the right structure, 
skills and diversity for the effective 
management of the Group.”
Areas of activity in 2017

 • Recommended the appointments of Barbara Jeremiah and  

Miles Roberts as Non-executive Directors and oversaw their inductions.

 • Recommended the appointment of Heath Drewett as CFO.
 • Recommended appointment of Barbara Jeremiah as 

Remuneration Committee Chair.

 • Reviewed succession plans.
 • Recommended the appointment of Uwe Krueger as 

Senior Independent Director.

Members in 2017

Meetings attended

Ken Hanna – Nomination Committee Chairman

Nicola Brewer – Non-executive Director

Barbara Jeremiah – Non-executive Director 1

Russell King – Senior Independent Director

Uwe Krueger – Non-executive Director 2

Diana Layfield – Non-executive Director

Ian Marchant – Non-executive Director3

Miles Roberts – Non-executive Director4

1   Barbara Jeremiah was appointed to the Board after the March 2017 meetings
2    Uwe Krueger was unable to attend the June 2017 meetings owing to a pre-existing 

work commitment

3    Ian Marchant was unable to attend the December 2017 meeting
4   Miles Roberts was appointed to the Board after the March 2017 meetings and was unable 

to attend the June 2017 meetings owing to a pre-existing work commitment

Areas of focus for 2018

 • Induction of Heath Drewett.
 • Continued focus on succession planning.
 • Monitor the work of the team established to look at diversity across 

the Group.

Nomination Committee terms of reference:
www.plc.aggreko.com

66

Introduction by Ken Hanna,  
Nomination Committee Chairman

Monitoring and reviewing the composition and balance of the 
Board and its committees is key to the role of the Committee. 
By doing so we ensure that Aggreko has the right structure, 
skills and diversity for the effective management of the Group.

The Nomination Committee is currently made up of all of 
the Non-executive Directors, each of whom is independent, 
in addition to myself as Chairman. I have been Chairman of 
the Committee since my appointment as Chairman of Aggreko 
in April 2012, although I would not chair the Committee when 
it is dealing with succession to the chairmanship of Aggreko. 
We also invited the CEO to attend our meetings in 2017.

In 2017 we held three formal meetings; the members also 
had several discussions on succession planning, reappointment 
of Directors and the search for our new CFO.

Role of the Nomination Committee

 • Review the structure, size and composition (including skills, 
knowledge, experience, diversity and balance of Executive 
and Non-executive) of the Board and its Committees and 
make recommendations to the Board.

 • Identify and nominate, for the approval of the Board, 

candidates to fill Board vacancies.

 • Keep under review the time commitment expected 
from the Chairman and the Non-executive Directors.

Main activities of the Nomination Committee  
during the year

Appointment of a new CFO
In June 2017 we announced that Carole Cran intended to resign 
from her position as CFO. Carole committed to continue in her 
role until a successor had been identified and was ready to join 
the business. Following this announcement we commenced 
the process to recruit and appoint a new CFO. The Committee 
asked our Group HR Director, Anna Filipopoulos, and 
Chris Weston to lead the search. The Committee had a 
number of discussions to scope out the key skills, experience, 
characteristics and requirements for the role. We invited a 
number of recruitment firms to participate in a tender process 
in order to identify the appropriate one to support our search. 
We selected Lygon Group as search consultants. Lygon Group is 
a leading executive search practice, with whom we have worked 
on senior placements in the past, but otherwise it provides no 
other services to Aggreko and we regard it as independent. 

A structured timetable was adopted for the process and 
regular Committee discussions and updates held throughout. 
Lygon Group put together an extensive range of potential 
candidates for consideration, this was narrowed down to 
a strong short list for interview. We also discussed and met 
with potential internal candidates based on our succession 
plan. Shortlisted candidates met with members of the Board 
and Chris Weston also spent considerable time with the 
final candidates. The Committee and CEO were unanimous 
in their final selection for CFO.

In November 2017 we were delighted to announce the 
appointment of Heath Drewett as CFO. Heath is an experienced 
CFO and proven leader with experience in the engineering, 
leisure, transportation and industrial sectors. He has 28 years 
of experience within various finance, corporate finance, 
business performance, financial and strategic planning roles. 
Heath also has extensive international experience in both 
M&A and corporate development activities. The Committee 
believes that Heath is well placed to support Chris Weston 
and the team as they deliver on the strategic priorities already 
underway. Heath’s biography is set out in full on page 58.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Senior Independent Director (“SID”)
On 26 April 2018 our existing SID, Russell King, will retire from 
the Board after serving nine years, and we recommended 
the appointment of Uwe Krueger as SID. Uwe joined the 
Board in February 2015, his experience with other listed 
companies and knowledge of Aggreko, means that Uwe 
is well qualified for the role. In making the appointment, 
the Committee carefully considered the question of the 
continued independence of Uwe Krueger. It is clear to the 
Committee that he continues to be independent in character, 
but the Committee gave particular thought as to whether his 
previous working relationship with the CFO, Heath Drewett, 
could affect his independence of judgement. Amongst other 
matters, we noted that Uwe Krueger had served on the Board 
of Aggreko for some three years before the appointment 
of Heath Drewett; that he was considered independent on 
appointment; and that as part of our Board succession plan 
we had identified Uwe Krueger as the potential successor as 
SID before the recruitment of Heath Drewett. Moreover, he 
was not directly involved in the selection process for the CFO. 
In conclusion, we decided that the appointment of a former 
colleague as CFO would not compromise the independence 
that Uwe Krueger had clearly demonstrated during his time 
on the Board or lead us to change our view that Uwe Krueger 
was the right choice for SID. 

We also recommended Barbara Jeremiah to succeed 
Russell as Remuneration Committee Chair, Barbara is 
an experienced Non-executive Director and has served 
on the Remuneration Committee since her appointment 
in March 2017. Barbara has also taken an active role in our 
recent Shareholder consultation process on the proposed 
remuneration policy and is well equipped for this role.

Reappointment of Directors
Since the Committee’s last report, the Company has extended 
the terms of appointment for Uwe Krueger, Diana Layfield 
and myself.

Uwe Krueger has served as a Non-executive Director for 
three years, since February 2015. After review, the Committee 
recommended his re-appointment for a further three years.

Diana Layfield has served as a Non-executive Director for six 
years since May 2012. In line with the UK Corporate Governance 
Code, we therefore reviewed her extension with particular care. 
We concluded that Diana’s tenure had not compromised her 
independence in any way. We also agreed that it was important 
to retain her market and financial experience and knowledge 
of Aggreko in light of a number of new appointments to the 
Board over the past 12 months, particularly with the departure 
of our longest serving Non-executive Director, Russell King in 
April 2018. The Committee recommended her re-appointment 
for a further year.

My own extension was also reviewed with care; I have served as 
a Non-executive Director since October 2010 and as Chairman 
since April 2012. For this item of business, Russell King took 
the Chair and the Committee agreed to extend my term for a 
further three years. In coming to this decision the Committee 
considered the number and nature of my other commitments, 
particularly my roles as Chairman on the boards of two other 
listed companies. I will be stepping down as Chairman of 
Inchcape plc in May 2018 and my role as Chairman of Arena 
Events Group plc, an AIM-listed company whose business is 
not unusually complex or regulated, should not detract from 
my ability to perform my role at Aggreko. Moreover, they 
noted that I have a 100% attendance record for Board and 
Committee meetings.

The Committee unanimously recommends the election of 
Heath Drewett, our newly appointed CFO and re-election of each  
of our remaining Directors at the 2018 AGM, with the exception  
of Russell King, who has decided to step down at the conclusion  
of this meeting. In making this recommendation, we evaluated 
each Director in light of their performance, commitment to the  
role, independence, and capacity to discharge their responsibilities 
fully, given their commitments to other companies.

Succession planning
The Committee met with the CEO and Group HR Director 
to review succession plans. The focus of these discussions 
was to review our succession plans for the CEO and Executive 
Committee. The Committee also monitors a schedule on the 
length of tenure of the Chairman and Non-executive Directors 
and the mix and skills of the Directors. The Committee is 
satisfied that adequate succession planning is in place for 
the Board and will keep succession planning under review.

Board composition and diversity
Aggreko acknowledges the importance of diversity and 
inclusion to the effective functioning of the Board. In 2017, 
we reviewed our approach to diversity to adopt a formal 
policy, extracted below. We will review this policy annually 
and assess its effectiveness in promoting a diverse business.

We also acknowledge that diversity extends beyond the 
Boardroom and the Board supports management in its efforts 
to build a diverse organisation. In 2018 we will monitor the work 
of the team established to look at diversity on a group-wide basis, 
determining what changes need to be made and working with 
the business to implement them over the next few years.

B O A R D   D I V E R S I T Y   P O L I C Y

A diverse Board makes prudent business sense and 
makes for better corporate governance. Diversity promotes 
the inclusion of different perspectives and ideas and 
ensures  that Aggreko has the opportunity to benefit 
from all available talent. Aggreko seeks to maintain a 
Board comprised of dynamic, expert and innovative 
individuals, who together demonstrate our values and 
lead our behaviours through a diverse mix of expertise, 
experience, skills and backgrounds. We aim to ensure 
that the skills and backgrounds collectively represented 
on the Board reflect the diverse nature of the business 
environment in which Aggreko operates. In particular, 
we look for a range of technical, financial and market 
expertise. We aim to balance long corporate memory 
with new insights from other fields. For the purposes 
of Board composition, diversity is taken to refer, but 
is not limited, to protected characteristics covered by 
UK legislation; other factors such as business experience 
and geography will also be relevant. We monitor our net 
diversity but do not set formal targets or quotas: our focus 
is on finding talented individuals from as wide a range 
of backgrounds as possible.

Aggreko is committed to a merit based system for 
Board composition within a diverse and inclusive 
culture, which solicits multiple perspectives and views. 
When assessing Board composition or identifying 
suitable candidates for appointment or re-election 
to the Board, Aggreko will consider candidates on 
merit against objective criteria having due regard to 
the benefits of diversity and the needs of the Board. 
Any search firm engaged to assist the Board or a Committee 
of the Board in identifying candidates for appointment 
to the Board will be specifically directed to include 
a diverse range of candidates that reflects this policy.

67

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017A C C O U N T A B I L I T Y

Audit Committee report

Ian Marchant
Audit Committee Chairman

The role of the Audit Committee is 
to ensure the integrity of the Group’s 
financial reporting and provide 
oversight of our systems for internal 
control and risk management.”

Areas of activity in 2017

 • Close monitoring of contract provisions and tax provisions 

throughout the year, receiving detailed updates at the August 2017 
and February 2018 meetings.

 • Risk management oversight: reviewed our cyber security 

arrangements, tax risk management framework and management 
of financial risk in our Rental Solutions business.

 • Received regular updates on the status of the internal 

control environment.

 • Monitored the closure of outstanding internal audit findings.

 • Reviewed the findings of the FRC’s Audit Quality Review and 

agreed actions to address the matters identified.

Members in 2017

Ian Marchant – Audit Committee Chairman

Russell King – Senior Independent Director

Diana Layfield – Non-executive Director

Miles Roberts – Non-executive Director 1

Meetings attended

1   Miles Roberts was appointed to the Board after the March 2017 meetings

Areas of focus for 2018

 • Continued risk management oversight, with presentations 

scheduled from the Director of Finance for our Power Solutions 
business and the Chief Information Officer on cyber security.

 • Ensure proper application of new accounting standards, impacting 

the Group in 2018 and 2019: IFRS 9, 15 and 16.

 • Monitor the review of the Speaking Up Policy and improvements 

to associated procedures planned for 2018.

Audit Committee terms of reference:
www.plc.aggreko.com

68

Introduction by Ian Marchant,  
Audit Committee Chairman

Ensuring the integrity of the Group’s financial statements and 
determining whether the judgements taken by management 
are appropriate, are key to the workings of the Committee. 
This report provides an overview of the significant issues we 
considered. This report also shares some insight into the work 
we have undertaken this year to assess the independence and 
effectiveness of the external auditor and oversee the Group’s 
systems for internal control and risk management.

The Committee is currently made up of four Independent 
Non-executive Directors, including myself as Chairman. 
I have been a member of the Committee since November 
2013 and was appointed as Chairman of the Committee 
in April 2016. I am a chartered accountant and, prior to my 
appointment as Chief Executive of SSE (2002 to 2015), I served 
as Finance Director of SSE for four years and of Southern 
Electric for two and a half years. As a Committee, we bring an 
appropriate balance of financial and accounting experience, 
together with a deep understanding of Aggreko’s business 
and market sector. Diana Layfield, Miles Roberts and I are the 
members of the Committee identified with recent and relevant 
financial experience.

In 2017 we held three scheduled meetings. The meetings are 
aligned to the Group’s financial reporting timetable, to allow 
sufficient time for full discussion of key topics and enable early 
identification and resolution of risks and issues. We invited 
the Chairman, CEO and CFO to attend our meetings in 2017, 
together with the Group Financial Controller, Director of 
Internal Audit and the KPMG Audit Partner.

Role of the Audit Committee

 • Monitor the integrity of the financial statements, including 

reviewing significant financial reporting issues and 
judgements alongside the findings of the external auditor.

 • Review the effectiveness of the Group’s systems for internal 

control, financial reporting and risk management.

 • Advise the Board on the effectiveness of the fair, balanced 

and understandable review of the Annual Report.

 • Oversee the relationship with the external auditor, external 

audit process, nature and scope of the external audit, 
including their appointment, effectiveness, independence 
and fees.

 • Oversee the nature and scope of internal audit, ensuring 
coordination with the activities of the external auditor.

Main activities of the Audit Committee 
during the year

Financial reporting
During the course of the year, the Committee met with the 
external auditor and management as part of the 2017 Annual 
and Interim Report approval process. We reviewed the draft 
financial statements and considered a number of supporting 
papers, including: information presented by management on 
significant accounting judgements to ensure all issues raised 
had been properly dealt with; key points of disclosure and 
presentation to ensure adequacy, clarity and completeness; 
external audit reports; documentation prepared to support 
the viability statement and going concern statements given on 
pages 55 and 116; and information presented by management 
on the process underpinning the fair, balanced and 
understandable assessment and confirmation on page 70.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017T H E   P R I M A R Y   A R E A S   O F   J U D G E M E N T   C O N S I D E R E D   B Y   T H E   C O M M I T T E E   
I N   R E L A T I O N   T O   T H E   2 0 1 7   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   W E R E :

Area of 
judgement

Reporting  
issue

How did the Audit Committee  
address the judgement?

Contract 
provisions 
– Power 
Solutions  
Utility

One of the biggest risks facing the 
Group is non-payment by customers 
under some of the larger contracts in 
our Power Solutions Utility business. 
The Group policy is to consider each 
significant debtor and customer 
individually, within the relevant 
environment to which it relates, 
taking into account a number of 
factors. These factors include the 
political and economic conditions 
in the relevant country, duration 
and quality of relationship with the 
customer, age of debt, cash flows 
from the customer and any relevant 
communication throughout the year.

The Committee addressed contract provisions by 
considering an accounting judgements paper at the 
August 2017 and February 2018 meetings, which was 
tabled by the Chief Financial Officer. This detailed 
the latest position of debtors outstanding at the 
half year and year end, including cash received 
against amount invoiced during the year, and gave 
an assessment of the likelihood of collecting future 
payments. We discussed in detail the main movements 
in provisions and assessed the adequacy of all of the 
provisions. In particular, we focused on a handful 
of customers in Africa and Venezuela where we 
continued to see delays in payments during the year.

In assessing the adequacy of the provision we 
considered if it was sufficient to cover the risks 
identified and also if it was in excess of the risks 
identified. Historically we have had a low level of 
bad debt write-offs. However the Group does operate 
in countries, especially in our Power Solutions Utility 
business, where payments are unpredictable, where 
political and economic conditions mean that there 
is a risk of default and that risk can increase quickly, 
and has increased this year as set out above, therefore 
the Group’s history in this area may not be indicative 
of the likely future outcome.

KPMG reported on these contract provisions at both 
the August 2017 and February 2018 meetings in the 
context of the half year review and the year end audit 
respectively. In addition, the Committee is aware that 
the Board and Executive Committee receive a report 
on contract exposures each month and has assessed 
the Group’s processes for calculating and regularly 
monitoring contract risk provisions.

Conclusion  
and outcome

We concluded that the 
judgements and estimates 
were reasonable and 
appropriate.

Overall the contract 
provision agreed for 
31 December 2017 was 
$86 million. $23 million 
higher than 31 December 
2016, mainly driven by 
a handful of customers 
in Africa and Venezuela 
where we continued to see 
delays in payments, as well 
as worsening economic 
conditions, during the 
year. This movement is 
explained on page 37.

More information on our 
risk profile and mitigation 
for failure to collect 
payment or to recover 
assets can be found 
on page 54.

Direct and 
indirect 
tax provisions

The Group’s tax strategy is to 
manage all taxes, such that we pay 
the appropriate amount of tax in each 
country where we operate. However, 
given the varied, complex and often 
uncertain nature of tax rules in certain 
countries, in particular in those in which 
we have our Power Solutions business, 
we recognise that it makes sense to 
carry an appropriate level of provision 
for both direct and indirect taxes. The 
tax team monitors the status of tax 
risks monthly and in detail at the half 
and full year. This monitoring process, 
together with consideration of any 
relevant legislative change, is then 
used to determine the appropriate 
level of provisions.

The Committee addressed tax provisions by 
considering an accounting judgements paper at both 
the August 2017 and February 2018 meetings, which 
were tabled by the Chief Financial Officer. We discussed 
the changes to the provisions in detail and assessed their 
adequacy overall. Specific discussion was had on the 
level of provision required in respect of an ongoing tax 
case in Bangladesh. KPMG reported on these provisions 
at the August 2017 meeting in the context of the half 
year review, and at the February 2018 meeting in the 
context of the year end audit. We have also monitored 
and assessed the Group’s processes for calculating 
and regularly monitoring tax provisions.

We concluded that the 
judgements and estimates 
were reasonable and 
appropriate.

Overall the tax provision 
agreed for 31 December 
2017 was £31 million  
(2016: £39 million).

More information on 
Aggreko’s tax strategy 
and payments in 2017 can 
be found in the financial 
review on page 44.

In addition to the primary areas of judgement, outlined in 
the table above, the Committee also paid close attention 
to the following items during their assessment of Aggreko’s 
financial reporting:

 • We considered the appropriateness of carrying a deferred 
tax asset in respect of tax losses in Brazil and our ability 
to use these in the foreseeable future.

 • We reviewed and agreed the accounting for our acquisitions 

of KBT, an Indonesia-based power rental company, 
and Younicos, an integrated energy systems specialist. 
More detail is provided in Note 29 to the Accounts.

 • We reviewed impact assessments for new accounting 
standards applying to the Group from 1 January 2018. 
IFRS 15 applies to revenue from contracts with customers 

and IFRS 9 applies to financial instruments, addressing their 
classification, measurement and recognition. Further detail 
is provided on pages 116 and 117.

 • We also reviewed an initial impact assessment of IFRS 16, 
a new accounting standard that will apply to the Group 
from 1 January 2019. IFRS 16 applies to leases and further 
detail is provided on page 118.

 • The Committee also reviewed the coverage of internal audit 
and external audit from a risk and geographic perspective.

Following completion of the above steps, we agreed to 
recommend the approval of the 2017 Annual and Interim 
Reports to the Board.

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017A C C O U N T A B I L I T Y   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Audit Committee report (continued)

Fair, balanced and understandable reporting

Aggreko recognises its responsibility to present a fair, 
balanced and understandable assessment in all of our 
reporting obligations. This responsibility covers the Annual 
Report and extends to the interim report and other regulatory 
announcements. At the request of the Board, the Committee 
has considered whether, in its opinion, the 2017 Annual Report 
is fair, balanced and understandable, and whether it provides 
the information necessary for Shareholders to assess the 
Group’s position, performance, business model and strategy. 

For the 2017 Annual Report, this process included:

 • Review of the outline structure of Annual Report with 

broad indication of content, along with a summary paper 
on key messages and changes from 2016 in December 2017.

 • Feedback was provided by Committee members 

following the December 2017 meeting and on a number 
of further drafts during January and February 2018.

 • Full draft provided to the Committee and Board 10 days prior 
to the February 2018 meetings to enable time for review and 
comment and to provide a final opinion.

 • Comprehensive management and statutory accounts 
processes, with written confirmations provided by the 
business unit senior management teams on the ‘health’ 
of the financial control environment.

 • Confirmations provided by the business unit senior 

management teams, that the Performance Review text, 
is a fair reflection of their business and performance in 2017.

 • A verification process, involving our internal audit team, 
dealing with the factual content of the Annual Report.
 • A key accounting judgements paper covering contract 

and tax provisions for 2017.

Following its review, the Committee was of the opinion that the 
2017 Annual Report is representative of the year and presents 
a fair, balanced and understandable overview, providing the 
necessary information for Shareholders to assess the Group’s 
position, performance, business model and strategy.

External auditor

The Committee is responsible for making recommendations 
to the Board in relation to the appointment of the external 
auditor. We also approve the audit plan, terms of engagement, 
fees and assess their effectiveness.

Audit plan
KPMG presented its audit plan at the August 2017 meeting 
and an update at the December 2017 meeting, setting out the 
scope and objectives of the audit together with an overview 
of the planned approach, an assessment of the Group’s risks 
and controls and proposed areas of audit focus. In setting the 
audit plan, KPMG works with Internal Audit and management 
at a Group and business unit level to identify risk areas for 
the audit to determine where audit effort should be focused.

KPMG carried out its work using an overall materiality of 
£11 million, as stated in its report on page 105, and confirmed 
to the Committee that there were no material unadjusted 
misstatements. We also agreed with the external auditor that 
it would inform us of any unadjusted misstatements above 
£0.5 million, as well as misstatements below that amount 
that warranted reporting for qualitative reasons. None were 
reported to the Committee.

Tenure
KPMG was appointed by Shareholders as the Group’s Statutory 
Auditor in 2016 following a formal tender process. The external 
audit contract will be put out to tender at least every 10 years. 
The Committee recommends the appointment of KPMG for 2018.  

70

We believe the independence and objectivity of the external 
auditor and the effectiveness of the audit process are 
safeguarded and strong. The Company has complied with the  
Statutory Audit Services Order for the financial year under review.

Effectiveness
The Committee met with KPMG on a number of occasions 
without management present and the Committee Chairman 
also maintained regular contact with the audit partner 
throughout the year. This enabled the Committee to closely 
monitor its work, ensure independence was maintained 
and a successful external audit of the 2017 Annual Report. 

We also used an internal questionnaire sent to Committee 
members, the Business Unit Finance Directors and Group 
Functional Heads in December 2017; respondents were 
asked to rate KPMG’s effectiveness in a number of areas, 
including quality of processes, audit team, audit scope and 
communications. Results were collated and presented at 
the February 2018 meeting of the Committee for discussion. 
Management concluded that there had been appropriate 
focus and challenge on the primary areas of audit risk and 
assessed the quality of the audit process to be effective. 
The Committee concurred with this view. 

The FRC’s Audit Quality Review (AQR) selected to review the 
audit of Aggreko’s 2016 financial statements as part of its 
2017 inspection of audit firms. The focus of the review and 
its reporting is on identifying areas where improvements are 
required rather than highlighting areas performed to or above 
the expected level. The Chairman of the Committee received 
a full copy of the findings and met with KPMG to close out 
the points raised by the review and reported back to the 
Committee on this discussion. The Committee reviewed the 
findings at its December 2017 meeting and agreed an action 
plan with KPMG to ensure that the matters identified by the 
AQR have been addressed in the audit of the 2017 financial 
statements where relevant.

Non-audit services
To safeguard the objectivity and independence of the external 
auditor from becoming compromised, the Committee has 
a formal policy governing the engagement of the external 
auditor to provide non-audit services. Non-audit services are 
normally limited to assignments that are closely related to 
the annual audit or where the work is of such a nature that a 
detailed understanding of the Group is necessary. Any proposal 
to use the external auditor for non-audit work requires prior 
approval of the CFO and depending on the nature of the 
service and fee involved, authorisation may also be required 
from the Committee Chairman or the Committee. At our 
March 2017 meeting, we updated our non-audit services 
policy to take account of a new FRC ethical standard, deleting 
the section of the policy in relation to permitted non-audit 
taxation work.

Non-audit fees are monitored by the Committee and this year 
we were satisfied that all non-audit work undertaken was in 
line with our policy and did not detract from the objectivity 
and independence of the external auditor. The majority of the 
non-audit work carried out by KPMG during the year related to 
the June 2017 Interim Review. In 2017 we spent £1,189,000 on 
audit fees and £59,000 on non-audit fees, this accounted for 
5% of the overall audit fee for the year. In 2016, the audit fee was 
£1,008,000 and non-audit fees were £358,000, accounting for 
36%. The 2016 amount was unusually high, as prior to KPMG’s 
appointment as external auditor, we utilised Makinson Cowell, 
a division of KPMG, for investor relations work. Further details 
of the fees paid to the external auditor are set out in Note 6 
to the accounts.

The non-audit services policy is available on our website at: 
www.plc.aggreko.com

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Risk management and internal control

The objective of our risk framework is to provide the Board, 
Audit Committee and Executive Committee with a useful 
management tool to capture, assess and proactively manage 
the risks we face. Our risk management process also ensures 
that we take account of our business model and strategy 
to ensure alignment with our risk appetite, framework and 
controls. In turn, this enables us to fully comply with the 
UK Corporate Governance Code requirement for a viability 
statement. The process is designed to manage rather than 
eliminate risk, and can only provide reasonable and not 
absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss.

The Board assumes ultimate responsibility for the effective 
management of risk across the Group, determining our 
risk appetite as well as ensuring that each business unit 
implements appropriate internal controls. The Board has 
delegated responsibility for oversight of risk management 
to the Committee. The Committee provides oversight by 
reviewing the effectiveness of the Group’s systems for risk 
management, internal control and financial reporting. In 2017, 
we worked closely with the Group Risk Committee, receiving 
regular reports which enabled us to review and challenge the 
risk management framework, review the effectiveness of the 
control environment and approve the methodology for the 
viability statement. 

Internal Audit continues to play a key role in assisting the 
Committee and, as last year, we asked Internal Audit to provide 
assurance over management’s assessment of the effectiveness 
of the operation of controls within the Group’s Register of 
Principal Risks. This assessment was based upon the results 
of audits undertaken during the year, by reflecting on the 
outstanding audit issues and in cooperation with the business 
unit controls teams. No variances which would impact our 
risk scores were identified in 2017. 

The Committee also maintains a programme of in-depth 
review into specific financial, operational and regulatory 
areas of the business. These reviews are critical to the role 
of the Committee, as they allow us to meet key members 
of the management team and provide independent 
challenge to their activities. Areas reviewed in 2017 included:

 • Reviewed our cyber security arrangements with the 

Chief Information Officer to understand global trends, 
developments in malware, work undertaken internally to 
support current and new systems and training provided 
to employees.

 • Received a detailed presentation on the management of 

financial risk in our Rental Solutions business, focussing on 
the capabilities of the finance leadership team, the status 
of internal audit actions and updates to financial controls.

 • Reviewed our tax risk management framework with the 

Group Director of Tax, focussing on the internal and external 
tax environment, our strategy and control framework, 
transparency in tax reporting, potential impact of US tax 
reform and Brexit and additional disclosures included in 
the 2017 Annual Report. We also discussed our compliance 
readiness for the new corporate criminal offence of failure 
to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.

The Group has in place an internal control environment 
to protect the business from material risks identified. 
Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining 
adequate internal controls over financial reporting and the 
Committee has responsibility for ensuring the effectiveness 
of those controls. In 2017 this process was enhanced by 
providing assurance to the Committee that financial controls 
were in place for items on the Group risk register and adopting 
a revised financial controls checklist, focussing on critical 
controls, which has been monitored closely in 2017.

The Committee has completed its review of the effectiveness 
of the Group’s system of internal control, including risk 
management, during the year and up to the date of this Annual 
Report in accordance with the requirements of the Guidance 
on Risk Management, Internal Control and related Financial 
and Business Reporting published by the FRC. It confirms that 
no significant failings or weaknesses were identified in the 
review for the 2017 financial year and allowed us to provide 
positive assurance to the Board to assist it in making the 
statements required by the UK Corporate Governance Code. 
Where areas for improvement were identified, processes are 
in place to ensure that the necessary action is taken and that 
progress is monitored.

Viability statement
The Committee reviewed management’s work in conducting 
a robust assessment of those risks which could threaten our 
business model and the future performance or liquidity of 
Aggreko, including our resilience to the threats of viability 
posed by those risks in severe but plausible scenarios. 
This assessment included stress and sensitivity analyses of 
these risks to enable us to evaluate the impact of a severe but 
plausible combination of risks. We then considered whether 
additional financing would be required in such eventualities. 
We also considered the review period and alignment with 
the Group’s strategic plans and internal long-term forecasts. 
Based on this analysis, we recommended to the Board that 
it could approve the viability statement included on page 55.

Internal audit

Monitoring and review of the scope, extent and effectiveness 
of the activity of Internal Audit is an agenda item at each 
Committee meeting. We approve the annual audit plan prior 
to the start of each financial year and receive a detailed report 
from the Group Internal Audit Director on audit activities, 
audit results and remedial actions at each meeting. We also 
specifically followed up on a selection of areas where audit 
actions were outstanding to ensure the overall control 
environment was still adequate.

The Committee assessed the effectiveness of the internal  
audit function by reviewing its reports, progress against 
the  2017 plan, and meeting with the Director of Internal Audit 
without management being present. We also participated  
in two external benchmarking surveys, providing customised 
feedback, which we have included in our continuous 
improvement activity planned for 2018. In line with the  
Institute of Internal Auditors’ guidance, we undertook 
an external evaluation of Internal Audit in 2016.

Speaking up

The Group Ethics Policy, supported by a separate Speaking 
Up Policy, encourages all employees to report any potential 
improprieties in ethical standards via our international 
whistle-blowing hotline. All matters reported are investigated 
and where appropriate, we ask Internal Audit to investigate the 
issue and report to us on the outcome. We also receive reports 
on hotline call volumes and the general nature and location 
of matters reported. We review these processes each year, 
and can confirm that they are appropriate for the size and 
scale of the Group. 

We intend to refresh our Speaking Up Policy in 2018 to reference 
our culture and supporting purpose, values and behaviours 
to encourage employees to utilise the whistle-blowing hotline, 
where appropriate, to raise concerns.

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Ethics Committee report

Introduction by Ken Hanna,  
Ethics Committee Chairman

Aggreko conducts its business with integrity, honesty and  
transparency. We expect all Aggreko employees, consultants 
and those acting on behalf of Aggreko to adopt these standards. 
We are proud that we have a reputation for conducting 
business fairly and professionally and we are committed 
to maintaining these values in all of our business dealings.

We recognise that our business is exposed to risks of unethical 
conduct because of the nature and value of many of our 
contracts and because standards of integrity are not consistent 
across all the countries in which we operate. However, we 
believe we have a robust compliance programme in place 
which allows us to manage these risks effectively.

The effectiveness of the compliance programme is monitored 
by the Ethics Committee. 

The Ethics Committee is currently made up of three 
Independent Non-executive Directors, with myself as 
Chairman. I have been a member of the Committee since 
its first meeting in February 2011 and became Chairman 
of the Committee in April 2012. 

In 2017 we held three meetings. We invited the Head of 
Compliance, Group Legal Director and CEO to attend 
all meetings.

Ken Hanna
Ethics Committee Chairman

The role of the Ethics Committee 
is to ensure that Aggreko conducts 
business with integrity and 
transparency and in accordance 
with the law.”

Areas of activity in 2017

Role of the Ethics Committee

 • Monitored the integration of a proportionate risk based due diligence 

process for supplier on-boarding.

 • Reviewed trends of reports received and the effectiveness of the 

external Speaking Up Process.

 • Received a briefing from the Managing Director of Aggreko 

Power Solutions on the management of compliance risks across 
this business unit.

 • Reviewed the compliance framework relating to the use of sales 

consultants and the remuneration of sales consultants during 2016.

 • Reviewed the outcome of investigations conducted in response 

to whistle-blowing reports received.

Members in 2017

 • Advise the Board on the development of strategy and policy 

on ethical matters.

 • Advise the Board on steps to be taken to establish a culture  

of integrity and honesty in all of the Group’s business dealings.

 • Oversee the Group’s policies and procedures for the 

identification, assessment, management and reporting 
of ethical risk.

 • Oversee the Group’s policies and procedures to prevent 
persons associated with the Group from engaging in 
unethical behaviour.

 • Monitor and review the operation of the Group’s ethics 

policies and procedures.

 • Monitor and review all payments made to third-party 

Meetings attended

sales consultants.

Ken Hanna – Ethics Committee Chairman  

Diana Layfield – Non-executive Director

Dame Nicola Brewer – Non-executive Director

Barbara Jeremiah – Non-executive Director 1

1   Barbara Jeremiah was appointed to the Board after the March 2017 meetings

Areas of focus for 2018

 • Oversee the review, amendment and recommunication of the 

Ethics Policy and Speaking Up Policy.

 • Review the outcome of the regional compliance risk assessments.

 • Monitor the completion of refresher ethics training across 

the business.

 • Oversee the implementation of measures designed to address 
risks associated with the new corporate criminal offence of the 
Failure to Prevent the Facilitation of Tax Evasion.

Ethics Committee terms of reference:
www.plc.aggreko.com

72

Main activities of the Ethics Committee during the year

Third-party monitoring
We recognise that it is not just our employees who could be 
exposed to ethics risks but our third-party sales consultants, 
agents and JV partners are also exposed to risk. The conduct 
of our third-party sales consultants remains one of the most 
significant risks to Aggreko. The number of third-party sales 
consultants, agents and JV partners used by the business has 
reduced over the last few years but there are circumstances 
in which sales consultants continue to be required to support 
some areas of the business. We have risk management 
measures in place which require all third-party sales 
consultants, agents and JV partners engaged by Aggreko to 
conduct business in compliance with the standards set out 
in our Ethics Policy and allow us to monitor compliance with 
these requirements. We also have controls in place in relation 
to the remuneration of sales consultants and we monitor all 
payments to sales consultants. At the first meeting of each 
year, we receive a briefing on all payments made to sales 
consultants during the prior year to ensure that the payments 
were appropriate and in line with policy requirements. We also 
received a briefing from the Power Solutions Managing 
Director this year with a specific emphasis on understanding 
the use of sales consultants and the management of this risk.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017We recognise that there are also other categories of third-party 
supplier relationships which potentially could attract risk for the 
business. In response to this we have monitored the controls 
being introduced to adopt a proportionate due diligence 
process for higher risk suppliers. This includes requiring all new 
suppliers to agree to comply with certain minimum standards 
set out in our Supplier Code of Conduct and identifying our 
highest risk existing suppliers and prioritising these suppliers 
to go through the due diligence process.

Speaking Up
We encourage all employees to speak up if they have any 
concerns. We have an external independent hotline which can 
be used by all employees to report any concerns anonymously 
and confidentially. All reports received are investigated 
thoroughly. In December 2017 we received a briefing on the 
types of reports received during the year and the outcome of the 
investigations conducted. We reviewed trends identified from 
these reports and specific actions arising from investigations 
conducted in response to the reports received.

We received briefings on changes to certain sanctions rules 
in Sudan, Cuba, Russia and Venezuela and actions undertaken 
to ensure that all activities undertaken by Aggreko comply 
with the sanctions restrictions.

Effectiveness of the compliance programme
We are committed to ensuring that our compliance 
programme remains robust and is in line with best practice. 
We continually monitor the effectiveness of the policies 
and procedures and recommend areas where further 
improvements could be made. In 2017 we instructed an 
independent review of our compliance programme in order 
to benchmark the framework against regulatory guidance and 
leading industry practice, and to identify any gaps or potential 
areas for improvement. This review confirmed that our 
compliance programme is well established across the business 
and there is a clear tone, set from the top, on our high ethical 
standards. The review identified some areas for improvement 
to further enhance the compliance programme and a number 
of actions have been implemented to address this in 2018.

Sanctions
We are committed to ensuring that Aggreko complies 
with all applicable sanctions and export control restrictions. 

Read more about how we manage our anti-bribery and 
corruption risk on page 53

An overview of our compliance programme

Our compliance programme is coordinated by our 
Head of Compliance and Compliance Manager with 
support from the business units and the central functions. 

Our compliance programme has a number of elements designed 
to ensure that we effectively manage compliance risks:

Ethics Policy
Every employee receives a copy of the Ethics Policy when 
they join Aggreko. This policy sets out the standards and 
behaviours we expect from our employees and is an effective 
tool to allow us to challenge any improper behaviours 
identified. It is supported by a number of supplementary 
policies, procedures and guidelines to cover due diligence, 
gifts and hospitality, charitable donations, facilitation 
payments, conflicts of interest and speaking up. We provide 
training to all employees on these policies and we regularly 
monitor compliance with these policies to obtain assurance 
that the policies continue to work effectively. 

Training
Every employee receives training, which is refreshed every 
two years, via our multi-lingual online ethics compliance 
training programme. This online training is supplemented by 
additional ethics workshops with senior management, which 
gives us comfort that our employees will remain alert to risks.

Third-party risks
All of our sales consultants and agents are comprehensively 
reviewed before they are engaged by Aggreko and this 
exercise is refreshed at least every two years. Our sales 
consultants are contractually required to comply with our 
Ethics Policy and we require our sales consultants to confirm 
compliance with the policy annually. We also provide ethics 
training to our sales consultants to ensure they remain alert 
to potential risks. We have controls in place in relation to the 
remuneration of consultants and we monitor all payments to 
sales consultants to ensure that the remuneration structure 
does not incentivise unethical behaviour. This gives us a 
robust framework to enable us to clearly understand who 
our third-party representatives are and the activities they 
have undertaken on our behalf. This policy also enables us 
to avoid engaging with third parties who do not meet our 
ethical standards.

As mentioned earlier in the report, we have a Supplier Code 
of Conduct which sets out the standards we expect from 
all other suppliers to Aggreko and we require suppliers 
to confirm adherence to these standards. Any suppliers 
who do not agree to the standards or an equivalent standard 
will not be engaged by Aggreko.

Gifts, entertainment and hospitality
We have a clear approval process for gifts, entertainment 
and hospitality offered by, or given to, Aggreko employees. 
All gifts, entertainment and hospitality above a nominal 
value are recorded centrally and monitored by the Head 
of Compliance. This policy enables us to challenge any 
proposed gifts or hospitality which could be perceived 
as potentially inappropriate.

Sponsorship and charitable donations
We have a clear approval process for sponsorships and 
charitable donations made by Aggreko. All sponsorships 
and charitable donations require senior management 
approval and are recorded centrally and monitored by 
the Head of Compliance. This policy enables us to challenge 
any donations or sponsorships which could be perceived 
as potentially inappropriate.

Speaking up
We encourage all employees to speak up if they have any 
concerns. We have an independent compliance hotline 
operated by an external agency. This multi-lingual hotline 
is available to all employees and allows any employee who 
has any concerns to report them on an anonymous basis. 
All reports are followed up, and we regularly analyse the types 
of reports we receive. Where appropriate, our Group Internal 
Audit team is asked to investigate the issue and report on 
the outcome.

Modern Slavery
We apply high employment standards across our business, 
complying with relevant employment, health and safety and 
human rights laws to ensure our employees are safe. We also 
expect our suppliers to adopt a similar approach in relation to 
the protection of their workers. Our Supplier Code of Conduct 
sets out the minimum standards we require from them. 
It specifically requires our suppliers to comply with workers’ 
fundamental rights including standards of pay, working hours 
and freedom of association. Our modern slavery statement, 
available to read at www.plc.aggreko.com, provides more 
detail on the approach we take in relation to modern slavery.

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E L A T I O N S   W I T H   S T A K E H O L D E R S

How we engage with our stakeholders

S O C I A L

Trust in a company provides the licence to operate. 
Our reputation and the associated trust is driven  
by how we engage with all our stakeholders and  
this is vital to building a sustainable business.

Remuneration Consultation
Our current and incoming 
Remuneration Committee Chairs 
engaged with Shareholders, 
representing 66% of the register, 
on the proposed changes to 
remuneration policy. 

Annual Report & Accounts
Each year we assess how we 
can improve understanding of 
our business and bring it to life 
through the annual report.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Our AGM provides a good 
opportunity for engagement  
with Shareholders. 

Webcasts & Conference Calls 
Our full year and half year results 
are webcast live on our website and 
we offer conference calls with some 
other announcements, such as the 
acquisition of Younicos. 

Website refresh
In 2017 we launched a new corporate 
and investor website which won  
the IR Society FTSE250 Best use  
of Digital Communications award.

£

Investors

Institutional  
investors

Customer Capital Markets Day 
In October we hosted a capital 
markets day providing great insight 
into our Customer Focus strategy. 
The event was attended by 45 analysts 
and investors.

Ongoing engagement
The investor relations team 
and senior management 
conducted 174 meetings 
in 2017, engaging with 
123 institutions.

Investor Perception Study 
In January 2018 we undertook 
an investor perception study, the 
output of which will help inform 
how we engage going forward. 

Individual debt investor briefings 
On an annual basis we offer 
our lenders a briefing and the 
opportunity to ask questions 
of management.

Debt  
investors

Ad hoc engagement
We always respond to private 
Shareholder enquiries and provide 
the same level of information  
as institutional Shareholders  
should they want it.

Private  
Shareholders

Employees

Quarterly Be Heard Surveys
We check in with a quarter of 
our employees every quarter 
so that every employee is 
invited to ‘be heard’ once a year. 
Overall engagement scores 
improved 3% in 2017.

Annual Plan on a Page
We share an annual Plan on a Page 
to help our teams align behind 
the key actions to focus activities 
to deliver budget, and update our 
progress on a quarterly basis.

Always Orange Launch
Launched our evolved culture, 
Always Orange, to 93% of our people 
over a three week period through 
a network of Orange Champions 
resulting in an 85% positive response.

Senior Leadership Team
Given the diverse and dispersed nature of our 
teams, we regularly brief a core group of senior 
leaders through calls, emails and face to face 
meetings to help manage communications 
and sentiment across the business.

I N V E S T O R S

E M P L O Y E E S

We actively seek dialogue with the 
market to understand what analysts 
and investors think about us and help 
them to understand our business. 
The Board receives regular updates 
through briefings and reports from 
investor relations, the CEO, CFO and 
company advisers.

With our employees at the heart of 
our customer offer, we enthusiastically 
look to engage, align and listen to our 
employees about what matters to them 
as we transform our business together.

74

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Local 
Communities

Local training and employment
Wherever we operate in the world 
we seek to employee and train 
local people; 79% of our global 
workforce are locally employed.

Apprenticeships
We run apprenticeship schemes 
at our larger locations across 
the Group and currently have 
54 apprentices across six countries. 

Orange Days of Difference
To launch our new community 
investment strategy we have 
piloted an employee volunteering 
approach in Houston which is 
being rolled out globally in 2018.

Aggreko Listens
Our upgraded NPS programme 
was introduced at the end of the 
year and enables us to better engage 
with customers and help us address 
issues that matter most to them.

New website
Our new website was launched 
in May; it is easier to navigate 
and more user-friendly. Since its 
launch we have seen a marked 
increase in activity, dwell times 
and leads generated.

CRM system
Our new CRM system is being 
rolled out, replacing manual 
processes. It offers a more 
streamlined, automated service, 
to our customers.

Customers

Sector expertise
We partner with our customers to 
understand their specific problems 
and work with them and our 
engineers to develop solutions.

Code of Conduct 
We expect our suppliers 
to share our commitment 
to conducting business 
with integrity, honesty and 
in a socially responsible and 
sustainable way and to work 
in partnership with us to 
achieve this goal. We monitor 
compliance with our Supplier 
Code of Conduct and have 
the ability to terminate 
a relationship in the 
event of a breach.

Suppliers

Development partnerships
Through sharing field data 
with our key suppliers we 
are reducing the total cost of 
ownership of our fleet, whilst 
continuously innovating to drive 
performance improvements.

C U S T O M E R S

L O C A L   C O M M U N I T I E S

S U P P L I E R S

Customers are at the heart of all 
that we do. Our Aggreko Listens 
tool is one of our management 
KPIs and is constantly reviewed to 
understand customer perceptions. 
Over the last two years, significant 
customer engagement has led us 
to make transformational changes 
to our business.

Whilst we often provide essential 
services for our customers, it is 
important that we take the wider 
stakeholders on the journey with us.

In 2015 we introduced a Group 
procurement function to improve 
relationships with suppliers and 
generate savings across the Group. 
We work in partnership with our key 
suppliers, particularly around our fleet, 
and share operational data to drive 
innovation. We expect all our suppliers 
to sign up to our Code of Conduct and 
ways of doing business.

75

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Annual remuneration statement 

Annual report on remuneration 

Policy report 

76

82

90

Introduction by Russell King, 
Remuneration Committee Chairman

Dear Shareholders

Following the withdrawal of the proposed 2017 Remuneration 
Policy and Restricted Share Plan prior to the 2017 AGM, 
the existing Remuneration Policy, approved by Shareholders 
in 2015, remained in place for 2017. The Committee was 
disappointed with the lack of support for this proposal 
but accepted the views expressed by Shareholders and 
has invested considerable time looking further at the 
Remuneration Policy ahead of the 2018 AGM.

Policy review
Following an in depth review in conjunction with our new 
remuneration advisers, FIT Remuneration Consultants LLP, 
the Remuneration Committee concluded that retention of 
a more standard LTIP remains appropriate for Aggreko at 
the current time. (FIT were appointed in July 2017 following a 
competitive selection process.) The proposed new policy builds 
on the current policy and makes modifications to recognise 
developments in best practice since the policy was originally 
approved in 2015. It also aligns the policy with the long-term 
strategy of the Group, with for example, a focus on the efficient 
use of capital in updating our current fleet and the effective 
investment in and deployment of new/renewable technologies. 
This includes our recent investment in next generation 
gas generators and energy storage capabilities, with a greater 
emphasis on Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) being a 
key measure of long-term success. The Committee and I have 
engaged with our largest Shareholders and representative 
bodies. Their input has been very helpful in formulating 
the proposed changes and we appreciate the time they  
have spent on this matter. The Committee hopes that 
Shareholders will support the proposed new policy. 

The Committee believes the incentive plan performance 
targets to be suitably stretching against internal plans and 
external forecasts. It has tested these proposals against historic 
performance in recent years and confirms that they would 
not have led to higher vesting levels than actually occurred.

The material changes in the new Remuneration Policy are:

 • Pensions: we propose capping pension contributions/salary 
supplements for new Executive Directors at 20% of salary 
(consistent with the wider senior management population).

 • Annual bonus: consistent with the proposal from 2017, 
the annual bonus element of the policy will include 
flexibility to change the performance measures in 
subsequent years. No change to the maximum bonus 
levels are proposed. The proportion of the bonus subject 
to deferral (25%) remains unchanged (the previous proposals 
had sought to remove this) and, for 2018, the split between 
Diluted Earnings Per Share (D-EPS) and personal objectives 
will remain unchanged at 80:20.

R E M U N E R A T I O N

Annual Remuneration Statement

Russell King
Remuneration Committee Chairman

The proposed new Remuneration 
Policy is focused on ensuring that 
executive incentives are aligned with 
Group strategy and performance.”

Areas of activity in 2017

 • Considered feedback following withdrawal of previous remuneration 

policy resolution at 2017 AGM.

 • Consulted with major Shareholders and governance bodies on new 

Remuneration Policy to apply from 2018.

 • Set targets for Long-term Incentive Plan and Annual Bonus Plan, 

both financial and personal/strategic objectives. 

 • Agreed leaver arrangements for outgoing Chief Financial Officer, 
no favourable discretion exercised, and joiner arrangements for 
incoming Chief Financial Officer.

Members in 2017

Member since Meetings attended

Russell King –  
Remuneration Committee Chairman

Ken Hanna – Company Chairman1

Feb 2009

Oct 2010

Barbara Jeremiah – Non-executive Director2 Mar 2017

Uwe Krueger – Non-executive Director3

Feb 2015

Ian Marchant – Non-executive Director

Jan 2016

1   Ken Hanna was unable to attend a meeting owing to a pre-existing arrangement
2   Barbara Jeremiah joined the Committee in March 2017
3   Uwe Krueger was unable to attend two meetings owing to pre-existing arrangements 

and an extra meeting called at short notice

Areas of focus for 2018

 • Determine outcomes for the 2017 Annual Bonus for financial and 

personal/strategic objectives.

 • Set targets for the 2018 Annual Bonus Plan, both financial and 

personal/strategic objectives.

 • Reflect feedback from Shareholder consultation in proposed 

amendments to incentive framework.

 • Secure Shareholder approval for new Remuneration Policy 

at the 2018 AGM.

 • Approve awards under the Long-term Incentive Plan.

Remuneration Committee terms of reference:
www.plc.aggreko.com

76

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 • Long-term incentives: we propose retaining a single Long-term 

Incentive Plan (LTIP) with the following key changes:

 — Annual grant level reduced from 300% of salary to 250%.

 — Consistent with market practice generally, the proportion 
of the award vesting at threshold will increase, for new 
awards, to 25% (from zero). The previous plans had award 
levels that recognised the lower vesting at threshold and 
the revised arrangements create a more normal market 
position without increasing the overall expected value.

 — Also consistent with market practice, the Committee 
will have the power to determine the appropriate 
measures and target ranges for each annual award. 
The 2018 award will be 50% subject to Earnings Per 
Share (EPS) growth with a range of 5-12% per annum 
over three years (measured using the aggregate EPS 
over the three-year performance period) and 50% 
subject to ROCE in the final year of the performance 
period with a range of 15-22%. It is an inherent part of 
the new policy that the Committee will review and set 
the scale prior to each grant, rather than the previous 
approach of fixing the scale for the life of the policy. 
It will also determine the approach to calculation, 
e.g. three year average performance or final (third) year 
performance for each grant.

 — To recognise the predominantly international source 
of revenues the EPS will be calculated by restricting 
the impact of currency movements (up or down) at 
10%. This ensures alignment with the statutory results in 
normal circumstances but recognises that Shareholders 
are able to hedge against exceptional currency 
movements should they wish to do so. Applying floating 
rates within normal limits ensures that management is 
closely aligned with the end Shareholder experience but 
with protection against extreme volatility on a symmetrical 
basis. We propose a floating currency assumption to the 
ROCE component.

 — Awards will also be subject to a broad (downward only) 
discretionary underpin if the Committee feels that the 
formulaic level of vesting is not appropriate.

 — In line with evolving best practice awards to Executive 

Directors will also be subject to a two-year holding period 
preventing the transfer of awards until the fifth anniversary 
of grant.

Performance outcomes for 2017
Chris Weston, Chief Executive Officer earned an annual bonus 
for 2017 of 96.2% out of a maximum 175% of salary. Chris has 
met the financial performance measures set by the Board and 
overachieved on the personal/strategic objectives.

Full details of the performance outcomes for the Annual Bonus 
are set out on pages 83 and 84.

LTIP awards granted in May 2015 did not meet the performance 
targets, so these awards will lapse in full. 

The Committee has agreed with Chris Weston that his salary 
will remain unchanged for 2018 (also unchanged since his 
appointment in 2015). His salary will be reviewed again in 
December 2018.

As announced in June 2017, Carole Cran tendered her 
resignation and stepped down as Chief Financial Officer 
on 31 December 2017 and as a result was not considered for 
a 2017 bonus or LTIP vesting. In accordance with their rules, 
she retained the deferred elements of prior bonuses. 

Further details are set out on page 86.

As announced in November 2017, Heath Drewett has been 
appointed as our new Chief Financial Officer. He joined the 
business on 3 January 2018. His remuneration is set out on 
page 80.

Committee changes
I will be stepping down from the Board at the 2018 AGM, 
following nine years of tenure. Barbara Jeremiah will be 
appointed as the new Remuneration Committee Chairman 
following the AGM. Barbara and I have worked closely together 
on the development of the new Remuneration Policy and she 
is fully supportive of the proposals made. The Committee will 
be in excellent hands under her chairmanship.

In the meantime Barbara and I welcome any Shareholder 
feedback and hope you will be supportive of the resolutions 
at the 2018 AGM. 

Yours sincerely

 • Share ownership guidelines for Executive Directors: will be 

increased to 250% of salary.

Full details are set out on page 79.

Russell King
Remuneration Committee Chairman

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Annual Remuneration Statement (continued)

Our aim

The aim of Aggreko’s remuneration policy is to reward executives for delivering long-term value to our Shareholders.

Application of our remuneration in 2017

The following table summarises how the policy was applied in 2017 and the components making up the reported single figure  
on page 82.

Element of  
remuneration

How it works

How it was implemented  
in 2017

CEO Total Single Figure 
(% change from 2016)

Salary

Benefits

Increases normally limited to  
those of wider employee base

Not expected to exceed  
10% of salary

Pension

Defined contribution and/or cash in lieu

Between 20% and 30% of salary

No increase in 2017

£750,000 (0%)

Market-competitive insured benefits  
and company car allowance

£24,747 (-1.2%)*

30% of salary cash supplement  
for the CEO and 20% for the  
former CFO

£225,000 (0%)

Annual  
bonus

175% of salary maximum

D-EPS 80% weighting

80% subject to financial performance

Personal objectives 20% weighting

55% of maximum  
(see page 84)

£721,500 (+256%)

20% subject to personal objectives  
(with additional financial underpin)

25% deferred into shares for three years

2015 award:

75% subject to D-EPS

25% subject to ROCE

Long-term  
incentives

Total

Subject to continued service,  
due to vest in May 2018

0% of maximum  
(see page 85)

D-EPS 0% vesting

ROCE 0% vesting

£0 (0%)

£1,721,247 (+43.13%)

* Any change in reported value reflects the cost of provision rather than a change in the level of benefits.

78

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Proposed new policy for 2018

The following table summarises the updated policy being proposed to Shareholders which, if approved, will be operated from 
the 2018 AGM until the 2021 AGM unless an alternative policy is approved by Shareholders earlier. The formal policy is set out 
commencing on page 90.

Element of  
remuneration

How it works

Changes from previous policy

Salary

Benefits

Pension

Annual  
bonus

To pay at an appropriate level in the talent 
market(s) relevant to each individual

Introduction of a formal cap to comply with 
regulatory guidance

To provide market normal benefits

None

To provide market normal pension provision  
or cash in lieu

Reward for delivery of annual targets

Cap of 175% for Executive Directors

75% paid in cash, 25% deferred into shares  
(contingent on continued employment)  
for 3 years

Set a cap of 20% for new Executive Directors  
(consistent with the level for Executive Committee 
members generally)

Could set up to 30% by reference to non-financial  
measures (for 2018, unchanged with 80% based on  
D-EPS and 20% on personal objectives)

Long-term  
incentives

Traditional LTIP subject to pre-vest  
performance conditions over three years

Annual level reduced from 300% of salary to 250%

Proportion of an award vesting at threshold to be aligned 
with market practice at 25%

Committee given normal market powers to set the 
measures and target ranges for subsequent grants  
(2018 awards to be subject 50% to EPS 5-12%pa  
(aggregate measurement basis) and 50%  
ROCE 15-22% (final year measurement basis))

Initial awards to include a provision to neutralise  
FX movements in excess of a 10% movement 

Holding period, shares only released on fifth anniversary

Share  
ownership  
guidelines

To support Shareholder alignment

Increase in limit from 200% of salary to 250%

Executive Directors will be expected to achieve the 
guideline over a period of five years, and will be expected  
to retain at least 50% of vested incentives (post-tax)  
until such guidelines have been met

The rationale for these changes is set out in the Statement from the Committee Chairman on pages 76 and 77.

To comply with evolving best practice, formal caps have been included in each element of pay (these are caps and do not reflect  
any form of aspiration).

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Annual Remuneration Statement (continued)

Implementation of Remuneration Policy in 2018

The Committee intends to implement the Remuneration Policy in 2018 as follows:

Base salaries and fees
Chris Weston’s base salary was reviewed by the Committee in December 2017; his salary will remain unchanged for 2018 
(also unchanged since his appointment in 2015). The Committee intends to next review the salaries in December 2018 to take 
effect in January 2019. Fees for the Chairman and Non-executive Directors will next be reviewed in 2018.

Pensions and benefits
Pensions and benefits will continue in line with policy.

Annual bonus
The Committee set annual bonus targets for the Executive Directors as follows:

Executive Director 

Chris Weston

Heath Drewett

D-EPS growth

Total  
max bonus
% salary

Max  
bonus
% salary

On-budget 
bonus
% salary

175

175

140

140

70

70

Personal 
objectives

Max  
bonus
% salary

35

35

The personal objectives were set individually for each Director. All include agreed outcomes for set strategic objectives specific 
to their role.

We have not disclosed full details of all objectives or financial targets in this report, as we consider them to be commercially 
sensitive. It is, however, our intention to disclose retrospectively financial targets in next year’s Annual Report on Remuneration.

Long-term Incentive Plan
Subject to the approval of the changes to the Long-term Incentive Plan by Shareholders at the Company’s 2018 Annual General 
Meeting, the Committee proposes to approve the grant of 2018 LTIP awards to Executive Directors with a face value of 250% 
of salary with the performance targets outlined on the previous page.

Awards are expected to be granted in May 2018 after the Company’s 2018 Annual General Meeting.

New Chief Financial Officer
As announced on 13 November 2017, Heath Drewett was 
appointed as the Chief Financial Officer and joined the 
business with effect from 3 January 2018. He is paid an 
annual base salary of £460,000. In addition he will receive 
pension contributions of 20% of base salary, life assurance, 
private medical insurance and a car allowance. He is eligible 
to receive an annual bonus and annual award under the 
LTIP. The Committee is cognisant that the base salary for 
Heath Drewett is c.12% greater than that of his predecessor, 
but feels this level of salary is what has been required to 
recruit a Chief Financial Officer of his experience and skill 
in the current market and represents a discount to his salary 
at his former employer.

In order to secure the appointment of Heath Drewett, 
the Committee agreed to compensate him for the value 
of variable awards which were forfeited when he resigned 
from his previous employer. The fair value of the compensation 
was no more than the value forfeit and the Committee 
took into account the time to vesting, delivery vehicle and 
relevant performance conditions (and likelihood of vesting) 
when determining the appropriate buy-out mechanism.

In summary the Committee determined the following awards 
would be made:

 • Compensation for the lost 2017 annual bonus – to be paid in 
cash once the value lost has been determined (expected to 
be determined in 2018 and reportable in next year’s report)

 • Replacement of unvested performance shares – through a 
one-off award of 89,311 shares with a face value of £701,986, 
subject to the same conditions as the normal 2018 LTIP 
award. These awards will vest in April 2021, which will be 
c.16 months later than the original award forfeited. There will 
be no holding period as the awards which it replaced did not 
have one. 

80

 • Replacement of unvested non-performance shares – 

through a one-off award of 29,770 shares with a face value 
of £233,995, subject to continued employment only and 
due to vest in August 2020. 

 • Compensation for the repayment of a retention award – 

£429,681 in cash to be repaid to his former employer, which 
will be subject to clawback in full on resignation in the first 
12 months of employment. This was paid in January 2018 
and will be reported in the 2018 report.

The share awards will be made under a restricted 
stock agreement, established under Listing Rule 9.4.2. 
The Committee believed that the opportunity to recruit a Chief 
Financial Officer of Heath Drewett’s calibre justified relying on 
those provisions and that the basis for the buy-outs was to pay 
no more than he had forfeited and did not accelerate payment 
or increase the likelihood of payment. The Committee 
undertook an independent review of the value he would be 
forfeiting and determined the amounts above. The number of 
shares was determined based on the average market price over 
the five business days prior to 3 January 2018 (Heath Drewett’s 
date of appointment) being 786 pence.

Carole Cran, outgoing Chief Financial Officer, resigned as a 
Director and ceased to be an employee on 31 December 2017, 
She received no compensation for loss of office in connection 
with her resignation. Under the rules of the Annual Bonus Plan 
she received no 2017 bonus despite having worked the full year. 
All outstanding LTIPs lapsed in accordance with the rules of 
the scheme.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Our Remuneration Committee

Our role is as follows:

Determining the remuneration for the Executive Directors 
and Executive Committee members is a key focus of 
the Committee. The Committee oversees Aggreko’s overall 
remuneration policy, strategy and implementation to ensure 
that the policy is aligned with the key objectives of growing 
earnings and delivering strong returns on capital employed.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are 
considered when assessing the personal element of the 
Executive Directors’ performance and the Committee is 
satisfied that the design of the incentive plans does not pose 
undue ESG risks.

The Remuneration Committee is currently made up of five 
Independent Non-executive Directors, including Russell King  
as Chairman of the Committee (with Barbara Jeremiah taking 
over as Chairman of the Committee when Russell King steps  
down at the 2018 AGM). Peter Kennerley is secretary to the  
Committee. We also invite the Chief Executive Officer, 
Group HR Director and Group Reward Director to attend 
our meetings. The Executives are not present when their 
personal remuneration is discussed.

In 2017, we held seven meetings of the Committee. A number 
of these meetings were called at short notice to consider the 
new Remuneration Policy. Ken Hanna was unable to attend 
one meeting and Uwe Krueger two meetings. In each case 
this was due to a pre-existing arrangement but the Director 
concerned was able to share his views with the Chairman. 
We also took a number of decisions based on papers circulated 
outside the context of a formal meeting. This greater volume of 
activity was accounted for mainly in order to review our policy 
and also to approve Heath Drewett’s remuneration package 
and a number of other changes to the Executive Committee.

 • Determine and agree with the Board the policy for 

remuneration for the Chairman, Executive Directors and 
Executive Committee.

 • Within the terms of the remuneration policy, determine 

the total individual remuneration package for the Chairman, 
each Executive Director and each member of the Executive 
Committee, including base salary, pension, benefits, annual 
bonus and long-term incentives.

 • Determine, having taken appropriate legal advice, the level 
of any payment made to the Chairman (who is not present 
at such discussions), Executive Directors or members of 
the Executive Committee by way of compensation for, or 
otherwise in connection with, loss of office or employment.

 • Approve the design of, and determine targets for, 

performance related pay schemes operated by the 
Company and approve the total annual payments made 
under such schemes.

 • Review the design of all share incentive plans for approval 
by the Board and Shareholders. For any plan, determine 
each year the overall amount of awards, along with the 
individual awards to Executive Directors and members of 
the Executive Committee. In the case of any retention or new 
joiner awards to employees below the Executive Committee, 
retrospectively approve awards.

 • Determine the policy for and scope of pension arrangements 

for each Executive Director and members of the 
Executive Committee.

 • Oversee any major changes in employee benefits structures 

throughout the Group.

 • Agree the policy for authorising claims for expenses from 

the Directors.

In the following section of our report, we explain how we 
have implemented Aggreko’s remuneration policy during 
2017. The policy in place for the year was the one which was 
approved by Shareholders at Aggreko’s 2015 Annual General 
Meeting and is available on the Company’s website  
www.plc.aggreko.com

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Annual Report on Remuneration 

Single total figure of remuneration (audited)

The table below sets out a single figure for the total remuneration received by each Director for the years ended 31 December 2017 
and 31 December 2016.

Executive Directors

Carole Cran (former)

Carole Cran

Chris Weston

Chris Weston

Non-executive Directors

Nicola Brewer
Nicola Brewer1

Ken Hanna

Ken Hanna

Barbara Jeremiah2

Russell King

Russell King

Uwe Krueger

Uwe Krueger

Diana Layfield

Diana Layfield

Robert MacLeod (former)3

Ian Marchant

Ian Marchant

Miles Roberts2

2017 Total

2016 Total

Base Salary/ 
Fees  
£

412,000

412,000

750,000

750,000

61,000

51,537

342,000

342,000

50,208

101,000

101,000

61,000

61,000

61,000

61,000

26,481

81,000

74,462

50,208

Year

2017

2016

2017

2016

2017

2016

2017

2016

2017

2017

2016

2017

2016

2017

2016

2016

2017

2016

2017

Benefits  
£
69,7434
84,2474

24,747

25,035

Annual 
Bonus  
£

–

107,120

721,500

202,500

–

–

801

–

2,771

–

–

3,378

751

–

–

–

1,216

277

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

1,969,416

102,656

721,500

1,879,480

110,310

309,620

LTIP

PSP  
£

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

CIP  
£

–

16,149

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Pension  
£

82,400

82,400

225,000

225,000

Other  
£

–

–
 598,8655
706,6206

Total  
£

564,143

701,916

2,320,112

1,909,155

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

61,000

51,537

342,801

342,000

52,979

101,000

101,000

64,378

61,751

61,000

61,000

26,481

82,216

74,739

50,208

307,400

598,865

3,699,837

16,149

307,400

706,620

3,329,579

1  Nicola Brewer’s remuneration for 2016 is from date of appointment, 25 February 2016. 
2  Barbara Jeremiah and Miles Roberts’ remuneration for 2017 is from date of appointment, 7 March 2017.
3  Robert MacLeod’s remuneration for 2016 is to date of resignation as a Director, 28 April 2016. 
4  Owing to the significant amount of time spent in London, based on UK legislation, Carole Cran established a second place of employment in London. As a result, 

any home to London office travel costs, either reimbursed, or paid on Carole’s behalf, were taxable.

5  As explained on page 89 of our Annual Report 2015, Chris Weston was granted an award of shares on 30 March 2015. 50% of the shares were released on 1 April 2016 –  

a total of 63,979 shares (see note 6 below). The remaining 50% of the shares were released on 3 April 2017 – a total of 63,979 shares. Chris Weston was entitled to 
a further 3,958 shares equivalent to the dividends on the shares between grant and vesting. The value is based on the share price on 3 April 2017 of 881.5 pence.
6  As explained in note 5 above 63,979 shares were released to Chris Weston on 1 April 2016. He was entitled to a further 1,631 shares equivalent to the dividends on 

the shares between grant and vesting. The value is based on the share price on 1 April 2016 of 1,077 pence. 

The figures have been calculated as follows:

 • Base salary/fees: amount earned for the year. See Base salary on page 82.
 • Benefits: the taxable value of benefits received in the year. See Benefits on page 83.
 • Annual bonus: the total bonus earned on performance during the year. See Annual bonus scheme on pages 83 and 84.
 • No LTIPs vested in relation to 2017 final performance.
 • 2016 remuneration for LTIPs refers to share awards granted on 16 April 2014 subject to a performance period ended 31 December 2016 which vested on 16 April 2017. 

The value is based on the share price on 18 April 2017 (the first business day after 16 April 2017) of 859 pence.

 • Pension: the amount of any Company pension contributions and cash in lieu. Chris Weston received payment entirely in cash while Carole Cran received £7,111 

as a contribution to a registered pension and £75,289 in cash.

The base salaries for Executive Directors as at 1 January 2018 and 1 January 2017 were as follows:

B A S E   S A L A R Y

Executive Director

Position

Carole Cran

Chris Weston

Former Chief Financial Officer

Chief Executive Officer

1 January 
2018 
£

–

750,000

Increase1 
%

–

0

1 January
2017 
£ 

412,000

750,000

1  The average increase across the Group for 2017 was 5.4%. There have been no salary increases for Executive Directors for three years and none are proposed for 2018.
2   Heath Drewett’s salary is set out on page 80.

82

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017B E N E F I T S

Chris Weston received healthcare benefits; Carole Cran did not receive any healthcare benefits. Both Executive Directors were 
also provided with life assurance cover, income protection, accident insurance and a car allowance. Carole Cran received 
reimbursement of the cost of travelling to the London office and associated taxes.

The following table shows those benefits that the Committee considers significant:

Executive Director

Carole Cran 

Chris Weston

Car/fuel
£

12,000

12,000

Travel
£

28,970

–

Tax
£
25,2661

–

Other 
£

3,507

12,747

Total
£ 

69,743

24,747

1  Owing to the significant amount of time spent in London, based on UK legislation, Carole Cran established a second place of employment in London. As a result, 

any home to London office travel costs, either reimbursed, or paid on Carole’s behalf, were taxable.

A N N U A L   B O N U S   S C H E M E

Base Salary

×

Maximum 
incentive 
(% of salary)

×

Financial 
performance 
Metrics 
(80%)

+

Personal 
Objectives 
(20%)

=

Annual 
Bonus 
Outcome

Cash 
(75%)

Deferred 
shares 
(25%)

The maximum bonus opportunity for 2017 for both Executive Directors was 175% of salary.

Carole Cran was not entitled to any bonus for 2017, as she had tendered her resignation and ceased to be an employee 
on 31 December 2017.

Bonus payments are payable as to 75% in cash, and as to 25% deferred into shares for three years unless, at the discretion 
of the Committee, the individual leaves with the Company’s consent. The Committee has discretion to reduce the number 
of shares that can vest in the event of gross misconduct or material misstatement of the accounts.

The targets under the 2017 annual bonus scheme were based as to 80% on financial performance measures set against 
the annual budget at the start of the year and as to 20% against personal/strategic objectives.

Financial performance measures
The financial objectives for the Chief Executive Officer (Chris Weston) were measured against D-EPS. 

For the financial measure, Chris Weston would start to earn a bonus at threshold performance, calculated as a percentage 
below budget, increasing to half of the maximum that could be earned under that element at budget on a straight-line basis. 
The bonus would then increase on a straight-line basis to the maximum, calculated as a percentage above budget.

The table below shows the performance against budget of the financial performance measure used for calculating the 
Annual Bonus for 2017:

Measure

Threshold

Budget

Maximum

Outcome 

D-EPS growth

49.14p

90

54.70p

62.79p

115

54.70p1

100

50

% budget

% budget

% budget

% maximum 
of element

1  As provided for under the plan, the reported D-EPS has been adjusted to a constant currency basis.

Personal/strategic performance measures
Chris Weston was set four personal objectives, which included agreed outcomes for set strategic objectives specific to his role. 
Against each of these personal objectives he could achieve the maximum bonus entitlements detailed in the table below 
(35% of salary in total).

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Annual Report on Remuneration (continued)

The Committee reviewed performance against these measures considering both quantitative and qualitative information 
and the table below shows the Committee’s assessment of each personal/ strategic objective achieved as a percentage 
of salary. A number of the specific internal objectives are commercially sensitive and likely to remain so but the table shows 
the nature of each measure and the basis for the assessment.

Subject

Objective

Succession

Strengthen the general talent  
pipeline and in particular the 
succession plan for Executive Team.

Strategy

To develop a further evolution of  
our strategy to allow for continued 
growth in an environment of 
advancing alternative technology.

Performance  
assessed

Bonus allocation 
(maximum %  
of salary)

Actual bonus 
allocation (% of 
salary achieved)

Talent planning and succession  
process now in place. 

7

6.0

Eight individuals hired of high calibre 
who are adding significant value to  
the business and, in the case of some, 
will be candidates for succession for 
more senior level positions, including 
the Executive Team. This represents  
an overachievement of target.

Group strategy was assessed and 
agreed by the Board. Part of this  
work included our evolving position  
as energy markets transform. 
In particular this addressed 
Decarbonisation, Decentralisation 
and Digitalisation. 

5.25

4.2

Sector focus 
and increased 
penetration 
in North  
America

Business 
priorities 
programme 

North America recovery and  
market share growth.

Sector revenue growth  
over-achieved against target.

8.75

8.0

Deliver Business Priorities programme 
introduced in 2015. In particular:
–  Sales capability in  

Power Solutions Utility

Sales capability increased in 
Power Solutions Utility with the 
target number of sales people hired, 
trained and deployed in field. 

14

8.0

–  HFO on hire
–  CRM (Customer Relationship 

Management System) 

HFO contract wins are below target, 
however, the pipeline is encouraging.

CRM deployed as laid out in the original 
project plan.

Purchase and integration of Younicos. 
A business specialising in integrated 
energy systems and energy storage.

Total

35

26.2

The table below sets out the total bonus entitlement for 2017:

Executive Director 

Chris Weston

D-EPS growth

Personal objectives

Total payable1

Total max bonus
% salary

Max bonus
% salary

Outcome
% salary

Max bonus
% salary

Outcome
% salary

% salary

£

175

140

70

35

26.2

96.2

721,500

1  The total bonus includes the 25% Deferred Shares Element.

Carole Cran was not entitled to any bonus for 2017, as she had tendered her resignation and ceased to be an employee on 
31 December 2017.

84

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
L O N G - T E R M   I N C E N T I V E   P L A N   ( L T I P )

No. of 
awards 
granted

×

D-EPS 
performance 
(75%)

+

ROCE 
performance 
(25%)

×

Share price 
on vesting

=

LTIP 
Outcome

The performance criteria for the LTIP awards granted in 2015 were as follows:

 • 75% of the award is based on three-year cumulative D-EPS as compared to three-year compound growth in real 

(RPI-adjusted) D-EPS. No performance shares will be awarded against this element if performance is below an equivalent 
of RPI+3% per annum growth. Awards will then start to vest above that level and will increase straight-line to a maximum 
at an equivalent of RPI+15% per annum growth; and

 • 25% of the award is based on average ROCE over the performance period in a range of 20% to 25%. No performance shares 
will be awarded against this element if performance is less than 20% and awards will increase on a straight-line basis to the 
maximum at 25% ROCE.

The performance period for the 2015 LTIP awards ended on 31 December 2017. Over the period:

 • Aggreko’s aggregate D-EPS was 187.6 pence, which is the equivalent of no growth. Since this was less than the threshold 

of RPI+3%, no shares will vest under this performance measure; and 

 • Aggreko’s actual average ROCE for the period was 13.3%. Since this was less than the threshold of 20%, no shares will vest 

under this performance measure.

As a result, all 2015 LTIP awards lapsed in full.

S H A R E   A W A R D S   G R A N T E D   I N   2 0 1 7   ( A U D I T E D )

Base Salary

Maximum 
award 
(% of salary)

×

÷

Share price 
at grant

=

No. of 
awards 
granted

In June 2017, Chris Weston was granted awards of shares under the 2015 Long-term Incentive Plan (the ‘LTIP’), with a value 
equivalent to 300% of salary. No award was granted to Carole Cran following her resignation. The three-year performance 
period over which D-EPS and ROCE performance will be measured began on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2019. 
None of the awards granted under the LTIP are eligible to vest until 13 June 2020.

The performance criteria for the LTIP awards granted in 2017 were the same as those set out above for the 2015 awards.

A proportion of shares which vest will be subject to a further holding period of up to two years in accordance with the rules of 
the LTIP, with one third being released (post-tax) on vesting and a further third being released after each of one and two years 
from vesting.

In addition, 25% of the 2016 bonus payment was deferred into shares under the Deferred Share Bonus Plan (DSBP). 
These shares will be released three years from date of grant.

The table below shows details of interests awarded to Executive Directors under the LTIP and DSBP during 2017:

Executive Director

Carole Cran

Chris Weston

LTIP

Face value1 
£

–

Shares

–

260,718

2,249,996

% vesting  
on minimum 
performance

–

0

DSBP

Face value2 
£

26,779

50,622

% vesting  
on minimum 
performance

100

100

Shares

2,946

5,569

1  Face value of LTIP is the maximum number of shares that would vest if all performance targets are met multiplied by the average market price of Aggreko shares over 

the five business days prior to the date of grant of 13 June 2017, which was used to determine the number of shares awarded, being 863 pence.

2  Face value of DSBP is the number of shares awarded on 24 March 2017 multiplied by the average market price of Aggreko shares over the five business days prior to the 

date of grant which was used to determine the number of shares awarded, being 909 pence.

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Annual Report on Remuneration (continued)

Arrangements with past Directors (audited)
Exit payments
There were no exit payments during the year.

Carole Cran resigned as a Director and ceased to be an employee on 31 December 2017. She was paid her basic salary and 
benefits up to 31 December 2017 as detailed in the Single Figure Table above. She received no compensation for loss of office in 
connection with her resignation. She was not eligible for an annual bonus and her outstanding LTIPs have lapsed in accordance 
with the rules of the scheme. Carole Cran received an award of 4,082 shares in March 2015 representing the deferral of 25% of her 
2014 bonus and an award of 2,946 shares in March 2017 representing the deferral of 25% of her 2016 bonus. The awards will vest 
on the normal vesting dates in March 2018 and March 2020.

Non-executive Directors (including the Chairman)
The Board determines the remuneration policy and level of fees for the Non-executive Directors, within the limits set out 
in the Articles of Association. The Remuneration Committee recommends remuneration policy and level of fees for the 
Chairman of the Board (although the Chairman of the Board does not take part in discussions concerning his remuneration). 
Remuneration comprises an annual fee for acting as a Chairman or Non-executive Director of the Company. Additional fees 
are paid to Non-executive Directors in respect of service as Chairman of the Audit and Remuneration Committees and as 
Senior Independent Director. The Chairman and Non-executive Directors are not eligible for bonuses, retirement benefits 
or to participate in any share scheme operated by the Company. The Chairman’s fee has not increased since April 2015 
and the fees for the Non-executive Directors have not increased since July 2015. Uwe Krueger has agreed to forego any 
fees as a Non-executive Director for 2018. The Company intends to donate an equivalent amount to charity.

The fees for the Chairman and Non-executive Directors as at 1 January 2018 and 1 January 2017 were as follows:

Role

Chairman fee

Non-executive Director base fee

Committee Chairman additional fee

Senior Independent Director additional fee

Directors’ shareholdings (audited)

As at 31 December 2017, the shareholdings of the Directors were as follows:

1 January 2018
£

Increase
%

1 January 2017
£

342,000

61,000

20,000

20,000

0

0

0

0

342,000

61,000

20,000

20,000

Director

Carole Cran

Chris Weston

Nicola Brewer

Ken Hanna

Barbara Jeremiah

Russell King

Uwe Krueger

Diana Layfield

Ian Marchant

Miles Roberts

(A) Shares 
owned
outright1

(B) Shares held 
subject to 
deferral

Shares held 
subject to 
performance
 conditions2

Options held 
not subject to 
performance
conditions3

Shareholding 
guidelines 
% salary

Shares counting 
towards 
guidelines 
(A + B)

7,028

13,305

191,461

609,252

–

2,168

200

200

17,806

87,111

10,778

73,806

1,450

19,303

1,000

3,688

3,030

2,855

3,331

–

Current 
shareholding
% salary4
35

93

1  This includes shares held by connected persons.
2  Shares held subject to performance comprise LTIP awards over shares. 
3  Options held under the Sharesave Plan.
4  Percentage is calculated using a share price of 799 pence as at 31 December 2017. Under the Company’s current share ownership guidelines, Executive Directors have 

a period of five years to achieve the shareholding guideline of not less than two times base salary.

There have been no changes in the Directors’ interests in Ordinary Shares between 31 December 2017 and 6 March 2018.

Carole Cran and Chris Weston, as employees or former employees of the Company, have an interest in the holdings of the 
Aggreko Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) as potential beneficiaries. The EBT is a trust established to distribute shares to employees 
of the Company and its subsidiaries in satisfaction of awards granted under the Aggreko Long-term Incentive Plans and Sharesave 
Schemes. At 31 December 2017, the trustees of the EBT held a total of 527,373 Aggreko plc Ordinary Shares and the holding at the 
date of this report is 527,373. The dividend has been waived on these shares. All Aggreko share plans are settled through the use of 
market purchase shares.

86

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Comparison of Company performance

The graph below shows the value, at 31 December 2017, of £100 invested in Aggreko’s shares on 31 December 2008 compared 
with the current value of the same amount invested in the FTSE 350 Index. The FTSE 350 Index is chosen because Aggreko has 
been a constituent member of this group over the entire period.

Company performance

£469

£342

£409

£407

£363

£212

£130

£100

£100

£148

£144

£161

£225

£194

£196

£197

Aggreko
FTSE 350 Index

£232

£231

£261

£208

500

400

300

200

100

0

Dec 08

Dec 09

Dec 10

Dec 11

Dec 12

Dec 13

Dec 14

Dec 15

Dec 16

Dec 17

For comparative purposes, the remuneration of the Director undertaking the role of Chief Executive Officer for the same financial 
years is set out below:

Year

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015 

2016

2017

CEO

Rupert Soames

Rupert Soames

Rupert Soames

Rupert Soames

Rupert Soames

Angus Cockburn

Chris Weston

Chris Weston

Chris Weston

Single Figure of  
Total Remuneration
£1

Annual Bonus payout 
against maximum 
%

Long-term incentive 
vesting rates against 
maximum opportunity
%

2,555,850

5,839,209

8,501,865

2,685,840

1,779,144

1,290,9062

1,485,5163

1,909,1553

2,320,1123

63.2

100

82.4

6.4

49.6

42.4

0

15

55

100

100

100

100

72.5

5.8

0

0

0

1  The data for this table was taken from the Remuneration Reports for the relevant years and adjusted to take account of the actual share price on date of vesting for the LTIP.
2  Angus Cockburn was Interim Chief Executive from 25 April to 30 September 2014, and his emoluments have been calculated on the assumption that he held the role for 

the full year at the rates of remuneration in place on 30 September 2014.

3  The 2015 figure for Chris Weston includes an amount of £483,392 to compensate him for his annual bonus from his previous employer he forfeited as a result of his 

resignation. The 2016 figure includes an amount of £706,620 and the 2017 figure includes an amount of £598,865 to compensate him for the forfeiture of long-term 
incentives from his previous employer.

Percentage change in remuneration of CEO

The table below shows the change in remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer in comparison to the average change in 
remuneration of employees within the Group central functions over that period.

Year

Salary/fees

Benefits

Bonus

Percentage change for CEO Percentage change for Group central functions

0

–1.2

256.3

5.6

4.6

229.4

The comparator group relates to the employees within the Group central function in the UK, rather than all Group employees. 
As in the previous year, we have chosen this group because the Committee believes that it provides a sufficiently large comparator 
group to give a reasonable understanding of underlying increases, whilst reducing the distortion that would arise from including 
all of the many countries in which the Group operates, with their different economic conditions.

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Annual Report on Remuneration (continued)

Relative importance of spend on pay

The graph below shows Aggreko’s profit after tax (pre-exceptional items), dividend, and total employee pay expenditure for the 
financial years ended 31 December 2016 and 31 December 2017, and the percentage change.

Profit after tax £m

Dividend £m

Total employee pay expenditure £m

-12.7%

+/-0%

+13%

2017

2016

£138m

2017

£158m

2016

£69m

£69m

2017

2016

£401m

£355m

0

100

200

300

400

0

100

200

300

400

0

100

200

300

400

Dividends are the interim and final dividends paid in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2016 and the interim 
dividend paid and the final dividend recommended in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2017. The total employee 
pay expenditure increase is due to the year on year exchange rate movement as well as higher bonus payments, due to bonus 
targets being achieved in some parts of the business.

Consideration by the Directors of matters relating to Directors’ remuneration

The Committee was advised by Kepler Mercer as the principal external adviser to the Committee for part of 2017. Following a 
comprehensive tender process, the Remuneration Committee appointed FIT Remuneration Consultants LLP as the new principal 
external adviser in July 2017. The fees paid to Kepler Mercer and FIT in respect of work that materially assisted the Committee in 
2017 are shown in the table below:

Adviser

Kepler Mercer

Appointed by

Russell King  
on behalf of 
the Committee

FIT Remuneration 
Consultants LLP

Russell King  
on behalf of 
the Committee

Services provided  
to the Committee

Fees paid by  
the Company  
for the Services

Other Services

Review of LTIP Award Calculations

£33,035

N/A

Advice on DRR disclosure

Advice on design of new 
incentive arrangements

Shareholder consultation support

Charged on a  
time/cost basis

Advice on 2017 LTIP grant

£69,276

N/A

Policy review for 2018

Remuneration for new 
CFO appointment

Except as detailed above, neither Kepler Mercer nor FIT provided any other services to the Group. They are both members of 
the Remuneration Consultants Group and signatories to its code of conduct. Taking these factors into account, the Committee 
is satisfied as to the impartiality and objectivity of their advice.

88

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
Statement of Shareholder voting

The following table shows the results of the advisory vote on the 2016 Remuneration Report at the 27 April 2017 AGM.

For

Against

Total votes cast (excluding withheld votes)
Votes withheld1

Total votes cast (including withheld votes)

Remuneration Report

Total number of votes

% of votes cast

185,709,651

4,767,137

190,476,788

1,128,803

191,605,591

97.50

2.50

100

–

–

1  A withheld vote is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculation of the proportion of votes cast for and against a resolution.

The Policy Report was last submitted to Shareholders at the 2015 AGM when 98.88% voted in favour and 1.12% against. 
Certain resolutions originally proposed to the 2017 AGM were withdrawn so Shareholders did not vote on those measures. 
The RNS announcement on 27 April 2017 explains the reasons for the withdrawal. The Committee considered feedback from 
Shareholders following the 2017 AGM when approving the new Remuneration Policy which is proposed for the 2018 AGM.

Directors’ service contracts

Each of the Directors will be proposed for election or re-election at the Company’s Annual General Meeting to be held on 
26 April 2018. 

The Executive Directors are employed under contracts of employment with Aggreko plc. The Remuneration Committee sets 
notice periods for the Executive Directors at 12 months or less. The principal terms of the Executive Directors’ service contracts 
(which have no fixed term) are as follows:

 Notice period

Executive Director

Position

Effective date of contract

From Director

From Company

Heath Drewett

Chris Weston

Chief Financial Officer

Chief Executive Officer 

3 January 2018

2 January 2015

6 months*

12 months

6 months*

12 months

*  New directors are typically appointed on an initial notice period of six months which increases to 12 months after the first 12 months with the Group. 

Non-executive Directors are appointed for a term of three years, subject to three months’ notice from either party. 

The dates of the Chairman’s and Non-executive Directors’ appointments are as follows:

Non-executive Director

Position

Effective date of 
letter of appointment

Unexpired term 
as at 31 December 2017

Nicola Brewer

Ken Hanna

Barbara Jeremiah

Russell King

Uwe Krueger

Diana Layfield

Ian Marchant

Miles Roberts

Non-executive Director

25 February 2016

Chairman

Non-executive Director

Non-executive Director

29 April 20151

7 March 2017

2 March 20171

Non-executive Director

1 February 2015

Non-executive Director

1 May 20151

Non-executive Director

1 November 20161

Non-executive Director

7 March 2017

1 year 2 months

4 months

2 years 2 months

4 months

1 month

4 months

1 year 10 months

2 years 2 months 

1  Replaces earlier letter of appointment.

External appointments

It is the Board’s policy to allow the Executive Directors to accept non-executive directorships of other quoted companies. 
Any such directorships must be formally approved by the Chairman of the Board. Directors are generally permitted to retain 
any earnings from these appointments. During the year, Carole Cran was a Non-executive Director of Halma plc. Fees for 2017 
in relation to this appointment were £62,000. Chris Weston did not hold any external directorships of other quoted companies. 
He served as a Non-executive Director of the Royal Navy during the year. Fees for 2017 in relation to this appointment were £15,000.

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Policy Report

This section of our report describes each component of Aggreko’s remuneration policy for 
Directors and has been prepared in accordance with Part 4 of Schedule 8 to the Large and 
Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 (as amended). 
Subject to approval at the AGM, this policy will replace the current policy (which was approved 
by Shareholders at the 2015 AGM) and is expected to apply for three years from 26 April 2018.

New Remuneration Policy
Aggreko’s current remuneration policy was approved by Shareholders at the 2015 AGM and has governed the way we have 
paid our Directors over the last three years. It is now due for renewal and we will be asking our Shareholders to approve a new 
Remuneration Policy for Executive Directors at our Annual General Meeting. To comply with evolving best practice, formal caps 
have been included in each element of pay (these are caps and do not reflect any form of aspiration).

A G G R E K O ’ S   P R O P O S E D   N E W   R E M U N E R A T I O N   P O L I C Y   F O R   E X E C U T I V E   D I R E C T O R S

Benefits

Purpose and link to strategy
Designed to be competitive in the market in which the 
individual is employed. Expatriate and relocation packages 
designed to ensure a geographically mobile management 
population related to business needs.

Operation
Includes healthcare benefits, life assurance cover, a company 
car (or an allowance in lieu). Where appropriate, we would 
provide an expatriate package, including bearing the cost of 
any local taxes payable on any expatriate benefits, relocation 
costs, living allowances and school fees. 

Any reasonable business related expenses (including 
tax thereon) can be reimbursed if determined to be 
a taxable benefit.

Executive Directors are eligible for other benefits which are 
introduced for the wider workforce on broadly similar terms.

Opportunity
Benefits vary by role and local practice, and are reviewed 
periodically relative to market.

Benefits (excluding travel and related taxes and tax 
equalisation payments where appropriate) payable to 
Executive Directors will not exceed 20% of salary (and did not 
exceed 10% of salary during the most recent financial year). 
In line with market practice, it is not anticipated that in normal 
circumstances the cost of benefits provided will exceed this 
level of 10% over the next three years. 

The Committee retains the discretion to approve a higher 
cost in exceptional circumstances (e.g. relocation and/or tax 
equalisation) or in circumstances where factors outside the 
Company’s control have changed materially (e.g. increases  
in insurance premiums, provider costs or taxes).

Performance measures
None.

Fixed pay

Base salary

Purpose and link to strategy
To attract, reward and retain talent by ensuring base salaries 
are at an appropriate level in the talent market(s) relevant 
to each individual.

Operation
Base salaries are generally reviewed annually. In determining 
the appropriate level of adjustment, we take into account: 
Company performance; the individual’s responsibilities and 
contribution to the business; salary levels for comparable roles 
at relevant comparators; and salary increases more broadly 
across the Group.

External benchmarking data is used with caution, but 
will reflect the size and complexity of the role in question. 
Internal relativities are equally important when determining 
the correct level at which to set base salaries. 

Opportunity
Any base salary increases are applied in line with the outcome 
of the annual review and generally expected to be in line 
with those of the wider workforce, although the Committee 
may award a higher increase in exceptional circumstances 
(such as to reflect development in role). 

Any salary will not exceed £900,000. 

Performance measures
None, although continued good performance is a factor 
considered when reviewing salaries.

Pension

Purpose and link to strategy
To provide relevant statutory benefits and be competitive 
in the market in which the individual is employed.

Operation
All Executive Directors are entitled to a defined-contribution 
pension. They can opt to take a cash payment in lieu of all 
or part of their pension.

Opportunity
Contributions of between 20% and 30% of salary per annum 
except where limited by local practice.

For new hires, the pension contribution will be up to 20% 
of salary per annum.

Performance measures
None.

90

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Variable pay

Annual bonus scheme

Long-Term Incentive Plan

Purpose and link to strategy
To focus Executive Directors on achieving demanding 
annual targets relating to Group performance.

Purpose and link to strategy
To align the interests of management with those of Shareholders 
in growing the value of the business over the long term.

Operation
Performance measures and targets are set at the start of the 
year and are weighted to reflect the balance of Group and, 
where appropriate, business unit responsibilities for each 
Executive Director.

At the end of the year, the Committee determines the extent 
to which these have been achieved. The Committee has 
the ability to exercise discretion to adjust for factors outside 
management control.

Bonus payments are typically delivered as 75% in cash and 
25% deferred into shares and released after three years. 
Dividends will accrue on the deferred share element. 

Malus and/or clawback provisions apply as described on 
page 94.

Opportunity
The maximum annual bonus opportunity for Executive 
Directors is 175% of salary. The financial element of the bonuses 
start to be earned for threshold performance (for which no 
bonus is paid).

Performance measures
Performance is assessed annually with up to 30% (currently 20%)  
of the maximum bonus potential based on personal/strategic 
objectives aligned to the Group’s KPIs and the balance 
based on appropriate Group and/or business unit financial 
performance. The current measure for financial performance is 
D-EPS, but may vary each year depending on business context 
and strategy. 

Further details of the performance measures proposed for 
the 2018 annual bonus are set out in the Annual Report on 
Remuneration on page 80.

Vesting of awards is subject to performance conditions based 
on the long-term financial performance of the Group; the value 
of the awards is based on both the proportion vesting and the 
movement in the share price over the vesting period.

Operation
The LTIP comprises a single Performance Share Plan (PSP).

Awards are normally granted annually. Award levels and 
performance conditions are reviewed from time to time 
to ensure they remain appropriate and aligned with 
Shareholder interests.

Awards normally vest after three years, subject to performance 
and continued office or employment. Awards which vest will 
be subject to a further holding period of two years. The holding 
period will end early on a takeover, scheme of arrangement or 
winding-up of the Company, upon the death of an individual 
or in exceptional circumstances on such other date determined 
by the Committee. On vesting, participants will be entitled to 
the equivalent of any dividends on the shares between grant 
and vesting or the earlier of the date of exercise of an option 
and the expiry of any holding period.

Malus and/or clawback provisions apply to awards as described 
on page 94.

Opportunity
The PSP provides for a nil-cost conditional award of shares 
worth up to an aggregate limit of 250% of salary per annum 
for Executive Directors.

Performance measures
The performance measures for the PSP will be based on 
Group performance with at least 75% linked to Group 
financial performance. 

The Committee has the discretion to reduce vesting 
levels if, exceptionally, they consider the strict application 
of the performance conditions would produce a result 
inconsistent with our remuneration principles, where the 
formulaic outcome does not genuinely reflect the underlying 
performance of the Group, or where necessary to avoid 
unintended consequences. 

The Committee also has the ability to include additional or 
alternative performance measures, weightings and/or targets 
in future years to take account of the Group’s key strategic 
and operational aims and targets, and business outlook at 
that time.

Further details of the 2018 performance measures proposed 
are set out on page 79.

91

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Policy Report (continued)

A G G R E K O ’ S   P R O P O S E D   N E W   R E M U N E R A T I O N   P O L I C Y   F O R   E X E C U T I V E   D I R E C T O R S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Other

Sharesave

Purpose and link to strategy
To align the interests of employees and Shareholders by 
encouraging all employees to own Aggreko shares.

Options under the Sharesave Option Schemes and the 
US Stock Purchase Plan are granted at a discount of 20% 
and 15% respectively.

Operation
This is an all-employee scheme whereby all eligible employees 
including Executive Directors invited by the Board to 
participate may save up to £500 (or local currency equivalent) 
per month over a period of two to five years. Higher monthly 
savings may be permitted in line with any changes to the 
statutory limits applying to UK SAYE share option schemes.

Share ownership guidelines

Opportunity
Savings currently capped at £500 a month (or local currency 
equivalent). Higher savings may be permitted in line with the 
statutory limit for UK schemes.

Performance measures
None.

The Committee has a policy of encouraging Executive Directors to acquire and retain a material number of shares in the 
Company, with the objective of further aligning their long-term interests with those of other Shareholders. The minimum 
requirement for Executive Directors is 250% of salary. Further details are shown on page 97.

A G G R E K O ’ S   R E M U N E R A T I O N   P O L I C Y   F O R   N O N - E X E C U T I V E   D I R E C T O R S   A N D   C H A I R M A N

Non-executive Directors’ and Chairman’s fee

Purpose and link to strategy
To attract and retain Non-executive Directors and a Chairman 
with an appropriate degree of skills, experience, independence 
and knowledge of the Group and its business.

Operation
Fee levels for Non-executive Directors are generally reviewed by 
the Board annually. Remuneration comprises an annual fee for 
acting as a Non-executive Director and serving as a member of 
any Committees. Additional fees are paid in respect of service 
as Chairman of a Committee or as Senior Independent Director.

The Chairman’s remuneration comprises an annual fee for 
acting as Chairman, which includes serving as Chairman or as 
a member of any Committees. The Remuneration Committee 
sets the Chairman’s remuneration, subject to review 
when appropriate.

When reviewing fees, reference is made to fees payable 
in companies of a similar size and complexity, information 
provided by a number of remuneration surveys, the extent 
of the duties performed and the expected time commitment 
of the role.

Any reasonable business related expenses (including 
tax thereon) can be reimbursed if determined to be a 
taxable benefit.

Opportunity
Any fee increases are applied in line with the outcome of 
the annual review. Currently the maximum aggregate annual 
fee for all Non-executive Directors, including the Chairman, 
provided in the Company’s Articles of Association is £900,000.

Performance metrics
None.

Incentives and benefits for Non-executive Directors and Chairman
Non-executive Directors and the Chairman do not participate in incentive arrangements or receive other remuneration 
in addition to their fees. However, where appropriate the Company may provide additional benefits in kind (for example, 
reimbursement of travel costs and taxes thereon), and the Chairman may receive healthcare and/or other market standard 
benefits. Overall, benefits are not expected to exceed 20% of the annual fee in any year.

92

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Existence of discretions
The Committee will operate the incentive plans according to 
their respective rules, the Listing Rules and HMRC rules where 
relevant. As part of this, the Committee retains a number of 
discretions to ensure the efficient operation and administration 
of these plans. These include, but are not limited to, 
the following:

 • the participants of the respective plans;

 • the timing of award grants, vesting and/or payment;

 • the size of an award and/or payment (subject to the limits 

set out in the policy table);

 • the determination of vesting;

 • dealing with a change of control or corporate restructuring; 

 • the determination of a good/bad leaver for incentive 
plan purposes and the treatment of pro-rating and 
holding periods;

 • adjustments required in certain circumstances 

(e.g. rights issues, corporate reorganisation and/or change 
to capital structure); and

 • determining the appropriate performance conditions, 
weightings and targets for the Annual Bonus Scheme 
and LTIP.

If events occur (for example the sale of a material part of the 
business) which mean the original performance conditions 
set are no longer appropriate, the Committee may adjust the 
targets and/or set different performance measures as long as 
any adjustment is not, in the Committee’s view, materially less 
difficult to satisfy but for the event in question.

Payments from outstanding awards
Executive Directors will be entitled to receive any awards  
vesting under the incentive arrangements included in 
the remuneration policy approved at the Company’s 2015 
Annual General Meeting.

Performance measure selection and approach 
to target setting
The measures used under the Annual Bonus Scheme will 
reflect the Group's key financial objectives for the year. 
The Committee considers that EPS (currently used in both the 
Annual Bonus Plan and LTIP) is an objective and well-accepted 
measure of the Company’s performance which reinforces the 
strategic objective of achieving profitable growth. 

Targets for the Annual Bonus Scheme are tied to the Annual 
Budgets set by the Board and have due regard to external 
forecasts. Performance targets are set to be stretching but 
achievable and take into account the economic environment 
in a given year.

If personal/strategic objectives are used in the Annual Bonus 
Scheme, to the extent that relevant financial performance 
is below threshold performance, then the Committee has 
the discretion to reduce, if appropriate to zero, the personal/
strategic element that would otherwise have been paid. 

Under the LTIP, Group D-EPS is complemented by ROCE 
to reflect the need to balance growth and returns. 
Targets applying to the LTIP are reviewed annually, based on 
a number of internal and external reference points to ensure 
they remain appropriately stretching. 

The initial LTIP performance targets for 2018 will be 50% 
subject to D-EPS growth with a range of 5-12% per annum over 
three years and 50% subject to ROCE in the final year of the 
performance period with a range of 15-22%.

It is an inherent part of the new Remuneration Policy that 
the Committee will review and set the scale prior to each 
grant rather than the previous approach of fixing the scale 
for the life of the policy. It will also determine the approach 
to calculation, e.g. three year average performance or final 
(third) year performance for each grant. The degree of stretch 
proposed for 2018 awards is judged to be appropriate in 
relation to our current (2017) base performance. Third year 
ROCE measurement reflects Aggreko’s planned capital 
investments in fleet and technology over the next three years 
as well as the distance of travel from where we are now to the 
target threshold.

The Committee also has the ability to include additional or 
alternative performance measures, weightings and/or targets 
in future years to take account of the Group’s key strategic 
and operational aims and targets, and business outlook 
at that time.

The Annual Bonus Scheme calculates D-EPS on a fixed 
currency basis while the LTIP fixes the impact of any 
currency movement in excess of 10%.

93

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Policy Report (continued)

Malus and clawback
Payments and awards under the Annual Bonus Scheme and 
LTIP are subject to malus and clawback as described below.

The Committee has discretion to decide at any time prior to 
the third anniversary of the date of payment of a bonus or the 
vesting of an award under the LTIP that the relevant individual 
shall be subject to malus/clawback if:

 • the Committee forms the view that the Company materially 

misstated its financial results for whatever reason; or

 • the Committee forms the view that in assessing any 

Performance Condition and/or any other condition imposed 
on the bonus or award such assessment was based on 
an error, or on inaccurate or misleading information or 
assumptions; or 

 • the relevant individual ceases to be a Director or employee 
of Aggreko as a result of his/her gross misconduct or the 
Committee is of the view that the relevant individual could 
have been summarily dismissed by reason of his/her gross 
misconduct; or

 • any other circumstance(s) or event(s) arise which the 

Committee considers to be sufficiently exceptional to justify 
the operation of malus/clawback. (Clawback in exceptional 
circumstances is a new feature to the Policy.)

Where malus/clawback applies as a result of a misstatement 
or error, the amount will generally be based on the additional 
value which the Committee considers has been granted to, 
vested in, or received by the relevant individual as a result of 
the relevant misstatement or error. Where the malus/clawback 
applies for any other reason, it will be the amount that the 
Committee decides is appropriate. 

The Committee has wide discretion in deciding how any 
clawback will be satisfied, including:

 • reducing the amount of any future bonus which would 

otherwise be payable; 

 • reducing the extent to which any subsisting awards under 

the LTIP vest; 

 • reducing the extent to which subsisting awards under any 

other share incentive plan vest;

 • reducing the number of any deferred bonus shares and 

LTIP awards which have vested and so are no longer subject 
to performance conditions but are subject to post-vesting 
deferral provisions;

 • requiring the relevant individual to pay the amount of 

clawback to the Company; and

 • deducting the amount from the relevant individual’s salary 
or from any other payment to be made by the Company.

If the relevant individual is required to repay any additional 
value, the Committee may consider whether that amount 
should take into account any income tax and national 
insurance contributions (or their equivalent) paid by the 
relevant individual and any possibility of him/her reclaiming 
such income tax and national insurance contributions.

Approach to recruitment remuneration
The Company’s approach to remuneration for newly appointed 
Directors is identical to that for existing Directors. As a matter 
of practicality, we recognise that it may be necessary to pay 
more than the existing Directors in order to attract candidates 
of the quality the business needs at that time. New Executive 
Directors will be invited to participate in incentive plans on 
the same basis as existing Executive Directors. However, the 
Committee may alter the performance measures, performance 
period, reference salary and vesting period of the annual bonus 
and/or LTIP, subject to the rules of the plans, if the Committee 
determines that the circumstances of the recruitment merit 
the alteration. The Committee will explain the rationale for 
any such changes. Where appropriate the Company will offer 
to pay reasonable relocation expenses for new Executive 
Directors in line with the Company’s policies described above. 
The Company will also bear any UK tax that Executive Directors 
resident overseas incur as a result of carrying out their duties 
in the UK.

The Company will not provide sign-on payments beyond 
buy-outs consistent with established market practice. 
In respect of buy-outs, the Remuneration Committee will 
only sanction compensation where it considers it necessary 
to do so in order to recruit a particular individual and will 
ensure that the terms of such buy-out are not overall more 
generous than the award forfeited in terms of overall quantum, 
likelihood of payment or time of payment. In exceptional cases, 
it may recognise that the performance period is substantially 
complete through assessment at the point of joining with a 
suitable discount.

In doing so, the Committee will consider all relevant factors 
including time to vesting, delivery vehicle (cash vs. shares vs. 
options), any performance conditions attached to the awards 
and the likelihood of the conditions being met. In order to 
facilitate such compensation, the Committee may rely on 
the exemption contained in Listing Rule 9.4.2, which allows 
for the grant of awards in exceptional circumstances to 
facilitate the recruitment of a Director.

Where the Company is considering the promotion of 
senior management to the Board, the Committee may, 
at its discretion, agree that any commitments made 
before promotion will continue to be honoured whether 
or not consistent with the policy prevailing at the time the 
commitment is fulfilled.

In recruiting a new Non-executive Director, the Remuneration 
Committee will use the policy as set out in the table on page 
92. A base fee in line with the prevailing fee schedule would be 
payable for acting as a Non-executive Director and serving as 
a member of any Committees, with additional fees payable for 
acting as Chairman of a Committee or as Senior Independent 
Director. In recruiting a new Chairman of the Board, the fee 
offered would be inclusive of serving on any Committees.

94

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Pay-for-performance: scenario analysis
The graphs below provide estimates of the potential future 
reward opportunities for Executive Directors, and the potential 
split between the different elements of remuneration under 
three different performance scenarios: ‘Minimum’, ‘Target’ 
and ‘Maximum’.

Pay-for-performance (£)

Potential reward opportunities illustrated on this page 
are based on the proposed new policy we are asking 
Shareholders to approve, applied to the base salary in 
force at 1 January 2018. 

For the annual bonus, the amounts illustrated are those 
potentially receivable in respect of performance for 2018.

It should be noted that the LTIP awards granted in a year 
do not normally vest until the third anniversary of the date 
of grant. The projected value of LTIP amounts excludes the 
impact of share price movement. 

4,187,535

45%

Fixed pay
Annual bonus
LTIP

In illustrating potential reward opportunities the assumptions 
in the table below are made.

2,532,000

Assumptions for potential future reward opportunities

2,125,035

22%

1,000,000

31%

31%

46%

1,267,000
22%

577,000

32%

32%

100%

47%

24%

100% 46%

23%

m
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n
M

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e
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t
-
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O

m
u
m
i
x
a
M

m
u
m
n
M

i

i

t
e
g
r
a
t
-
n
O

m
u
m
i
x
a
M

Chief Executive

Current Chief Financial Officer

Fixed pay

Annual bonus

LTIP

Maximum Latest base pay, 

pension and 
ongoing 
benefits

Maximum  
annual  
bonus

Performance 
warrants  
full vesting

Target

Latest base pay, 
pension and 
ongoing 
benefits

On target  
annual  
bonus

Minimum Latest base pay, 

pension and 
ongoing 
benefits

No  
annual  
bonus

Performance 
warrants  
25% of  
full vesting

Threshold not 
achieved, so no 
amount vesting

5,000,000

4,500,000

4,000,000

3,500,000

3,000,000

2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0

Consideration of Shareholder views
During 2016 and 2017, we consulted with our Shareholders on 
the proposed changes to our Remuneration Policy. The new 
Remuneration Policy reflects the results of these consultations. 

The Committee also receives regular updates on the views of 
investors and corporate governance matters. This ensures that 
best practice principles are taken account of by the Committee 
to assist it with its decision making. 

We welcome an open dialogue with Shareholders and will 
continue to consult with major Shareholders before implementing 
any significant changes to the Remuneration Policy.

Service contracts and policy on payment for loss of office
It is the Company’s policy to provide for 12 months’ notice for 
termination of employment for Executive Directors, to be given 
by either party. For Executive Directors who have been newly 
recruited from outside the Group, the period would normally 
be six months, increasing to 12 months after 12 months’ service.

Under normal circumstances, the Company may terminate the 
employment of an Executive Director by making a payment 
in lieu of notice equivalent to basic salary and benefits for the 
notice period at the rate current at the date of termination. 
In case of gross misconduct the Executive can be dismissed 
without compensation.

Employment conditions elsewhere in the Group
The policy and practice with regard to the remuneration 
of senior executives below the Board is broadly consistent 
with that for the Executive Directors. Our senior executive 
population will be invited to participate in the LTIP and 
may also receive restricted stock awards. Different award 
levels and targets may apply below Board level. LTIP awards 
may also vest earlier (or later) than the third anniversary of 
grant and may be subject to a shorter holding period or no 
holding period.

In making remuneration decisions, the Remuneration 
Committee also considers the pay and employment conditions 
elsewhere in the Group, and is informed of changes to broader 
employee pay. The Remuneration Committee does not 
specifically consult with employees over the effectiveness 
and appropriateness of the executive remuneration policy 
or use any remuneration comparison measurements, 
although as members of the Board they receive the results 
of the Group’s periodical employee satisfaction survey which 
includes questions covering remuneration.

The Company’s policy is to limit severance payments 
on termination to agreed contractual arrangements. 
The Committee has discretion to contribute towards 
outplacement services and the legal fees for any 
departing Director to the extent it considers appropriate.

The Committee reserves the right to make additional 
payments, which it considers fair and reasonable, to satisfy any 
existing legal obligation and/or to settle any claim for damages 
or by way of settlement or compromise of any claim arising on 
or as a result of termination. 

Copies of the service contracts of the Executive Directors 
and copies of the letters of appointment of the Non-executive 
Directors are available for inspection at the registered office 
of the Company.

95

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E M U N E R A T I O N   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Policy Report (continued)

Treatment of annual bonuses and long-term incentive awards and options  
on termination of employment and corporate events

Timing of vesting/payment

Calculation of vesting/payment

Annual bonus

‘Bad leaver’ (all cases other 
than those specified below).

Not applicable.

Redundancy, retirement 
or otherwise at the 
Committee’s discretion.

Change of control/merger.

Deferred bonus

At the end of the financial year.

Awards normally continue but the Committee  
may measure performance to the relevant  
event and award a pro-rated amount.

No bonus to be paid for the financial year.

Bonuses will only be paid to the extent that  
the performance measures have been met. 
Any bonus will be paid on a time pro-rata basis.

Awards continue or pro-rated.

Gross misconduct.

Not applicable.

Unvested awards lapse.

All cases other than 
gross misconduct.

Vesting: At the time of normal maturity  
(unless the Committee accelerates vesting).

Awards vest in full (as pre-earned).

Change of control/merger.

On the occurrence of the relevant event.

Awards vest in full (as pre-earned).

LTIP

‘Bad leaver’ (all cases other 
than those specified below).

Not applicable.

Death, ill health, injury,  
permanent disability, retirement 
with the agreement of the 
Committee, redundancy,  
sale of a division or subsidiary  
or any other reason that the 
Committee determines in  
its absolute discretion.

Vesting: At the end of the relevant 
performance period.

Payment: At the end of the relevant 
holding period.

Change of control/merger.

On change of control.

Unvested awards lapse. In normal 
circumstances, any holding period on vested 
awards will continue to apply, although the 
Committee may release awards early.

Awards held for less than one year will normally 
lapse. Otherwise awards vest over the original 
timescales, subject to the original performance 
conditions. Awards are normally pro-rated for 
time although the Committee has discretion to 
release early or to disapply pro-rating. In normal 
circumstances, any holding period on vested 
awards will continue to apply (except on death 
when it will end early) although the Committee 
may release awards early.

Awards will vest to the extent that any 
performance conditions have been satisfied or 
would have been satisfied and will, unless the 
Committee determines otherwise, be reduced 
pro-rata to take account of the performance 
period not completed. Awards may be 
exchanged for awards over shares in the 
acquiring company in some circumstances. 
Any holding period will end early.

Options held under the Sharesave Plans will vest and become exercisable in accordance with the rules of the relevant plan 
and the governing legislation (to the extent applicable) upon cessation of employment or the occurrence of a Corporate Event.

96

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Share ownership guidelines 
The Committee has a policy of encouraging Executive Directors 
to acquire and retain a material number of shares in the 
Company, with the objective of further aligning their long-term 
interests with those of other Shareholders. The minimum 
requirement for Executive Directors is currently 200% of salary. 
The Committee proposes to increase this to 250% of salary.

Shares that count towards achieving these guidelines include:

 • shares beneficially owned by an Executive Director or by 
a connected person, as recognised by the Committee; 

 • deferred bonus shares and LTIP awards which have vested 
and so are no longer subject to performance conditions 
but are subject to post-vesting deferral provisions; and

 • shares held under any restricted stock plan or any plan 

established under Listing Rule 9.4.2 if not subject to pre-vest 
performance conditions.

Executive Directors are expected to build their shareholding 
over a five-year period (retaining at least 50% of vested 
incentives (post-tax) until such guidelines have been met), 
but are not required to make personal share purchases 
if awards do not vest through failing to meet performance 
conditions. For example, a newly-appointed Director may 
not reach the required level within the period, depending 
on the Company’s performance against target over the period. 
If so, the Committee will review the circumstances and agree 
an appropriate forward plan.

The Committee retains the discretion to grant dispensation 
from these requirements in exceptional circumstances.

There is no particular requirement for Non-executive Directors 
to hold shares but they are encouraged to acquire a holding 
over time.

Directors’ shareholdings are included in the table on page 86.

Period for policy
The policy will take effect from 26 April 2018, being the 
date of the Company’s 2018 Annual General Meeting, and 
is intended to apply for a period of three years.

The Committee is satisfied that the proposed new 
Remuneration Policy is in the best interests of Shareholders 
and does not promote excessive risk-taking. The Committee 
retains discretion to make non-significant changes to the 
policy without reverting to Shareholders.

This Report was approved by the Board on 6 March 2018.

Russell King
Chairman of the Remuneration Committee

6 March 2018

97

OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Share capital
On 31 December 2017, the Company had in issue 256,128,201 
Ordinary Shares of 4329/395 pence each, 188,251,587 Deferred 
Shares of 984/775 pence each, 18,352,057,648 Deferred Shares 
of 1/775 pence each, 182,700,915 Deferred Shares of 618/25 pence 
each and 573,643,383,325 Deferred Shares of 1/306125 pence 
each comprising 29.43%, 40.77%, 0.56%, 29.19% and 0.04% 
respectively of the Company’s issued share capital. Details of 
the changes in issued share capital during the year are shown 
in Note 23 to the accounts on page 137.

Material share interests
As at 31 December 2017, the Company had received 
notifications of the following major shareholdings, representing 
3% or more of the voting rights attached to the issued Ordinary 
Share capital of the Company:

Shareholder

AKO Capital LLP

Baillie Gifford

Number  
of shares

% of total 
voting rights 

12,781,545

12,584,169

The Capital Group Companies LLP

13,446,515

Deutsche Bank AG

Mackenzie Financial Corporation

Prudential Plc

Standard Life Aberdeen Plc

23,633,682

13,443,784

9,351,326

27,606,171

4.99

4.91

5.25

9.22

5.24

3.65

10.78

Between 31 December 2017 and 6 March 2018, the Company 
received the following notifications of major shareholdings.

Shareholder

Date

Number  
of shares

% of total 
voting rights 

Deutsche Bank AG

24/01/2018

23,290,315

Standard Life 
Aberdeen Plc

Standard Life 
Aberdeen Plc

01/02/2018

28,612,326

02/02/2018 28,734,700

9.09

11.17

11.22

The Directors are not aware of any other material interests 
amounting to 3% or more in the share capital of the Company.

Rights and obligations attached to shares
Subject to applicable statutes (in this section referred to as the 
Companies Acts) and to any rights conferred on the holders 
of any other shares, any share may be issued with or have 
attached to it such rights and restrictions as the Company 
may by ordinary resolution decide or, if no such resolution has 
been passed or so far as the resolution does not make specific 
provision, as the Board may decide.

S T A T U T O R Y   D I S C L O S U R E S

Directors’ Report and Strategic Report
The Directors’ Report and Strategic Report for the year ended 
31 December 2017 comprise pages 56 to 103 and pages 1 to 
55 of this report, together with the sections incorporated by 
reference. We have included some of the matters normally 
included in the Directors’ Report which we consider to be of 
strategic importance in the Strategic Report on pages 1 to 55. 
Specifically these are:

 • Future Business Developments on page 14; and

 • Risk Information on the Use of Financial Instruments on 

page 143.

Disclosures in relation to Listing Rule LR 9.8.4R, where 
applicable, are included on pages 80 and 82 in relation to 
Long-term Incentive Plans and on page 100 in relation to the 
dividend waiver arrangements in place for our Employee 
Benefit Trust.

Both the Directors’ Report and Strategic Report have been 
presented in accordance with applicable company law, 
and the liabilities of the Directors in connection with those 
reports are subject to the limitations and restrictions provided. 
Other information to be disclosed in the Directors’ Report 
is given in this section.

Management report
The Strategic Report and the Directors’ Report together 
include the ‘management report’ for the purposes 
of Disclosure and Transparency Rule (DTR) 4.1.8R.

2018 Annual General Meeting
The Company’s Annual General Meeting will be held at 
11.00 am on 26 April 2018 at 200 SVS, 200 St Vincent Street, 
Glasgow G2 5RQ. The Notice of Meeting is available on the 
Shareholder information pages of our website.

Dividends
The interim dividend of 9.38 pence per Ordinary Share 
was paid on 6 October 2017. The Directors recommend a 
final dividend of 17.74 pence per Ordinary Share in respect 
of the year, making a total for the year of 27.12 pence per 
Ordinary Share (2016: 27.12 pence), payable on 22 May 2018 
to Shareholders on the register at the close of business on 
20 April 2018.

Dividend payments and DRIP
The Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) allows Shareholders 
to purchase additional shares in Aggreko with their dividend 
payment. Further information and a mandate can be obtained 
from our Registrar, Link Asset Services (formerly known as 
Capita Asset Services), whose details are set out on page 161 
and the Shareholder information pages of our website.

98

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
 
 
 
 
Voting
Subject to any special terms as to voting upon which any 
shares may be issued or may for the time being be held and 
to any other provisions of the Articles of Association of the 
Company (‘the Articles’), on a show of hands every member 
who is present in person or by proxy or represented by a 
corporate representative at a general meeting of the Company 
has one vote.

On a return of capital on a winding-up (excluding any intra-
Group reorganisation on a solvent basis), holders of Deferred 
Shares are entitled to be paid the nominal capital paid up or 
credited as paid up on such Deferred Shares after paying to 
the holders of the Ordinary Shares the nominal capital paid up 
or credited as paid up on the Ordinary Shares held by them 
respectively, together with the sum of £100,000,000 on each 
Ordinary Share.

On a poll, every member who is present in person or by proxy 
or represented by a corporate representative has one vote for 
every share of which he or she is the holder. In the case of joint 
holders of a share the vote of the senior who tenders a vote, 
whether in person or by proxy, is accepted to the exclusion 
of the votes of the other joint holders and, for this purpose, 
seniority is determined by the order in which the names 
stand in the register in respect of the joint holding.

The holders of the Deferred Shares are not entitled to receive 
notice of any general meeting of the Company or to attend, 
speak or vote at any such meeting.

The Board may deduct from any dividend or other moneys 
payable to a member by the Company on or in respect of any 
shares all sums of money (if any) presently payable by him to 
the Company on account of calls or otherwise in respect of 
shares of the Company. The Board may also withhold payment 
of all or any part of any dividends or other moneys payable in 
respect of the Company’s shares from a person with a 0.25% 
interest (as defined in the Articles) if such a person has been 
served with a restriction notice (as defined in the Articles) after 
failure to provide the Company with information concerning 
interests in those shares required to be provided under the 
Companies Acts.

Variation of rights
Subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, rights 
attached to any class of shares may be varied either with the 
consent in writing of the holders of not less than three quarters 
in nominal value of the issued shares of that class (excluding 
any shares of that class held as Treasury Shares) or with the 
sanction of a special resolution passed at a separate general 
meeting of the holders of those shares. The necessary quorum 
applying to any such separate general meeting is two persons 
holding or representing by proxy not less than one third in 
nominal value of the issued shares of the class (excluding 
any shares of that class held as Treasury Shares), (but at any 
adjourned meeting one holder present in person or by proxy 
(whatever the number of shares held by him) will constitute a 
quorum); every holder of shares of the class present in person 
or by proxy (excluding any shares of that class held as Treasury 
Shares) is entitled on a poll to one vote for every share of the 
class held by him (subject to any rights or restrictions attached 
to any class of shares) and any holder of shares of the class 
present in person or by proxy may demand a poll.

Restrictions on voting
No member is, unless the Board otherwise decides, entitled 
in respect of any share held by him to vote (either personally 
or by proxy or by a corporate representative) at any general 
meeting of the Company or at any separate general meeting 
of the holders of any class of shares in the Company if any 
calls or other sums presently payable by him in respect of 
that share remain unpaid or if he is a person with a 0.25% 
interest (as defined in the Articles) and he has been served 
with a restriction notice (as defined in the Articles) after 
failure to provide the Company with information concerning 
interests in those shares required to be provided under the 
Companies Acts.

The Company is not aware of any agreement between holders 
of securities that may result in restrictions on voting rights.

Dividends and other distributions
Subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, the Company 
may by ordinary resolution from time to time declare dividends 
in accordance with the respective rights of the members, 
but no dividend can exceed the amount recommended 
by the Board.

Subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, the Board 
may pay such interim dividends as appear to the Board to be 
justified by the financial position of the Company and may also 
pay any dividend payable at a fixed rate at intervals settled by 
the Board whenever the financial position of the Company, 
in the opinion of the Board, justifies its payment. If the Board 
acts in good faith, it shall not incur any liability to the holders 
of any shares for any loss they may suffer in consequence 
of the payment of an interim or fixed dividend on any other 
class of shares ranking pari passu with or after those shares.

The Deferred Shares confer no right to participate in the profits 
of the Company.

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017S T A T U T O R Y   D I S C L O S U R E S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

Restrictions on transfer of securities in the Company
There are no restrictions on the transfer of securities in the 
Company, except that:

 • certain restrictions may from time to time be imposed 
by laws and regulations (for example, insider trading 
laws), in particular we operate a share dealing code which 
requires Directors of the Company and certain employees 
to obtain the approval of the Company before dealing in 
the Company’s Ordinary Shares; and

 • the Deferred Shares are not transferable except in 

accordance with the paragraph headed ‘Powers in relation 
to the Company issuing or buying back its own shares’ 
below or with the written consent of the Directors.

The Company is not aware of any agreements between holders 
of securities that may result in restrictions on the transfer 
of securities.

Articles of Association
Our Articles are available on our website at www.plc.aggreko.com.  
Unless expressly specified to the contrary in the Articles, 
the Articles may be amended by a special resolution of the 
Company’s Shareholders.

Appointment and replacement of Directors
The rules for the appointment and replacement of Directors 
are contained in the Company’s Articles. They include: the 
number of Directors must not be less than two or more than 
15; the Board may appoint any person to be a Director; any 
Director so appointed by the Board shall hold office only until 
the next general meeting and shall then be eligible for election; 
each Director must retire from office at the third Annual 
General Meeting after the Annual General Meeting at which 
he was last elected. However, in line with the UK Corporate 
Governance Code, all Directors will stand for annual election 
at the 2018 AGM.

A Director may be removed by special resolution of the 
Company. In addition, the office of a Director must be vacated 
if: (i) they resign their office by notice in writing delivered to 
the office or tendered at a meeting of the Board; or (ii) by 
notice in writing they offer to resign and the Board resolves to 
accept such offer; or (iii) their resignation is requested by all of 
the other Directors and all of the other Directors are not less 
than three in number; or (iv) a registered medical practitioner 
who is treating that Director gives a written opinion to the 
Company stating that that Director has become physically 
or mentally incapable of acting as a Director and may remain 
so for more than three months; or (v) by reason of a Director’s 
mental health, a court makes an order which wholly or partly 
prevents that Director from personally exercising any powers 
or rights which that Director would otherwise have; or (vi) they 
are absent without the permission of the Board from meetings 
of the Board (whether or not an alternate Director appointed 
by him attends) for six consecutive months and the Board 
resolves that his office is vacated; or (vii) they become bankrupt 
or compounds with their creditors generally; or (viii) they are 
prohibited by law from being a Director; or (ix) they cease to be 
a Director by virtue of the Companies Acts or are removed from 
office pursuant to the Articles.

Directors’ conflicts of interest
The Company has procedures in place for monitoring and 
managing conflicts of interest. Should a Director become 
aware that they, or their connected parties, have an interest 
in an existing or proposed transaction with Aggreko, they 
should notify the Board in writing or at the next Board meeting. 
Directors have a continuing duty to update any changes to 
these conflicts.

100

Powers of the Directors
Subject to the provisions of the Companies Acts, the Articles 
and to any directions given by the Company in general 
meeting by special resolution, the business of the Company 
is managed by the Board, which may exercise all the powers 
of the Company whether relating to the management of the 
business of the Company or not. In particular, the Board may 
exercise all the powers of the Company to borrow money 
and to mortgage or charge all or any part of the undertaking, 
property and assets (present and future) and uncalled capital 
of the Company and to issue debentures and other securities, 
whether outright or as collateral security for any debt, liability 
or obligation of the Company or any third party.

Powers in relation to the Company issuing or 
buying back its own shares
The Directors were granted authority at the last Annual 
General Meeting held in 2017 to allot relevant securities 
up to a nominal amount of £4,126,149 in connection with an 
offer by way of a rights issue. That authority will apply until 
the earlier of 30 June 2018 or at the conclusion of the Annual 
General Meeting for 2018. At this year’s Annual General 
Meeting, Shareholders will be asked to grant an authority to 
allot relevant securities up to a nominal amount of £4,126,149, 
such authority to apply until the end of next year’s Annual 
General Meeting (or, if earlier, until the close of business on 
30 June 2019).

A special resolution will also be proposed to renew the 
Directors’ power to make non-pre-emptive issues for cash 
up to a nominal amount of £1,237,844.

The Company was also authorised at the Annual General 
Meeting held in 2017 to make market purchases of up to 
25,612,820 Ordinary Shares. This authorisation will expire on 
the earlier of the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting 
of the Company for 2018 or 30 June 2018.

A special resolution will also be proposed at this year’s 
Annual General Meeting to renew the Directors’ authority 
to repurchase the Company’s Ordinary Shares in the market. 
The authority will be limited to a maximum of 25,612,820 
Ordinary Shares and sets the minimum and maximum prices 
which may be paid.

The Company may at any time, without obtaining the sanction 
of the holders of the Deferred Shares:

(a) appoint any person to execute on behalf of any holder of 
Deferred Shares a transfer of all or any of the Deferred Shares 
(and/or an agreement to transfer the same) to the Company 
or to such person as the Directors may determine, in any case 
for not more than one penny for all the Deferred Shares then 
being purchased from him; and

(b) cancel all or any of the Deferred Shares so purchased 
by the Company in accordance with the Companies Acts.

Securities carrying special rights
No person holds securities in the Company carrying special 
rights with regard to control of the Company.

Rights under the employee share scheme
Estera Trust (Jersey) Limited, as Trustee of the Aggreko 
Employees’ Benefit Trust, holds 0.21% of the issued share 
capital of the Company as at 6 March 2018 on trust for the 
benefit of the employees and former employees of the Group 
and their dependants. The voting rights in relation to these 
shares are exercised by the Trustee and there are no restrictions 
on the exercise of the voting of, or the acceptance of any 
offer relating to, the shares. The Trustee is obliged to waive 
all dividends on the shares unless requested to do otherwise 
by the Company in writing.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Going concern and viability statements
The going concern statement is included on page 116 of the 
financial statements.

The viability statement is included on page 55 of the 
Strategic Report.

Change of control
The Company has in place a number of agreements with 
advisers, financial institutions and customers which contain 
certain termination rights which would have an effect on a 
change of control. The Directors believe these agreements 
to be commercially sensitive and that their disclosure would 
be seriously prejudicial to the Company; accordingly, they do 
not intend disclosing specific details of these. In addition, all 
of the Company’s share schemes contain provisions which in 
the event of a change of control, would result in outstanding 
options and awards becoming exercisable, subject to the rules 
of the relevant schemes.

There are no agreements between the Company and its 
Directors or employees providing for compensation for loss 
of office or employment that occurs because of a takeover bid.

Disclosure of information to the Company’s auditor
In accordance with Section 418 of the Companies Act 2006 
the Directors who held office at the date of approval of this 
Directors’ Report confirm that, so far as they are each aware, 
there is no relevant audit information (as defined by Section 
418(3) of the Companies Act 2006) of which the Company’s 
Auditor is unaware; and each Director has taken all the steps 
that they ought to have taken as a Director to make them 
aware of any relevant audit information and to establish 
that the Company’s Auditor is aware of that information.

Indemnity of officers
Under Article 154 of the Articles, the Company may indemnify 
any Director or other officer against any liability, subject to the 
provisions of the Companies Acts, and the Articles grant an 
indemnity to the Directors against any liability for the costs 
of legal proceedings where judgement is given in their favour.

Under the authority conferred by Article 154, the Company has 
granted indemnities to Directors and officers of the Company 
and its subsidiaries. The indemnities do not apply to any claim 
which arises out of fraud, default, negligence or breach of 
fiduciary duty or trust by the indemnified person.

In addition, the Company may purchase and maintain for 
any Director or other officer, insurance against any liability. 
The Company maintains appropriate insurance cover against 
legal action brought against its Directors and officers and the 
Directors and officers of its subsidiaries.

Equal opportunities
Aggreko is committed to promoting equal opportunities 
for all, irrespective of disability, ethnic origin, gender or any 
other considerations that do not affect a person’s ability to 
perform their job. Our policies for recruitment, training, career 
development and promotion of employees are based on the 
suitability of the individual and give those who are disabled 
equal treatment with the able bodied where appropriate. 
Employees disabled after joining the Group are given suitable 
training for alternative employment with Aggreko or elsewhere.

Human rights
As we continue to grow our business in developing countries, 
we recognise that human rights are a concern in many 
regions in which we operate. We have a responsibility to 
all of our stakeholders, to ensure that all of our interactions 
with them meet or exceed the standards of compliance set 
out in our ethics policies, approach to equal opportunities, 
health and safety policies, environmental policies and 
grievance mechanisms, all of which are explained in detail 
throughout this report. We have also identified safety and 
talent management as matters to be considered as part of 
the principal risks facing the business. Whilst all these matters 
are linked, to a greater or lesser extent, to human rights, we 
prefer to address them as part of our operations, rather than 
as a separate issue. We continue to evaluate all potential risks 
and do not think that human rights present material issues 
for our business.

Pensions
The assets of the UK defined-benefit pension fund are 
controlled by the Directors of Aggreko Pension Scheme 
Trustee Limited; they are held separately from the assets of 
the Company and invested by independent fund managers. 
These segregated funds cannot be invested directly in the 
Company. Four trustees have been appointed by the Company 
and, in addition, two member-nominated trustees have been 
appointed. This fund was closed to new employees joining 
the Group after 1 April 2002; new UK employees are now 
offered membership of a Group Personal Pension Plan.

Carbon dioxide emissions
In line with the Company’s Act 2006, we are reporting 
on our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We have used the 
method outlined in the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting 
and Reporting Standard (revised edition), using the 
location-based scope 2 calculation method, together with 
the latest emission factors from recognised public sources 
including BEIS, the International Energy Agency, the US Energy 
Information Administration, the US Environmental Protection 
Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

Scope 1 emissions are from those activities owned or operated 
by Aggreko, and include fuel combusted in the Aggreko 
generator fleet (by far the greatest proportion of emissions); 
fuel combusted in Aggreko premises boilers; fuel combusted 
in Aggreko owned vehicles; refrigerant gas lost from Aggreko 
A/C units or vehicles; and emissions of SF6. Scope 1 emissions 
are considered to be those which the Company has the most 
control over. 

Scope 2 emissions are from electricity consumed in Aggreko 
owned premises. Although the consumption of the electricity 
occurs at Aggreko premises, the electricity itself is generated 
by a third party (i.e. the power station) and actual emissions 
from the production of the electricity occur without Aggreko’s 
control, hence why this is a separate scope. 

Scope 3 emissions are everything else, and consist primarily of 
the upstream emissions from fuel combusted in the Aggreko 
fleet (upstream emissions are from all activities associated 
with the fuel before it is actually combusted, so its extraction, 
refining, transportation etc.); other scope 3 emissions include 
transport of the fleet by third-party vehicles; business travel; 
and waste and water supply/treatment.

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017S T A T U T O R Y   D I S C L O S U R E S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

The tables below present the principal findings from GHG 
analyses of the previous two years:

Total GHG emissions by GHG protocol scope

As can be seen from the chart below relative emissions have 
decreased slightly, with a 14% decrease in the emissions per 
thousand GBP revenue from 2016.

Revenue intensity ratio tCO2e/thousand £

tCO2e/year

Scope 1
Scope 2
Scope 3
Total

2017

2016

14,716,676
21,414
2,954,104
17,692,195

15,183,091
17,209
2,810,623
18,010,923

Total GHG emissions by fleet/non-fleet

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

10.22

11.89

11.76

11.84

12.30

tCO2e/year

Fleet
Non-fleet
Total

2017

2016

17,556,543
135,652
17,692,195

17,746,040
264,883
18,010,923

In 2015 we undertook an Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme 
(ESOS) assessment in line with the UK Environment Agency 
requirements and can confirm that we are compliant with 
the regulations. Our next assessment is scheduled for 2019.

In line with previous years, the results show that 99% of 
GHG emissions arise from the operation of our fleet when it 
is out on rent. There are three main factors driving our annual 
GHG emissions: the fuel type our customers use; the pattern 
of their usage; and the fuel efficiency of the fleet.

In 2017 we emitted 17,692,195 tonnes of CO2e, a decrease of 
1.8% over 2016. In line with best practice, our GHG accounting 
systems include an estimate of the upstream GHG emissions 
associated with fuel supply chains; in 2017 this contributed 
16.5% of fleet combustion emissions, accounting for 97.8% 
of scope 3 emissions.

As a result of a 2.7% decrease in running hours, a recorded 
decrease of 1.1% in GHG emissions is reported for the 
Aggreko fleet in 2017. This slight disparity is due to a 
published increase in the 2017 emission factors used  
to calculate upstream emissions. 

In terms of the non-fleet activities, emissions from activities 
associated with third-party freight logistics and company 
owned vehicles have decreased. Conversely, emissions 
from premises activities and business travel have increased, 
with an 11% increase in business travel emissions being the 
most significant. 

The intensity ratio expresses the GHG impact per unit 
of physical activity or economic output, with a declining 
intensity ratio reflecting a positive performance improvement. 
In 2013 we chose Revenue Intensity as the most suitable 
metric for our business for then and future years.

In addition, Aggreko's Northern Europe business achieved 
CEMARS (Carbon and Energy Management Reduction) 
Certification in 2017. CEMARS allows large organisations 
or high emissions industries to measure their greenhouse 
gas emissions, put in place plans to reduce them and have 
both of these steps independently certified. It is the first 
global greenhouse gas certification scheme to be accredited 
to the internationally recognised ISO 14065 standard. 
Aggreko is the first rental company to meet this standard.

Branches
Subsidiaries of the Company have established branches 
in a number of different countries in which they operate.

Auditor
Resolutions re-appointing KPMG as the Company’s and 
Group’s auditor and authorising the Audit Committee to 
determine their remuneration will be proposed at the 
Annual General Meeting.

Important events since 31 December 2017
There have been no important events affecting the Company 
or any subsidiary since 31 December 2017.

Political donations
No political donations were made during the financial year 
(2016: nil).

Approval of the Strategic Report and Directors’ Report
The Strategic Report set out on pages 1 to 55 and Director’s 
Report set out on pages 56 to 103 were approved by the 
Board on 6 March 2018 and have been signed by the 
Company Secretary on behalf of the Board.

Peter Kennerley
Group Legal Director & Company Secretary

6 March 2018

102

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017S T A T E M E N T   O F   D I R E C T O R S ’   R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S

The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report 
and the Group and parent Company financial statements 
in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Directors to prepare Group and 
parent Company financial statements for each financial 
year. Under that law they are required to prepare the 
Group financial statements in accordance with International 
Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European 
Union (IFRSs as adopted by the EU) and applicable law 
and have elected to prepare the parent Company financial 
statements in accordance with UK accounting standards, 
including FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework.

Under company law the Directors must not approve the 
financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a 
true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Group and parent 
Company and of their profit or loss for that period. In preparing 
each of the Group and parent Company financial statements, 
the Directors are required to:

 • select suitable accounting policies and then apply 

them consistently;

 • make judgements and estimates that are reasonable, 

relevant, reliable and prudent;

 • for the Group financial statements, state whether they have 
been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by 
the EU;

 • for the parent Company financial statements, state whether 
applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, 
subject to any material departures disclosed and explained 
in the parent company financial statements;

The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting 
records that are sufficient to show and explain the parent 
Company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy 
at any time the financial position of the parent Company and 
enable them to ensure that its financial statements comply 
with the Companies Act 2006. They are responsible for such 
internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the 
preparation of financial statements that are free from material 
misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and have general 
responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open 
to them to safeguard the assets of the Group and to prevent 
and detect fraud and other irregularities.

Under applicable law and regulations, the Directors are also 
responsible for preparing a Strategic Report, Directors’ Report, 
Directors’ Remuneration Report and Corporate Governance 
Statement that complies with that law and those regulations.

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and 
integrity of the corporate and financial information included 
on the Company’s website. Legislation in the UK governing 
the preparation and dissemination of financial statements 
may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Responsibility statement of the Directors in respect 
of the annual financial report
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:

 • the financial statements, prepared in accordance with the 
applicable set of accounting standards, give a true and fair 
view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or 
loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the 
consolidation taken as a whole; and

 • assess the Group and parent Company’s ability to continue 

 • the Strategic Report includes a fair review of the 

as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related 
to going concern; and

 • use the going concern basis of accounting unless they either 
intend to liquidate the Group or the parent Company or to 
cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

development and performance of the business and the 
position of the issuer and the undertakings included in the 
consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description 
of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.

We consider the Annual Report and Accounts, taken as a 
whole, is fair, balanced and understandable and provides the 
information necessary for Shareholders to assess the Group’s 
position and performance, business model and strategy.

By order of the Board, 6 March 2018.

Ken Hanna 
Chairman 

Chris Weston
Chief Executive Office

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OVERVIEWBUSINESS STRATEGYOUR PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017 
F I N A N C I A L   &   O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

Independent auditor’s report

Group income statement 

Group statement of comprehensive income 

Group balance sheet 

Group cash flow statement 

Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net debt 

Group statement of changes in equity 

Notes to the Group accounts 

Company balance sheet 

Company statement of comprehensive income

Company statement of changes in equity

Notes to the Company accounts

Shareholder information 

Definition and calculation of non GAAP measures

Financial summary 

105
110
110
111
112
113
114
116
154
155
156
157
161
162
164

104

A G G R E K O   P L C   A N N U A L   R E P O R T   A N D   A C C O U N T S   2 0 1 7

I N D E P E N D E N T   A U D I T O R ’ S   R E P O R T   T O   T H E   M E M B E R S   O F   A G G R E K O   P L C

A   S U M M A R Y   O F   O U R   A P P R O A C H
A   S U M M A R Y   O F   O U R   A P P R O A C H

1

Full audit coverage
94% of PBT

2

Materiality
5% of PBT

(before exceptionals)

3

Key audit matters
recoverability of certain  
PS Utility receivables  
and tax provisioning

1

Our audit covered 94% of the Group’s profit before tax  
and exceptionals and was carried out in Glasgow,  
Dubai, Russia, Argentina, Houston and Brazil.

2

Overall Group materiality: £9.8 million which represents  
5% of profit before tax this year before exceptional items.

3

The recoverability of certain Power Solutions Utility 
receivables and the tax provisions/provisioning 
in overseas locations are the key audit matters 
given the judgements involved in these areas.

1  Our opinion is unmodified
We have audited the financial statements of Aggreko Plc 
(‘the Company’) for the year ended 31 December 2017 which 
comprise the Group Income Statement, Group Statement 
of Comprehensive Income, Group Balance Sheet, Group 
Cash Flow Statement, Group Statement of Changes in Equity, 
and the related Notes, including the accounting policies in 
Note 1 and the Company Balance Sheet, Company Statement 
of Comprehensive Income, Company Statement of Changes 
in Equity and the related Notes, including the accounting 
policies in Note 32. 

In our opinion:

 • the financial statements give a true and fair view of the 

state of the Group’s and of the parent Company’s affairs as 
at 31 December 2017 and of the Group’s profit for the year 
then ended; 

 • the Group financial statements have been properly prepared 

in accordance with International Financial Reporting 
Standards as adopted by the European Union; 

 • the parent Company financial statements have been 
properly prepared in accordance with UK accounting 
standards, including FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework; 
and 

 • the financial statements have been prepared in accordance 

with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and, 
as regards the Group financial statements, Article 4 of the 
IAS Regulation.

Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International 
Standards on Auditing (UK) (‘ISAs (UK)’) and applicable law. 
Our responsibilities are described below. We believe that the 
audit evidence we have obtained is a sufficient and appropriate 
basis for our opinion. Our audit opinion is consistent with our 
report to the Audit Committee.

We were appointed as auditor by the Shareholders on 
27 April 2016. The period of total uninterrupted engagement 
is for the two financial years ended 31 December 2017. 
We have fulfilled our ethical responsibilities under, and we 
remain independent of the Group in accordance with, UK 
ethical requirements including the FRC Ethical Standard as 
applied to listed public interest entities. No non-audit services 
prohibited by that standard were provided. 

2  Key audit matters: our assessment of risks 

of material misstatement

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional 
judgment, were of most significance in the audit of the 
financial statements and include the most significant assessed 
risks of material misstatement (whether or not due to fraud) 
identified by us, including those which had the greatest effect 
on: the overall audit strategy; the allocation of resources in 
the audit; and directing the efforts of the engagement team. 
We summarise below the key audit matters (unchanged from 
2016), in decreasing order of audit significance, in arriving at our 
audit opinion above, together with our key audit procedures 
to address those matters and, as required for public interest 
entities, our results from those procedures. These matters 
were addressed, and our results are based on procedures 
undertaken, in the context of, and solely for the purpose 
of, our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and in 
forming our opinion thereon, and consequently are incidental 
to that opinion, and we do not provide a separate opinion on 
these matters.

105

BUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONI N D E P E N D E N T   A U D I T O R ’ S   R E P O R T   ( C O N T I N U E D )

T H E   R I S K

O U R   A P P R O A C H

Recoverability of consolidated Power Solutions Utility overdue receivables and accrued income in respect of certain countries 
including Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Benin and Venezuela

Refer to page 69 (Audit Committee Report), page 121 (accounting policy) and page 132 (financial disclosures) 

Certain customers of the Power Solutions 
Utility business operate in territories 
with volatile regimes and adverse macro 
economic conditions where the risk of 
customer default (the customer often 
being the government) is high. In these 
territories, cash receipts are volatile and 
unpredictable due to factors such as 
regime change and economic stress, 
resulting in significant judgement being 
applied in the Group’s assessment of the 
recoverability of receivables (both trade 
receivables and accrued income) from 
customers in these territories.

We note this risk is in relation to ‘certain’ 
PSU debtors such as Zimbabwe, 
Mozambique, Benin and Venezuela, 
those being the receivables that we 
consider give rise to our key audit matter.

Our procedures included: 
—  Our sector experience: Using our sector experience, assessing and challenging 
the Directors’ judgement as to the likely recoverable amount of the receivables, 
which includes seeking evidence of the status of receivables from the latest 
communications with the relevant customer (including deposits and guarantees) 
where available, considering the Group’s previous experience of recovery and our 
knowledge of in-country exposures;

—  Tests of details: Assessing post year end debt collection by vouching receipts to 
supporting documentation and considering evidence of planned payments; and

—   Assessing transparency: Assessing the adequacy of the Group’s disclosures about 

the degree of estimation involved.

Our results
—  We found the carrying value of the trade receivables noted opposite to be 

acceptable (2016: acceptable).

Consolidated and parent Company taxation provisions for significant potential or contentious tax assessments, in particular 
in relation to the ongoing dispute in relation to a tax assessment in Bangladesh (£31 million, 2016: £39 million):

Refer to page 69 (Audit Committee Report), page 121 (accounting policy) and page 127 (financial disclosures) 

Provision for tax contingencies require 
the Directors to make judgements 
and estimates in relation to tax risks 
in particular in relation to the ongoing 
dispute in relation to a tax assessment in 
Bangladesh. This is highly judgemental 
due to the Group operating in a various 
tax jurisdictions and the complexities 
and uncertainties of local and 
international tax legislation.

The tax matters are at various stages, 
from preliminary discussions with tax 
authorities through to tax tribunal or 
court proceedings where the matters 
can take many years to resolve. The risk 
to the financial statements is that the 
eventual resolution of a matter with tax 
authorities is at an amount materially 
different to the accrual.

Our procedures included: 
—  Our tax expertise: Assessing, together with our own international and local 

tax specialists, the Group’s tax positions including specifically the ongoing tax 
assessments (including Bangladesh), inspecting relevant correspondence with 
the relevant tax authorities and legal opinions and analysing and challenging the 
judgement about the likely conclusions used to determine tax provisions based 
on our knowledge and experience of the application of the international and local 
legislation by the relevant authorities and courts; and

—  Assessing transparency: Assessing the adequacy of the Group’s disclosures in 

respect of tax and uncertain tax positions.

Our results
—   We found the level of tax provisioning in the Group and Company to be acceptable 

(2016: acceptable).

106

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20173   Our application of materiality and an overview 

S C O P I N G   O F   O U R   A U D I T

of the scope of our audit

Materiality for the Group financial statements as a whole 
was set at £9.8 million (2016: £11 million), determined with 
reference to a benchmark of Group profit before tax, normalised 
to exclude exceptional items disclosed in the Group Income 
Statement and Note 7, of which it represents 5% (2016: 5%). 
We consider profit before tax before exceptional items to 
be the most appropriate benchmark because it excludes 
the non-recurring impact of exceptional items such as 
reorganisation costs and impairment charges and therefore 
produces a more stable benchmark than profit before 
tax. The Group team performed procedures on the items 
excluded from Group profit before tax excluding exceptional 
items. Materiality for the parent Company financial statements 
as a whole was set at £7 million (2016: £8 million) based on 
component materiality, determined with reference to net 
assets. This is lower than we would otherwise have determined 
with reference to a benchmark of Company net assets, and 
represents 1.4% (2016: 1.6%) of this benchmark.

We agreed to report to the Audit Committee any corrected 
or uncorrected misstatements identified exceeding £500,000, 
in addition to any other identified misstatements that 
warranted reporting on qualitative grounds. This level was 
selected and agreed with the Audit Committee as, given the 
nature and scale of operations, adjustments under this level 
were not deemed to be of specific interest to them.

The Group audit team instructed component auditors 
in Dubai, Argentina, Brazil and Russia as to the significant 
areas to be covered, and the information to be reported back. 
The Group team completed audit work on components 
in Dubai, the US and UK including the parent Company. 
The Group audit team approved the component materialities, 
which ranged from £10,000 to £7 million, having regard to the 
mix of size and risk profile of the Group across the components. 
The components not included were not individually financially 
significant enough to require an audit for Group reporting 
purposes, and did not present specific individual risks that 
needed to be addressed.

The Group audit team visited the component location in 
Dubai to participate in the planning meeting and assess 
the audit risk and strategy. Telephone calls were also held 
with the component auditors in Argentina, Brazil and Russia. 
On these calls, the audit risks and strategy were discussed, 
the findings from the audit reported to the Group audit 
team were discussed in more detail, and any further work 
required by the Group audit team was then performed 
by the component auditor as relevant. The Group team 
remotely evaluated the work completed by the team 
in Brazil, Argentina, Dubai and Russia.

The components within the scope of our work accounted 
for the percentages illustrated below:

% Revenue

1 

 Specific risk focused audit 
procedures over revenue

2  Full audit 

3  Scoped out of our audit 

% Profit before tax

1 

 Specific risk focused audit 
procedures over revenue

2  Full audit 

3  Scoped out of our audit 

Net assets

1 

 Specific risk focused audit 
procedures over revenue

2  Full audit 

3  Scoped out of our audit 

%

0

77

23

%

1

94

5

%

1

92

7

1

3

2

3

1

3

1

2

2

The remaining 23% of total Group revenue, 5% of Group 
profit before tax and 7% of total Group assets is represented 
by a number of reporting components, none of which 
individually represented more than 4% of any of total 
Group revenue, Group profit before tax or total Group assets.

107

BUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONI N D E P E N D E N T   A U D I T O R ’ S   R E P O R T   ( C O N T I N U E D )

4   We have nothing to report on going concern 
We are required to report to you if:

 • we have anything material to add or draw attention to 
in relation to the Directors’ statement in Note 1 to the 
financial statements on the use of the going concern basis 
of accounting with no material uncertainties that may cast 
significant doubt over the Group and Company’s use of 
that basis for a period of at least 12 months from the date 
of approval of the financial statements; or 

 • the related statement under the Listing Rules set out on 

page 37 is materially inconsistent with our audit knowledge. 

We have nothing to report in these respects.

5  We have nothing to report on the other 

information in the Annual Report

The Directors are responsible for the other information 
presented in the Annual Report together with the financial 
statements. Our opinion on the financial statements does not 
cover the other information and, accordingly, we do not express 
an audit opinion or, except as explicitly stated below, any form 
of assurance conclusion thereon. 

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in 
doing so, consider whether, based on our financial statements 
audit work, the information therein is materially misstated 
or inconsistent with the financial statements or our audit 
knowledge. Based solely on that work we have not identified 
material misstatements in the other information. 

Strategic report and Directors’ Report
Based solely on our work on the other information:

 • we have not identified material misstatements in the 

Strategic Report and the Directors’ Report; 

 • in our opinion the information given in those Reports for the 
financial year is consistent with the financial statements; and 

 • in our opinion those Reports have been prepared in 

accordance with the Companies Act 2006. 

Directors’ Remuneration Report
 • In our opinion the part of the Remuneration Committee 
Report to be audited has been properly prepared in 
accordance with the Companies Act 2006.

Disclosures of principal risks and 
longer term viability
Based on the knowledge we acquired during our financial 
statements audit, we have nothing material to add or draw 
attention to in relation to:

 • the Directors’ confirmation within page 55 that they have 

carried out a robust assessment of the principal risks facing 
the Group, including those that would threaten its business 
model, future performance, solvency and liquidity; 

 • the Principal Risks and Uncertainties disclosures describing 
these risks and explaining how they are being managed 
and mitigated; and 

 • the Directors’ explanation in the Assessments of Prospects 
and Viability statement of how they have assessed the 
prospects of the Group, over what period they have 
done so and why they considered that period to be 
appropriate, and their statement as to whether they have 
a reasonable expectation that the Group will be able to 
continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall 
due over the period of their assessment, including any 
related disclosures drawing attention to any necessary 
qualifications or assumptions. 

Under the Listing Rules we are required to review the 
Assessments of Prospects and Viability statement. 
We have nothing to report in this respect. 

Corporate governance disclosures
We are required to report to you if: 

 • we have identified material inconsistencies between the 
knowledge we acquired during our financial statements 
audit and the Directors’ statement that they consider that 
the Annual Report and financial statements taken as a 
whole is fair, balanced and understandable and provides the 
information necessary for Shareholders to assess the Group’s 
position and performance, business model and strategy; or 

 • the section of the Annual Report describing the work of the 
Audit Committee does not appropriately address matters 
communicated by us to the Audit Committee.

We are required to report to you if the Governance Statement 
does not properly disclose a departure from the eleven 
provisions of the UK Corporate Governance Code specified 
by the Listing Rules for our review. 

We have nothing to report in these respects. 

108

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20176   We have nothing to report on the other 

matters on which we are required to report 
by exception 

Under the Companies Act 2006, we are required to report 
to you if, in our opinion:

 • adequate accounting records have not been kept by the 
parent Company, or returns adequate for our audit have 
not been received from branches not visited by us; or 

 • the parent Company financial statements and the part of 

the Remuneration Committee Report to be audited are not 
in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or 

 • certain disclosures of Directors’ remuneration specified by 

law are not made; or 

 • we have not received all the information and explanations 

we require for our audit. 

We have nothing to report in these respects.

7   Respective responsibilities
Directors’ responsibilities
As explained more fully in their statement set out on 
page 103, the Directors are responsible for: the preparation of 
the financial statements including being satisfied that they give 
a true and fair view; such internal control as they determine 
is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements 
that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud 
or error; assessing the Group and parent Company’s ability to 
continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters 
related to going concern; and using the going concern basis of 
accounting unless they either intend to liquidate the Group or 
the parent Company or to cease operations, or have no realistic 
alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about 
whether the financial statements as a whole are free 
from material misstatement, whether due to fraud, other 
irregularities, or error, and to issue our opinion in an auditor’s 
report. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but 
does not guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance 
with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when 
it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud, other irregularities 
or error and are considered material if, individually or in 
aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the 
economic decisions of users taken on the basis of the financial 
statements. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement 
resulting from fraud or other irregularities is higher than for 
one resulting from error, as they may involve collusion, forgery, 
intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of 
internal control and may involve any area of law and regulation 
not just those directly affecting the financial statements.

A fuller description of our responsibilities is provided on 
the FRC’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities.

Irregularities – ability to detect
We identified areas of laws and regulations that could 
reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the 
financial statements from our sector experience, through 
discussion with the directors and other management 
(as required by auditing standards).

We had regard to laws and regulations in areas that directly 
affect the financial statements including financial reporting 
(including related company legislation) and taxation legislation. 
We considered the extent of compliance with those laws and 
regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial 
statements items. 

In addition we considered the impact of laws and regulations 
in the specific areas of anti-bribery recognising the nature 
of the Group’s activities. With the exception of any known 
or possible non-compliance, and as required by auditing 
standards, our work in respect of these was limited to enquiry 
of the Directors and other management and inspection of 
regulatory and legal correspondence. We considered the effect 
of any known or possible non-compliance in these areas as part 
of our procedures on the related financial statements items. 

We communicated identified laws and regulations 
throughout our team and remained alert to any indications 
of non-compliance throughout the audit. This included 
communication from the Group to component audit teams 
of relevant laws and regulations identified at Group level, with 
a request to report on any indications of potential existence 
of non-compliance with relevant laws and regulations 
(irregularities) in these areas, or other areas directly identified 
by the component team.

As with any audit, there remained a higher risk of 
non-detection of non-compliance with relevant laws and 
regulations (irregularities, as these may involve collusion, 
forgery, intentional omissions), misrepresentations, or the 
override of internal controls.

8   The purpose of our audit work and to whom 

we owe our responsibilities

This report is made solely to the Company’s members, as a 
body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies 
Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we 
might state to the Company’s members those matters we 
are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no 
other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do 
not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the 
Company and the Company’s members, as a body, for our 
audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. 

John Luke

(Senior Statutory Auditor) 
for and on behalf of KPMG LLP, Statutory Auditor 
Chartered Accountants 
319 St Vincent Street 
Glasgow 
G2 5AS

6 March 2018

109

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONFINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017G R O U P   I N C O M E   S T A T E M E N T

For the year ended 31 December 2017

Revenue

Cost of sales

Gross profit
Distribution costs

Administrative expenses

Other income

Operating profit
Net finance costs

– Finance cost

– Finance income

Profit before taxation
Taxation

Profit for the year

Total before 
exceptional 
items  
2017 
 £ million

Exceptional 
items  
(Note 7) 
2017 
£ million

1,730

(805)

925

(481)

(219)

4

229

(36)

2

195

(57)

138

–

(5)

(5)

(12)

(23)

(1)

(41)

–

–

(41)

9

(32)

Notes

4

2

4

9

5

10

All profit for the year is attributable to the owners of the Company.

Basic earnings per share (pence)

Diluted earnings per share (pence)

12

12

G R O U P   S T A T E M E N T   O F   C O M P R E H E N S I V E   I N C O M E

For the year ended 31 December 2017

Profit for the year

Other comprehensive income/(loss)
Items that will not be reclassified to profit or loss

Remeasurement of retirement benefits

Taxation on remeasurement of retirement benefits

Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss

Cash flow hedges

Taxation on cash flow hedges

PDVSA private placement notes: net change in fair value

Net exchange (losses)/gains offset in reserves

Other comprehensive (loss)/gain for the year (net of tax)

Total comprehensive income for the year

Total before
exceptional
items
2016
£ million
1,515

Exceptional
items
(Note 7)
2016
£ million
–

2017 
£ million

1,730

2016 
£ million
1,515

(810)

920

(493)

(242)

3

188

(36)

2

154

(48)

106

41.54

41.51

(664)

851

(430)

(182)

9

248

(29)

2

221

(63)

158

(30)

(30)

–

(19)

–

(49)

–

–

(49)

16

(33)

(694)

821

(430)

(201)

9

199

(29)

2

172

(47)

125

48.88

48.86

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

106

125

5

(1)

3

(1)

(4)

(98)

(96)

10

(29)

5

1

–

–

220

197

322

110

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017G R O U P   B A L A N C E   S H E E T   ( C O M P A N Y   N U M B E R :   S C17 7 5 5 3)

As at 31 December 2017

Non-current assets
Goodwill

Other intangible assets

Property, plant and equipment

Deferred tax asset

Current assets
Inventories

Trade and other receivables

Cash and cash equivalents

Derivative financial instruments

Current tax assets

Total assets

Current liabilities
Borrowings

Derivative financial instruments

Trade and other payables

Current tax liabilities

Provisions

Non-current liabilities
Borrowings

Derivative financial instruments

Deferred tax liabilities

Retirement benefit obligation

Total liabilities
Net assets

Shareholders’ equity
Share capital

Share premium

Treasury shares

Capital redemption reserve

Hedging reserve (net of deferred tax)

Foreign exchange reserve

Retained earnings

Total Shareholders’ equity

Notes

2017  
£ million

2016  
£ million

13

31.A2

15

22

16

17

3

31.A4

18

31.A4

20

21

18

31.A4

22

31.A5

23

24

184

31

1,214

42

1,471

232

770

71

–

23

1,096

2,567

(139)

(1)

(408)

(61)

(8)

(617)

(584)

(2)

(22)

(25)

(633)

(1,250)

1,317

42

20

(7)

13

(1)

(27)

1,277

1,317

159

24

1,309

51

1,543

247

656

44

1

20

968

2,511

(60)

(2)

(299)

(58)

(1)

(420)

(633)

(5)

(55)

(30)

(723)

(1,143)

1,368

42

20

(14)

13

(3)

71

1,239

1,368

The financial statements on pages 110 to 153 were approved by the Board of Directors on 6 March 2018 and signed on its behalf by:

K Hanna 
Chairman 

H Drewett
Chief Financial Officer

111

BUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONG R O U P   C A S H   F L O W   S T A T E M E N T

For the year ended 31 December 2017

Operating activities
Profit for the year

Adjustments for:

Exceptional items

Exceptional – impairment charge

Tax

Depreciation

Amortisation of intangibles

Finance income

Finance cost

Profit on sale of property, plant and equipment (PPE) (i)

Share-based payments (ii)

Negative goodwill on acquisition

Changes in working capital (excluding the effects of exchange differences on consolidation):

Increase in inventories

Increase in trade and other receivables

Increase/(decrease) in trade and other payables

Cash flows relating to exceptional items

Cash generated from operations

Tax paid

Interest received

Interest paid

Net cash generated from operating activities

Cash flows from investing activities
Acquisitions (net of cash acquired)

Acquisitions: repayment of loans and financing

Purchases of PPE

Purchase of other intangible assets

Proceeds from sale of PPE

Net cash used in investing activities

Cash flows from financing activities
Increase in long-term loans

Repayment of long-term loans

Increase in short-term loans

Repayment of short-term loans

Dividends paid to Shareholders

Purchase of treasury shares

Net cash from/(used in) financing activities

Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year

Exchange (loss)/gain on cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents at end of the year

(i)  Loss on disposal of £1 million is included in exceptional items.

Notes

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

106

41

–

48

296

4

(2)

36

(4)

8

(2)

(1)

(163)

113

(30)

450

(69)

2

(36)

347

(55)

(18)

(272)

(5)

14

(336)

905

(826)

21

(6)

(69)

–

25

36

25

(2)

59

125

19

30

47

281

4

(2)

29

(9)

6

–

(21)

(81)

(17)

(23)

388

(64)

2

(28)

298

(22)

–

(263)

(5)

23

(267)

393

(373)

18

–

(69)

(8)

(39)

(8)

32

1

25

7

7

2

29

29

29

2

3

(ii) This relates to employee share awards within the statement of changes in equity. In 2016 there was also £2 million included as exceptional items.

112

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017R E C O N C I L I A T I O N   O F   N E T   C A S H   F L O W   T O   M O V E M E N T   I N   N E T   D E B T

For the year ended 31 December 2017

Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

Change arising from acquisitions

Other changes

Changes in net debt arising from cash flows

Exchange gain/(loss)

Movement in net debt in year

Net debt at beginning of year

Net debt at end of year

Notes

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

36

(73)

(21)

(58)

55

(3)

(649)

(652)

(8)

(22)

(16)

(46)

(114)

(160)

(489)

(649)

18

113

BUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONG R O U P   S T A T E M E N T   O F   C H A N G E S   I N   E Q U I T Y

For the year ended 31 December 2017

As at 31 December 2017

Balance at 1 January 2017

Profit for the year

Other comprehensive  
(loss)/income: 

Fair value gains on interest  
rate swaps (net of tax)

PDVSA private placement 
notes: net change in fair value

Currency translation 
differences (i)

Remeasurement of retirement 
benefits (net of tax)

Total comprehensive  
income for the year ended 
31 December 2017

Transactions with owners: 

Employee share awards

Issue of Ordinary Shares  
to employees under share  
option schemes

Dividends paid during 2017

11

Notes

Ordinary 
share 
capital  
£ million

Share 
premium 
account  
£ million

42

–

20

–

Attributable to equity holders of the Company

Treasury 
shares  
£ million
(14)

Capital 
redemption 
reserve  
£ million
13

Hedging 
reserve  
£ million
(3)

Foreign 
exchange 
reserve 
(translation) 
£ million
71

Retained 
earnings  
£ million
1,239

Total  
equity  
£ million
1,368

106

106

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

7

–

7

(7)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

2

–

–

–

2

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

(98)

–

–

(4)

–

4

(98)

106

–

–

–

–

8

(7)

(69)

(68)

2

(4)

(98)

4

10

8

–

(69)

(61)

1,317

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Balance at 31 December 2017

42

20

13

(1)

(27)

1,277

(i)  Included in currency translation differences of the Group are exchange gains of £55 million arising on borrowings denominated in foreign currencies designated as 

hedges of net investments overseas, and exchange losses of £153 million relating to the translation of overseas results and net assets. The currency translation difference 
is explained in the Financial Review on page 43.

114

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017As at 31 December 2016

Balance at 1 January 2016

Profit for the year

Other comprehensive  
(loss)/income: 

Transfers from hedging 
reserve to fixed assets

Fair value gains on foreign 
currency cash flow hedge

Fair value gains on interest  
rate swaps

Currency translation 
differences (i)

Remeasurement of retirement 
benefits (net of tax)

Total comprehensive  
income for the year ended 
31 December 2016

Transactions with owners: 

Purchase of treasury shares

Employee share awards

Issue of Ordinary Shares  
to employees under share  
option schemes

Dividends paid during 2016

Ordinary 
share 
capital  
£ million

Share 
premium 
account  
£ million

42

–

20

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Balance at 31 December 2016

42

20

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

(8)

–

3

–

(5)

(14)

Attributable to equity holders of the Company

Treasury 
shares  
£ million
(9)

Capital 
redemption 
reserve  
£ million
13

Hedging 
reserve  
£ million
(4)

Foreign 
exchange 
reserve 
(translation) 
£ million
(149)

Retained 
earnings  
£ million
1,202

Total  
equity  
£ million
1,115

125

125

–

–

–

–

(3)

3

1

220

–

–

–

–

220

–

(24)

(24)

220

101

322

–

–

–

–

–

–

8

(3)

(69)

(64)

(8)

8

–

(69)

(69)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

(3)

3

1

–

–

1

–

–

–

–

–

13

(3)

71

1,239

1,368

(i)  Included in currency translation differences of the Group are exchange losses of £117 million arising on borrowings denominated in foreign currencies designated as 

hedges of net investments overseas, and exchange gains of £337 million relating to the translation of overseas results and net assets.

115

BUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONN O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S

For the year ended 31 December 2017

1 Accounting policies
The Company is a public limited company which is listed 
on the London Stock Exchange and is incorporated and 
domiciled in the UK. The address of the registered office 
is 120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JS, UK.

The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation 
of these consolidated financial statements are set out below. 
These policies have been consistently applied to all years 
presented, unless otherwise stated.

Basis of preparation
The Group financial statements have been prepared in 
accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards 
as adopted by the European Union (EU IFRS), IFRIC 
interpretations and the Companies Act 2006 applicable to 
companies reporting under EU IFRS. The financial statements 
have been prepared under the historical cost convention, 
as modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and 
financial liabilities (including derivative instruments) at fair value.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with 
EU IFRS requires the use of estimates and assumptions that 
affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the 
date of the financial statements and the reported amounts 
of the revenues and expenses during the reporting period. 
Although these estimates are based on management’s best 
knowledge of the amount, event or actions, actual results 
ultimately may differ from those estimates.

Adjusted measures
The Directors assess the performance of the Group and its  
reportable segments based on ‘adjusted measures’. These  
measures are used for internal performance management and 
are believed to be most appropriate for explaining underlying 
performance to users of the accounts including Shareholders 
of the Company and other stakeholders. The adjusted measures 
in relation to profit exclude exceptional items. These exceptional 
items are explained on pages 118 and 126. In comparing 
performance year on year we also exclude the impact of 
currency and pass-through fuel. The Group reports separately 
fuel revenue from contracts in our Power Solutions Utility 
business in Brazil and Mozambique where we manage fuel on 
a pass-through basis on behalf of our customers. The reason for 
the separate reporting is that fuel revenue on these contracts 
is entirely dependent on fuel prices and volumes of fuel 
consumed, and these can be volatile and may distort the view 
of the performance of the underlying business. It is worth noting 
that in our Power Solutions Utility business, there has been 
significant repricing and some off-hires of contracts we have 
held in Argentina since 2008. We will make clear the impact 
of these contracts where appropriate.

Going concern
The Directors are confident that it is appropriate for the 
going concern basis to be adopted in preparing the financial 
statements. The Group balance sheet shows consolidated net 
assets of £1,317 million (2016: £1,368 million) of which £1,104 million 
(2016: £1,203 million) relate to fleet assets. The defined benefit 
pension deficit is £25 million (2016: £30 million) representing 
only 2% of the Group’s net assets. The retained earnings of 
the Company as at 31 December 2017 are £428 million and 
the majority of these earnings are distributable, enabling 
the Company to continue making dividend payments. 
While the net debt increased slightly in the year to £652 million 
(2016: £649 million), there was headroom under our committed 
facilities of £624 million at the year end. More detail is contained 
on page 122 on liquidity, funding and capital management.

Changes in accounting policy and disclosures
(a) New and amended standards adopted by the Group
There are no new IFRSs or IFRICs that are effective for the 
first time this year that have a material impact on the Group.

(b) New standards, amendments and interpretations 
issued but not effective for the financial year beginning 
1 January 2017 and not early adopted

IFRS 15, ‘Revenue from contracts with customers’ 
This standard deals with revenue recognition and establishes 
principles for reporting useful information to users of financial 
statements about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty 
of revenue and cash flows arising from an entity’s contracts 
with customers. Revenue is recognised in accordance with 
the five step model included in IFRS 15 which specifies that 
revenue should be recognised when (or as) an entity transfers 
control of goods or services to a customer at an amount to 
which the entity expects to be entitled. The standard replaces 
IAS 18 ‘Revenue’ and IAS 11 ‘Construction contracts’ and related 
interpretations. The standard is effective for annual periods 
beginning on or after 1 January 2018. The Group has completed 
its assessment of the impact of this standard and intends to 
adopt the partial retrospective method of adoption. This means 
that for the June 2018 Interim Accounts and the 2018 Annual 
Report we will restate the 2017 comparative numbers to take 
account of IFRS 15. The partial retrospective method allows 
certain exemptions with Aggreko taking the exemption 
not to restate for contract extensions before 1 January 2018. 
The main changes from adopting IFRS 15 are detailed below.

Mobilisation and demobilisation
Mobilisation costs are classified as fulfilment costs where they 
are separately identifiable and specific to a particular project 
and where the mobilisation does not itself form a separate 
performance obligation. In these circumstances, mobilisation 
costs are capitalised as they relate to future performance 
obligations, i.e. the provision of power is the future performance 
obligation, which begins when the power starts to be generated. 
During the phase of mobilisation this service has not yet started 
and as such represents a future performance obligation. 
The costs incurred during mobilisation are directly related to the 
contract and enable Aggreko to earn revenue from the provision 
of power. They are expected to be recovered because the 
contract is profitable although these will be reviewed carefully 
for any indication of impairment.

With respect to demobilisation costs the Group has a legal 
obligation to incur demobilisation costs once the assets are 
installed on site, as this is required by the contract. This creates 
a legal obligation from a past event. The majority of these costs 
can be measured reliably and therefore they meet the definition 
of a provision. These costs are capitalised as a fulfilment 
cost asset as they are incurred in relation to a performance 
obligation (delivering power) and are expected to be recovered 
and generate or enhance resources because they facilitate 
Aggreko’s delivery of the contract.

The fulfilment costs (mobilisation and demobilisation costs) 
will be amortised to the income statement over the period 
of the initial contract. The amortisation starts when we start to 
earn revenue and stops when the initial contract period stops. 
If there is a signed extension, the unamortised amount left in 
the balance sheet when the extension is signed can then be 
amortised over the remaining period of the initial contract and 
the extension period (for demobilisation costs there only needs 
to be a high probability of an extension). In contracts, where 
mobilisation and demobilisation income timing is specifically 
stipulated in the contract in order to match the timing of 
associated costs, then this income will now be recognised 
during the period of provision of power.

116

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20171 Accounting policies continued
The impact on 2017 would be:

Mobilisation/demobilisation costs
The income statement charge under IFRS 15 would be £5 million 
higher in 2017 than compared to current accounting. 

On 1 January 2017 a fulfilment asset of £16 million will be booked 
(split between current and non-current), a demobilisation 
provision of £11 million will be booked and the balance of 
£5 million will be credited to the retained earnings reserve. 
The movement in the fulfilment assets and demobilisation 
provision during 2017 is summarised below: 

Fulfilment  
asset 
£m

Demobilisation 
provision 
£m

Balance at 1 January 2017

Capitalised in year

Provision created for future 
mobilisation costs

Amortised to income statement

Utilised

Balance at 31 December 2017

16

12

2

(20)

–

10

(11)

–

(2)

–

3

(10)

Note: The amortisation cost would be booked in cost of sales.

Mobilisation/demobilisation revenue
If there is a separate mobilisation/demobilisation clause in the 
contract, then revenue is now recognised over the length of the 
contract instead of taken as incurred. Under IFRS 15 accounting 
this would lead to revenue of £3 million against current 
accounting revenue of £1 million therefore a £2 million upside. 
The movement in the deferred revenue account for 2017 is 
summarised below:

Balance at 1 January 2017

Deferred in year

Released to income statement

Balance at 31 December 2017

Deferred revenue 
£m

(4)

(1)

3

(2)

Therefore in total IFRS 15 would decrease profit before tax by 
£3 million as revenue would be £2 million higher and costs 
would be £5 million higher.

Rehire arrangements (Principal vs. Agent)
Aggreko will sometimes hire equipment from a third party to 
use on a contract. Under current accounting the revenue and 
cost associated with this item is accounted for separately as 
Aggreko is the principal. Under IFRS 15 Aggreko is acting as 
an agent rather than principal in this instance mainly because 
Aggreko does not control the provision of the service due to 
factors such as the fact that the third party is still responsible 
for repairs to the equipment. Under IFRS 15 the cost of the rehire 
is netted against revenue. The impact of this in 2017 would be 
to reduce revenue and cost of sales by £34 million. There is no 
impact on operating profit.

Other points that do not have a material impact
 • Contracts which have a separate clause stating items 

retained by the customer at the end of the contract: Where 
elements of the previously supplied performance obligation 
are retained by the customer at the end of the contract, 
these may represent separate performance obligations 
because they provide a benefit that is not solely an input 
to the performance obligation of provision of power. If this 
is the case then timing of revenue for these elements may 
be different from provision of power. Currently there is no 
material impact on the Group from this but we will continue 
to monitor going forward.

 • Potential penalties on contracts: IFRS 15 requires variable 
considerations to be estimated and then included in the 
transaction price only to the extent it is highly probable it 
will not be subject to significant reversal when the uncertainty 
is resolved. The main impact to Aggreko could potentially 
be penalties, however on inception, given the assumption as 
the Group enters each contract that it will fulfil performance 
obligations, the likely impact of contract penalties are such 
that we would expect no obvious restrictions in recognising 
variable revenue. This will need to be revisited throughout 
the term of the contract.

IFRS 9 ‘Financial instruments’
IFRS 9, ‘Financial instruments’ addresses the classification, 
measurement and recognition of financial assets and liabilities. 
The standard is effective for accounting periods beginning on 
or after 1 January 2018. The Group has completed its assessment 
of the impact of this standard and this standard does not have 
a material impact on the Group.

Impact of applying IFRS 9
The main changes from implementing IFRS 9 are:

 • Receivables (including accrued revenue) are now required 
to have an immediate impairment provision to reflect the 
possibility of future default or non-collectability (‘expected 
credit loss model’). Previously provisions were not permitted 
until deterioration in collectability had occurred.

 • IFRS 9 allows a practical expedient to use a provision matrix 
to simplify the calculation where accounts receivable are 
split into various risk categories (e.g. based on Credit Rating 
Agencies) and then a percentage is applied to each category 
to obtain the impairment allowances. 

 • There will be no material changes relating to derivatives, 
however we will defer implementation until the macro 
hedging requirements are finalised.

 • PDVSA private placement notes: In September 2016 the 

Group signed £14 million of private placement notes with 
one customer in Venezuela (PDVSA) to progress clearing the 
overdue debt. This resulted in a financial instrument which 
replaced the net trade receivable balance. The financial 
instrument was booked at fair value which reflected our 
estimation of the recoverability of these notes. This fair value 
at 31 December 2017 was £4 million. This financial instrument 
was included in other receivables. Under current accounting 
the change in fair value of these notes is reflected in the 
statement of changes in equity however under IFRS 9  
the changes in the fair value will be reflected in the 
income statement.

117

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

1 Accounting policies continued
IFRS 16 ‘Leases’
IFRS 16 applies to annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 
2019 and requires lessees to recognise all leases on balance 
sheet with limited exemptions for short-term leases and low 
value lease (<$5,000). This will result in the recognition of a 
right-to-use asset and corresponding liability on balance sheet, 
with the associated depreciation and interest expense being 
recorded in the income statement over the lease period. 
The Group has completed its initial impact assessment of this 
standard. This initial impact assessment has been calculated 
by reviewing a sample of leases (circa 35% of total lease 
commitment value) and then applying this to the full population 
of leases. Based on this initial impact assessment the expected 
impact of applying IFRS 16 in its first full year of application is 
detailed below.

Revenue recognition
Revenue for the Group represents the amounts earned from 
the supply of temporary power, temperature control, oil-free 
compressed air and related services and excludes sales taxes 
and intra-Group revenue. Revenue can comprise a fixed rental 
charge and a variable charge related to the usage of assets or 
other services (including pass-through fuel). The Group earns 
a fixed charge on certain contracts by providing agreed levels 
of power generation capacity to the customer and this is 
recognised when availability criteria in the contract are met. 
Variable charges are earned as the Group provides power or 
rental and associated services in accordance with contractual 
arrangements and are recognised as the power is produced 
or the service is provided. Revenue is accrued or deferred at 
the balance sheet date depending on the period covered by 
the most recent invoice issued and the contractual terms.

 • The total annual income statement charge is expected to 

increase by circa £1 million. 

 • EBITDA is expected to increase by around £30 to £40 million 

as the expense is now depreciation and interest.

 • The total income statement charge over the life of the leases 

is unchanged – the difference under IFRS 16 is a ‘front-loading’ 
of the recognition of the charge.

 • Recognition of a right-of-use asset of circa £60 million and a 

lease liability of circa £60 million with no impact on net assets.

During 2018 the Group will complete its assessment of this 
standard and will concentrate on the following key judgements:

 • Review all leases to see if any are in substance a service 

agreement (and outside scope of standard) and how many 
are leases.

 • Review all leases to see if any are short term (<12 months) 

and low value (<$5,000) and hence exempt from standards.

 • Identify leases with variable lease payments.

Basis of consolidation
The Group financial statements consolidate the financial 
statements of Aggreko plc and all its subsidiaries for the year 
ended 31 December 2017. Subsidiaries are those entities over 
which the Group has control. The Group controls an entity when 
the Group is exposed to, or has rights to, variable returns through 
its power over the entity. Subsidiaries are fully consolidated from 
the date on which control is transferred to the Group. They are 
deconsolidated from the date that control ceases.

The Group uses the acquisition method of accounting for 
business combinations. The consideration transferred for 
the acquisition of a subsidiary is the fair value of the assets 
transferred, the liabilities incurred and the equity interests 
issued by the Group. The consideration transferred includes 
the fair value of any asset or liability resulting from a contingent 
consideration arrangement. Acquisition related costs are 
expensed as incurred. Identifiable assets and liabilities and 
contingent liabilities assumed in a business combination are 
measured initially at their fair values at the acquisition date.

Inter-company transactions, balances and unrealised gains 
on transactions between Group companies are eliminated. 
Unrealised losses are also eliminated. Accounting policies of 
subsidiaries have been changed where necessary to ensure 
consistency with the policies adopted by the Group.

If contracts do not contain specific clauses for mobilisation and 
demobilisation costs then mobilisation costs are recognised as 
incurred as equipment is mobilised before power is produced 
and demobilisation costs are recognised as incurred at the 
end of the contract. If contracts contain a specific clause for 
mobilisation and demobilisation then the revenue and costs 
are matched.

Contracts performed by the Younicos business to develop 
software or control systems and construct energy storage 
systems are treated as construction contracts in accordance 
with IAS 11. Where the outcome of a contract can be measured 
reliably, contract revenue and costs are recognised over the  
period of the contract by reference to the value of work done  
at the balance sheet date with reference to third-party 
certification where available. Where the outcome of a contract 
cannot be reliably estimated, contract costs are recognised 
as an expense when incurred and revenue is only recognised 
to the extent of the contract costs incurred that it is probable 
will be recoverable. In both cases, any expected contract loss 
is recognised immediately.

Segmental reporting
Operating segments are reported in a manner consistent with 
the internal reporting provided to the chief operating decision 
maker. The chief operating decision maker has been identified 
as the plc Board of Directors.

Aggreko has two business units: Rental Solutions and Power 
Solutions. Within Power Solutions we serve both Utility and 
Industrial customers. Aggreko therefore has three segments 
comprising: Rental Solutions, Power Solutions – Industrial and 
Power Solutions – Utility. A description of these business units 
is contained on page 7. This is reflected by the Group’s divisional 
management and organisational structure and the Group’s 
internal financial reporting systems.

Central administrative costs are allocated between segments 
based on revenue.

Exceptional items
Exceptional items are items which individually or if of a 
similar type, in aggregate, need to be disclosed by virtue of 
their size or incidence if the financial statements are to be 
properly understood. To monitor our financial performance 
we use a profit measure that excludes exceptional items. 
We exclude these items because, if included, these items 
could distort understanding of our performance for the year 
and comparability between periods. The income statement 
has been presented in a columnar format, which separately 
highlights exceptional items. This is intended to enable users 
of the financial statements to determine more readily the 
impact of exceptional items on the results of the Group.

These costs are explained in Note 7 to the Accounts.

118

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20171 Accounting policies continued
Property, plant and equipment
Property, plant and equipment is carried at cost less 
accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. Cost  
includes purchase price, and directly attributable costs of 
bringing the asset into the location and condition where it 
is capable for use. Borrowing costs are not capitalised since 
the assets are assembled over a short period of time.

Freehold properties are depreciated on a straight-line basis 
over 25 years. Short leasehold properties are depreciated 
on a straight-line basis over the terms of each lease.

Other property, plant and equipment are depreciated on 
a straight-line basis at annual rates estimated to write off 
the cost of each asset over its useful life from the date it is 
available for use. Assets in the course of construction are not 
depreciated. Non-rental fleet assets which are contract specific 
are depreciated over the life of the contract. The periods of 
depreciation are reviewed on an annual basis and the principal 
periods used are as follows:

Rental fleet 
Vehicles, plant and equipment 

8 to 12 years 
4 to 15 years

Intangibles
Intangible assets acquired as part of a business combination 
are capitalised, separately from goodwill, at fair value at the 
date of acquisition if the asset is separable or arises from 
contractual or legal rights and its fair value can be measured 
reliably. Amortisation is calculated on a straight-line method 
to allocate the fair value at acquisition of each asset over 
their estimated useful lives as follows: customer relationships: 
5-10 years, non-compete agreements: over the life of the 
non-compete agreements, Technology intangible assets 
acquired: four years.

The useful life of intangible assets is reviewed on an 
annual basis.

Goodwill
On the acquisition of a business, fair values are attributed to 
the net assets acquired. Goodwill arises where the fair value 
of the consideration given for a business exceeds the fair value 
of such assets. Goodwill arising on acquisitions is capitalised 
and is subject to impairment reviews, both annually and 
when there are indicators that the carrying value may not 
be recoverable.

For the purpose of the impairment testing, goodwill is 
allocated to each of the Group’s cash-generating units 
expected to benefit from the synergies of the combination. 
Cash-generating units to which goodwill has been allocated 
are tested for impairment annually, or more frequently when 
there is an indication that the unit may be impaired. If the 
recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit is less than 
the carrying amount of the unit, then the impairment loss is 
allocated first to reduce the carrying amount of any goodwill 
allocated to the unit and then to the other assets of the unit 
pro-rata on the basis of the carrying amount of each asset 
in the unit.

An impairment loss recognised for goodwill is not reversed in 
a subsequent period. Any impairment of goodwill is recognised 
immediately in the income statement.

Research and development costs
All research expenditure is charged to the income statement 
in the period in which it is incurred.

Development expenditure is charged to the income statement 
in the period in which it is incurred unless it relates to the 
development of a new product or technology and it is incurred 
after the technical feasibility and commercial viability of the 
product has been proven, the development cost can be 
measured reliably, future economic benefits are probable and 
the Group intends, and has sufficient resources to complete the 
development and to use or sell the assets. Any such capitalised 
development expenditure is amortised on a straight-line 
basis so that it is charged to the income statement over the 
expected useful life of the resulting product or technology, 
which is currently deemed to be between three to six years.

Impairment of property, plant and equipment  
and other intangible assets (excluding goodwill)
Property, plant and equipment and other intangible assets 
are amortised/depreciated and reviewed for impairment 
whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that 
the carrying amount may not be recoverable. An impairment 
loss is recognised for the amount by which the asset’s carrying 
amount exceeds its recoverable amount. The recoverable 
amount is the higher of an asset’s fair value less costs to sell and 
value in use. Value in use is calculated using estimated cash 
flows. These are discounted using an appropriate long-term 
pre-tax interest rate. For the purposes of assessing impairment, 
assets are grouped at the lowest levels for which there are 
separately identifiable cash flows (cash-generating units).

Foreign currencies
Items included in the financial statements for each of the 
Group’s entities are measured using the currency of the 
primary economic environment in which the entity operates 
(functional currency). The Group’s consolidated financial 
statements are presented in Sterling, which is the Group’s 
presentational currency.

At individual Company level, transactions denominated in 
foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange on the 
day the transaction occurs. Assets and liabilities denominated in 
foreign currency are translated at the exchange rate ruling at the 
balance sheet date. Non-monetary assets are translated at the 
historical rate. In order to hedge its exposure to certain foreign 
exchange risks, the Group enters into forward contracts and 
foreign currency options.

On consolidation, assets and liabilities of subsidiary 
undertakings are translated into Sterling at closing rates of 
exchange. Income and cash flow statements are translated 
at average rates of exchange for the period. Gains and losses 
from the settlement of transactions and gains and losses on 
the translation of monetary assets and liabilities denominated 
in other currencies are included in the income statement.

119

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

1 Accounting policies continued
Taxation
Deferred tax
Deferred tax is provided in full, using the liability method, on 
temporary differences arising between the tax base of assets 
and liabilities and their carrying amounts in the financial 
statements. In principle, deferred tax liabilities are recognised 
for all taxable temporary differences and deferred tax assets are 
recognised to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits 
will be available against which deductible temporary differences 
can be utilised. Such assets and liabilities are not recognised if 
the temporary difference arises from goodwill, negative goodwill 
nor from the acquisition of an asset, which does not affect either 
taxable or accounting income. Deferred tax is determined using 
tax rates (and laws) that have been enacted or substantively 
enacted by the balance sheet date and are expected to apply 
when the related deferred tax asset is realised or the deferred 
tax liability is settled. Deferred tax is charged or credited in the 
income statement, except when it relates to items credited or 
charged directly to equity, in which case the deferred tax is also 
dealt with in equity.

Deferred tax is provided on temporary differences arising on 
investments in subsidiaries, except where the timing of the 
reversal of the temporary difference is controlled by the Group 
and it is probable that the temporary difference will not reverse 
in the foreseeable future.

Provision for income taxes, mainly withholding taxes, which 
could arise on the remittance of retained earnings, principally 
relating to subsidiaries, is only made where there is a current 
intention to remit such earnings.

Current tax
The charge for current tax is based on the results for the year 
as adjusted for items, which are non-assessable or disallowed. 
It is calculated using taxation rates that have been enacted 
or substantially enacted by the balance sheet date.

Inventories
Inventories are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable 
value, using the weighted average cost basis. Cost of raw 
materials, consumables and work in progress includes the 
cost of direct materials and, where applicable, direct labour 
and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing 
the inventories to their present location and condition.

Inventory is written down on a case by case basis if the 
anticipated net realisable value declines below the carrying 
amount of the inventories or to take account of inventory 
losses. Net realisable value is the estimated selling price less 
cost to completion and selling expenses. When the reasons 
for a write-down of the inventory have ceased to exist, the 
write-down is reversed.

Employee benefits
Wages, salaries, social security contributions, paid annual leave 
and sick leave, bonuses and non-monetary benefits are accrued 
in the year in which the associated services are rendered by the 
employees of the Group. Where the Group provides long-term 
employee benefits, the cost is accrued to match the rendering 
of the services by the employees concerned.

The Group operates a defined benefit pension scheme and 
a number of defined contribution pension schemes. The cost 
for the year for the defined benefit scheme is determined 
using the Attained Age method with actuarial updates to 
the valuation being carried out at each balance sheet date. 
Remeasurements are recognised in full, directly in retained 
earnings, in the period in which they occur and are shown in 
the statement of comprehensive income. The current service 
cost of the pension charge, interest income on scheme assets, 
interest on pension scheme liabilities and administrative 
expenses are included in arriving at operating profit.

The retirement benefit obligation recognised in the balance 
sheet is the present value of the defined benefit obligation 
at the balance sheet date less the fair value of the scheme 
assets. The present value of the defined benefit obligation is 
determined by discounting the estimated future cash flows 
using interest rates of high-quality corporate bonds.

Contributions to defined contribution pension schemes are 
charged to the income statement in the period in which they 
become chargeable.

Trade receivables
Trade receivables are recognised initially at fair value (which is 
the same as cost). An impairment is recorded for the difference 
between the carrying amount and the recoverable amount 
where there is objective evidence that the Group will not be 
able to collect all amounts due. Significant financial difficulties 
of the debtor, probability that the debtor will enter bankruptcy 
or financial reorganisation and default, or large and old 
outstanding balances, particularly in countries where the legal 
system is not easily used to enforce recovery, are considered 
indicators that the trade receivable is impaired. When a trade 
receivable is uncollectable it is written off against the provision 
for impairment of trade receivables. More detail is contained 
on page 121.

Trade payables
Trade payables are recognised initially at fair value (which is the 
same as cost).

Provisions
Provisions are recognised where a legal or constructive obligation 
has been incurred which will probably lead to an outflow of 
resources that can be reasonably estimated. Provisions are 
recorded for the estimated ultimate liability that is expected to  
arise, taking into account the time value of money where material.

As at 31 December 2017, provisions totalled £8 million 
(2016: £1 million) and they relate to the Group business 
priorities implementation. The provisions are generally in 
respect of employee severance costs and depot closure costs. 
These provisions are detailed in Note 21.

A contingent liability is disclosed where the existence of the 
obligation will only be confirmed by future events, or where the 
amount of the obligation cannot be measured with reasonable 
reliability. Contingent assets are not recognised, but are 
disclosed where an inflow of economic benefits is probable.

Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand, deposits with 
a maturity of three months or less and short-term overdrafts.

120

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20171 Accounting policies continued
Borrowings
Borrowings are recognised initially at fair value, net of transaction 
costs incurred. Borrowings are subsequently stated at amortised 
cost. Any difference between the proceeds, net of transaction 
costs, and the redemption value is recognised in the income 
statement over the period of the borrowings using the effective 
interest rate.

Key assumptions, estimations and 
significant judgements
The Group uses estimates and makes judgements in the 
preparation of its Accounts. The most sensitive areas affecting 
the Accounts are discussed below.

Trade receivables
The trade receivables accounting policy is on page 120.

The approach to exercising judgement in this area is to consider 
each significant debtor and customer individually, within the 
relevant environment to which it relates, taking into account 
a number of factors. These factors include the political and 
economic conditions in the relevant country, duration and 
quality of relationship with the customer, age of debt, cash 
flows from the customer and any relevant communication 
throughout the year. A review of the provision for bad and 
doubtful debts is performed at each month end and specifically 
at the end of each reporting period. It is an assessment of the 
potential amount of trade receivables which will not be paid by 
the customer after the balance sheet date. This is calculated by 
reference to the factors above as well the information disclosed 
in Note 17 notably the ageing of past due but not impaired.

The management of trade receivables is the responsibility of 
the operating units, although they report monthly to Group on 
debtor days, debtor ageing and significant outstanding debts. 
At an operating unit level a credit rating is normally established 
for each customer based on ratings from external agencies. 
Where no ratings are available, cash in advance payment 
terms are often established for new customers. Credit limits are 
reviewed on a regular basis. The majority of the contracts the 
Group enters into are small relative to the size of the Group and, 
if a customer fails to pay a debt, this is dealt with in the normal 
course of business. However, some of the contracts the Group 
undertakes in developing countries in our Power Solutions Utility 
business are very large, and are in jurisdictions where payment 
practices can be unpredictable. During the year we continued 
to see delays in payments from a handful of customers in 
our Power Solutions Utility business in Africa and Venezuela 
and as a result of this, combined with worsening economic 
conditions in these countries, our bad debt provision increased 
by $23 million in this business unit.

The Group monitors the risk profile and debtor position of all 
such contracts regularly, and deploys a variety of techniques 
to mitigate the risks of delayed or non-payment; these include 
securing advance payments and guarantees. On the largest 
contracts, all such arrangements are approved at Group level. 
Contracts are reviewed on a case by case basis to determine 
the customer and country risk. As a result of the rigorous 
approach to risk management, historically the Group has had 
a low level of bad debt write-offs. The Group does operate 
in countries, especially in our PSU business, where payments 
are unpredictable, where political and economic conditions 
mean that there is a risk of default and that risk can increase 
quickly, and has increased this year as set out above, therefore 
the Group’s history in this area may not be indicative of the 
likely future outcome. When a trade receivable is uncollectable, 
it is written off against the provision for impairment of trade 
receivables. At 31 December 2017, the provision for impairment 
of trade receivables in the balance sheet was £80 million 
(2016: £67 million).

Taxation
Aggreko’s tax charge is based on the profit for the year and the 
applicable tax rates in force at the balance sheet date. As well 
as corporation tax, Aggreko is subject to indirect taxes such 
as sales and employment taxes across the tax jurisdictions in 
which the Group operates. The varying nature and complexity 
of the tax laws requires the Group to review its tax positions 
and make appropriate judgements at the balance sheet date. 
Due to the uncertain nature of the tax environment in many 
of the countries in which we operate, it can take some time 
to settle our tax position. We therefore create appropriate tax 
provisions for significant potential or contentious tax positions 
and these are measured using the most likely outcome method. 
Provisions are considered on an individual basis.

As at 31 December 2017, we had tax provisions totalling 
£31 million of which £29 million is in respect of direct taxes 
and £2 million for indirect taxes (2016: £39 million, £37 million 
for direct and £2 million for indirect taxes). The movement 
in provisions between 2016 and 2017 is principally due to the 
utilisation of a provision in respect of an ongoing matter in 
Bangladesh, which has now been referred to the High Court and 
is likely to take several years to be resolved. Supported by strong 
legal opinion, we believe that we have a robust defence on this 
issue and therefore no further amounts have been provided in 
respect of this matter. The remaining provisions are principally 
held to manage the tax impact of various potential historic 
tax exposures, largely in connection with our Power Solutions 
Utilities business in Africa and Latin America, and potential 
transfer pricing risks faced by the Group with respect to how 
we transact internationally within the business

Due to the uncertainty associated with such tax positions, it is 
possible that at a future date, on conclusion of these open tax 
positions, the final outcome may vary significantly. Whilst a range 
of outcomes is reasonably possible, based on management’s 
historic experience of these issues, we believe a likely range 
of outcomes is additional liabilities of up to £10 million and 
a reduction in liabilities of around £10 million. The range of 
sensitivities depends upon quantification of the liability, risk 
of technical error and difference in approach taken by tax 
authorities in different jurisdictions. In addition, the recognition 
of deferred tax assets is dependent upon an estimation of future 
taxable profits available against which deductible temporary 
differences can be utilised.

Other areas of judgement and consideration
IFRIC 4 ‘Determining whether an arrangement  
constitutes a lease’
The Directors have considered the requirements of IFRIC 4 
‘Determining whether an arrangement constitutes a lease’. 
IFRIC 4 requires that any arrangement that is dependent on 
the use of a specific asset or assets; and that conveys a right 
to use the asset is accounted for as a lease. The Directors have 
concluded that none of the Group’s contracts are dependent 
on the use of a specific asset or assets.

Hyperinflationary environments
The Group operates in Venezuela which is considered 
a hyperinflationary environment. The Group does not 
consider that the provisions of IAS 29 ‘Financial Reporting in 
Hyperinflationary Economies’ apply to the Group’s operations 
in Venezuela as the functional currency of the Venezuelan 
operation is US Dollars.

121

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

The Group monitors its interest rate exposure on a regular 
basis by applying forecast interest rates to the Group’s forecast 
net debt profile after taking into account its existing hedges. 
The Group also calculates the impact on profit and loss of 
a defined interest rate shift for all currencies. Based on the 
simulations performed, the impact on profit or loss of a +/– 100 
basis-point shift, after taking into account existing hedges, 
would be £1 million (2016: £3 million). The sensitivity analysis 
is performed on a monthly basis and is reported to the Board.

Foreign exchange risk
The Group is subject to currency exposure on the translation 
of its net investments in overseas subsidiaries into Sterling. 
In order to reduce the currency risk arising, the Group uses 
direct borrowings in the same currency as those investments. 
Group borrowings are predominantly drawn down in the 
currencies affecting the Group, namely US Dollar, Indonesian 
Rupiah, Mexican Peso, Indian Rupee, Brazilian Real and 
Russian Rouble.

The Group manages its currency flows to minimise foreign 
exchange risk arising on transactions denominated in foreign 
currencies and uses forward contracts where appropriate 
in order to hedge net currency flows.

The positive impact of currency increased our revenues by 
£84 million (2016: £122 million) and operating profit by £9 million 
(2016: £1 million) for the year ended 31 December 2017. The Group 
monitors the impact of exchange closely and regularly carries 
out sensitivity analysis. For every 5% movement in the US Dollar 
to GBP exchange rate there is an approximate impact 
of £4 million (2016: £4 million) in operating profit in terms 
of translation.

Currency translation also gave rise to a £98 million decrease 
in reserves as a result of year on year movements in the 
exchange rates (2016: increase of £220 million). For every 
5% movement in the Dollar, there is an approximate impact 
in equity of £31 million (2016: £25 million) arising from the 
currency translation of external borrowings which are being 
used as a net investment hedge. However, this will be offset by 
a corresponding movement in the equity of the net investment 
being hedged.

The principal exchange rates which impact the Group’s profit 
and net assets are set out in the Financial Review on page 43.

Credit risk
Cash deposits and other financial instruments give rise to 
credit risk on amounts due from counterparties. The Group 
manages this risk by limiting the aggregate amounts and their 
duration depending on external credit ratings of the relevant 
counterparty. In the case of financial assets exposed to credit 
risk, the carrying amount in the balance sheet, net of any 
applicable provisions for loss, represents the amount exposed 
to credit risk.

Management of trade receivables
Refer to page 121.

Insurance
The Group operates a policy of buying cover against the 
material risks which the business faces, where it is possible 
to purchase such cover on reasonable terms. Where this is 
not possible, or where the risks would not have a material 
impact on the Group as a whole, we self-insure.

1 Accounting policies continued

Financial risk management
Financial risk factors
The Group’s operations expose it to a variety of financial risks 
that include liquidity, the effects of changes in foreign currency 
exchange rates, interest rates and credit risk. The Group has a 
centralised treasury operation whose primary role is to ensure 
that adequate liquidity is available to meet the Group’s funding 
requirements as they arise, and that financial risk arising from 
the Group’s underlying operations is effectively identified 
and managed.

The treasury operations are conducted in accordance with 
policies and procedures approved by the Board and are 
reviewed annually. Financial instruments are only executed 
for hedging purposes and transactions that are speculative in 
nature are expressly forbidden. Monthly reports are provided 
to senior management and treasury operations are subject to 
periodic internal and external review.

Liquidity, funding and capital management
The intention of Aggreko’s strategy is to deliver long-term 
value to its Shareholders whilst maintaining a balance sheet 
structure that safeguards the Group’s financial position through 
economic cycles. Total capital is equity as shown in the Group 
balance sheet.

Given the proven ability of the business to fund organic growth 
from operating cash flows, and the nature of our business 
model, we believe it is sensible to run the business with a 
modest amount of debt. We say ‘modest’ because we are 
strongly of the view that it is unwise to run a business which 
has high levels of operational gearing with high levels of financial 
gearing. Given the above considerations, we believe that a 
Net Debt to EBITDA ratio of around one times is appropriate for 
the Group over the longer term. This is well within our covenants 
to lenders which stand at three times Net Debt to EBITDA.

At the end of 2017, Net Debt to EBITDA was 1.2 times 
(31 December 2016: 1.2 times).

The Group maintains sufficient facilities to meet its normal 
funding requirements over the medium term. At 31 December 
2017, these facilities totalled £1,283 million in the form of 
committed bank facilities arranged on a bilateral basis with 
a number of international banks and private placement notes. 
The financial covenants attached to these facilities are that 
EBITDA should be no less than four times interest and net debt 
should be no more than three times EBITDA; at 31 December 
2017, these stood at 16 times and 1.2 times respectively. 
The Group does not expect to breach these covenants in the 
year from the date of approval of these financial statements. 
The Group expects to be able to arrange sufficient finance to 
meet its future funding requirements. It has been the Group’s 
custom and practice to refinance its facilities in advance of their 
maturity dates, providing that there is an ongoing need for those 
facilities. Net debt amounted to £652 million at 31 December 
2017 and, at that date, undrawn committed facilities were 
£624 million. The maturity profile of the borrowings is detailed 
in Note 18 in the Annual Report and Accounts.

Interest rate risk
The Group’s policy is to manage the exposure to interest rates 
by ensuring an appropriate balance of fixed and floating rates. 
At 31 December 2017, £610 million of the net debt of £652 million 
was at fixed rates of interest resulting in a fixed to floating rate 
net debt ratio of 94:6 (2016: 59:41). The proportion of our debt 
with fixed interest rates is higher than usual at the year end 
ahead of some fixed rate debt maturities in the first half of 2018.

122

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20172 Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment

In the cash flow statement, proceeds from sale of PPE comprise:

Net book amount

Profit on sale of PPE

Proceeds from sale of PPE

Profit on sale of PPE is shown within other income in the income statement.

3 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash at bank and in hand

Short-term bank deposits

Bank overdrafts (Note 18)

Cash and cash equivalents

4 Segmental reporting

(A) Revenue by segment

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Group

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

11

3

14

14

9

23

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

71

–

(12)

59

43

1

(19)

25

External revenue

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

340

670

1,010

720

1,730

262

624

886

629

1,515

(i) 

  Inter-segment transfers or transactions are entered into under the normal commercial terms and conditions that would also be available to unrelated third parties. 
All inter-segment revenue was less than £1 million. 

(B) Profit by segment

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Operating profit pre-exceptional items
Exceptional items (Note 7)

Operating profit post-exceptional items
Finance costs – net

Profit before taxation
Taxation

Profit for the year

Operating profit

2017 
£ million

2016
£ million

55

93

148

81

229

(41)

188

(34)

154

(48)

106

32

164

196

52

248

(49)

199

(27)

172

(47)

125

123

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

4 Segmental reporting continued

(C) Depreciation and amortisation by segment

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Group

Before 
exceptional 
charges
2016 
£ million

Impairment
charges
2016
£ million

2017 
£ million

Total
2016 
£ million

72

132

204

96

300

63

127

190

95

285

–

–

–

30

30

63

127

190

125

315

(D) Capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment and intangible assets by segment

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Group

2017 
£ million

2016
£ million

55

183

238

75

313

43

144

187

94

281

Capital expenditure comprises additions of property, plant and equipment (PPE) of £272 million (2016: £263 million), additions of 
intangible assets of £5 million (2016: £5 million), acquisitions of PPE of £28 million (2016: £10 million), and acquisitions of intangible 
assets of £8 million (2016: £3 million).

(E) Assets/(liabilities) by segment

Assets

Liabilities

2017 
£ million

2016
£ million

2017 
£ million

2016
£ million

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Group
Tax and finance payable

Derivative financial instruments

Borrowings

Retirement benefit obligation

628

1,109

1,737

765

2,502

65

–

–

–

491

1,169

1,660

779

2,439

71

1

–

–

(61)

(263)

(324)

(100)

(424)

(87)

(3)

(711)

(25)

Total assets/(liabilities) per balance sheet

2,567

2,511

(1,250)

(44)

(177)

(221)

(94)

(315)

(117)

(7)

(674)

(30)

(1,143)

124

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20174 Segmental reporting continued

(F) Average number of employees by segment

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Group

(G) Geographical information

North America

UK

Continental Europe

Eurasia

Middle East

Africa

Asia

Auspac

Latin America

Non-current assets exclude deferred tax.

(H) Reconciliation of net operating assets to net assets

Net operating assets

Retirement benefit obligation

Net tax and finance payable

Borrowings and derivative financial instruments

Net assets

5 Profit before taxation
The following items have been included in arriving at profit before taxation:

Staff costs (Note 8)

Cost of inventories recognised as an expense (included in cost of sales)

Depreciation of property, plant and equipment

Impairment of property, plant and equipment

Amortisation of intangibles (included in administrative expenses)

Net gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment

Trade receivables impairment (included in administrative expenses)

Operating lease rentals payable

2017 
Number

2016
Number

1,380

2,083

3,463

2,515

5,978

1,326

2,269

3,595

2,495

6,090

Revenue

Non-current assets

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

391

95

141

86

169

247

168

90

343

337

82

123

41

144

243

164

80

301

253

110

119

70

343

158

149

67

160

1,730

1,515

1,429

286

101

110

61

264

231

130

69

240

1,492

2017 
£ million

2,078

(25)

(22)

2,031

(714)

1,317

2016 
£ million

2,124

(30)

(46)

2,048

(680)

1,368

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

401

112

296

–

4

(3)

25

39

355

91

281

30

4

(9)

5

38

125

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

6 Auditors’ remuneration

Audit services

Fees payable to the Company’s auditor for the audit of the Company’s annual accounts and 
consolidated financial statements

Fees payable to the Company’s auditor and its associates for other services:

– The audit of the Company’s subsidiaries

– Other assurance related services

– Other

– Tax compliance

2017 
£000

2016 
£000

248

941

50

–

9

224

784

72

230

56

(i) 

 In addition to the above services, the Group’s auditors acted as auditor to the Group’s defined benefit pension scheme. The appointment of auditors to this pension 
scheme and the fees paid in respect of the audit and for any other services are agreed by the Trustee of the scheme, who act independently from the management 
of the Group. The aggregate fees paid to the Group’s auditors for audit and non-audit services to the pension scheme during the year were £8k (2016: £8k).

7 Exceptional items
The definition of exceptional items is contained within Note 1 of the 2017 Annual Report and Accounts. An exceptional charge 
of £41 million before tax was recorded in the year to 31 December 2017 (2016: £19 million) in respect of the Group’s Business 
Priorities programme. The costs comprise £22 million of employee related costs (2016: £11 million), £8 million of professional 
fees (2016: £7 million) and £11 million of property related costs (2016: £1 million). The employee costs relate to severance costs 
as well as the costs of employees who are working full time on the business priorities implementation. This exceptional charge 
can be split into Rental Solutions £13 million (2016: £10 million), Power Solutions – Industrial £11 million (2016: £3 million) and 
Power Solutions – Utility £17 million (2016: £6 million). In 2016 there was also an exceptional charge of £30 million relating to 
the impairment of small gas generators used solely in the North American Oil and Gas sector.

8 Employees and Directors
Staff costs for the Group during the year:

Wages and salaries (including severance costs)

Social security costs

Share-based payments

Pension costs – defined contribution plans

Pension costs – defined benefit plans (Note 31.A5)

Full details of Directors’ remuneration are set out in the Remuneration Report on page 76.

The key management comprises Executive and Non-executive Directors.

Short-term employee benefits

Share-based payments

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

345

32

8

13

3

401

306

31

8

8

2

355

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

3

–

3

3

1

4

126

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 20179 Net finance charge

Finance costs on bank loans and overdrafts

Finance income on bank balances and deposits

10 Taxation

Analysis of charge in year

Current tax expense:

– UK corporation tax

– Overseas taxation

Adjustments in respect of prior years:

– UK

– Overseas

Deferred taxation (Note 22):

– Temporary differences arising in current year

– Movements in respect of prior years

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

(36)

2

(34)

(29)

2

(27)

Total before 
exceptional 
items 
2017 
£ million

Exceptional 
items1
(Note 7) 
2017 
£ million

Total before 
exceptional 
items 
2016 
£ million

Exceptional 
items
(Note 7) 
2016 
£ million

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

11

78

89

(2)

(3)

84

(27)

–

57

(2)

(7)

(9)

–

–

(9)

–

–

(9)

9

71

80

(2)

(3)

75

(27)

–

48

7

73

80

–

(8)

72

(13)

4

63

(1)

(4)

(5)

–

–

(5)

(11)

–

(16)

6

69

75

–

(8)

67

(24)

4

47

(i)   Exceptional items are explained in Note 7 and comprise costs of £41 million relating to our Business Priorities programme (2016: £19 million) and £nil relating to asset 

impairment (2016: £30 million). Of these costs, £41 million are tax deductible (2016: £45 million) and result in an exceptional credit of £9 million (2016: £16 million).

The tax (charge)/credit relating to components of other comprehensive income is as follows:

Deferred tax on hedging reserve movements

Deferred tax on retirement benefits

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

(1)

(1)

(2)

–

5

5

127

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

10 Taxation continued
Variances between the current tax charge and the standard 19% UK corporate tax rate when applied to profit on ordinary activities 
for the year are as follows:

Profit before taxation 

Tax calculated at 19% standard UK corporate tax rate

Differences between UK and overseas tax rates

Expenses not tax effected

Income not subject to tax

Impact of deferred tax rate changes to US tax reform

Impact of deferred tax rate changes – non US

Tax on current year profit

Prior year adjustments – current tax

Total tax on profit 

Effective tax rate

Profit before taxation 

Tax calculated at 20% standard UK corporate tax rate

Differences between UK and overseas tax rates

Effect of intra group financing

Expenses not tax effected

Income not subject to tax

Chargeable gains

Impact of deferred tax rate changes

Tax on current year profit

Prior year adjustments – current tax

Prior year adjustments – deferred tax

Total tax on profit 

Total before 
exceptional 
items  
2017  
£ million

Exceptional 
items 
(Note 7) 
2017  
£ million

195

38

30

8

(3)

(10)

(1)

62

(5)

57

(41)

(8)

(1)

–

–

–

–

(9)

–

(9)

2017 
£ million

154

30

29

8

(3)

(10)

(1)

53

(5)

48

29%

23%

31%

Total before 
 exceptional 
 items
2016 
£ million

221

Exceptional 
items
(Note 7) 
2016 
£ million
(49)

2016 
£ million
172

44

24

(2)

4

(3)

2

(2)

67

(8)

4

63

(10)

(7)

–

1

–

–

–

(16)

–

–

(16)

34

17

(2)

5

(3)

2

(2)

51

(8)

4

47

Effective tax rate

28%

32%

28%

128

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201711 Dividends

Final paid

Interim paid

2017 
£ million

2017 
per share (p)

2016 
£ million

2016 
per share (p)

45

24

69

17.74

9.38

27.12

45

24

69

17.74

9.38

27.12

In addition, the Directors are proposing a final dividend in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2017 of 17.74 pence 
per share which will utilise an estimated £45 million of Shareholders’ funds. It will be paid on 22 May 2018 to shareholders who 
are on the register of members on 20 April 2018.

12 Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share have been calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary Shareholders by the weighted 
average number of shares in issue during the year, excluding shares held by the Employee Share Ownership Trusts which are 
treated as cancelled.

Profit for the year (£ million)

Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue (million)

Basic earnings per share (pence)

2017

106

255

41.54

2016

125

255

48.88

For diluted earnings per share, the weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue is adjusted to assume conversion of all 
potentially dilutive Ordinary Shares. These represent share options granted to employees where the exercise price is less than the 
average market price of the Company’s Ordinary Shares during the year. The number of shares calculated as above is compared 
with the number of shares that would have been issued assuming the exercise of the share options.

Profit for the year (£ million)

Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue (million)

Adjustment for share options

Diluted weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue (million)

Diluted earnings per share (pence)

2017

106

255

–

255

41.51

2016

125

255

–

255

48.86

Aggreko plc assesses the performance of the Group by adjusting earnings per share, calculated in accordance with IAS 33, to exclude 
items it considers to be non-recurring and believes that the exclusion of such items provides a better comparison of business 
performance. The calculation of earnings per Ordinary Share on a basis which excludes exceptional items is based on the following 
adjusted earnings.

Profit for the year

Exclude exceptional items

Profit for the year pre-exceptional items

An adjusted earnings per share figure is presented below.

Basic earnings per share pre-exceptional items (pence)

Diluted earnings per share pre-exceptional items (pence)

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

106

32

138

125

33

158

53.98

53.94

61.98

61.95

129

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

13 Goodwill

Cost

At 1 January

Acquisitions (Note 29)

Exchange adjustments

At 31 December

Accumulated impairment losses

Net book value

Goodwill impairment tests
Goodwill has been allocated to cash-generating units (CGUs) as follows:

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Group

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

159

35

(10)

184

–

184

118

7

34

159

–

159

2017 
£ million

2016
£ million

54

34

88

96

184

60

16

76

83

159

Goodwill is tested for impairment annually or whenever there is an indication that the asset may be impaired. Goodwill is monitored 
by management at an operating segment level. The recoverable amounts of the CGUs are determined from value in use calculations 
which use cash flow projections based on the five-year strategic plan approved by management. The key assumptions for value 
in use calculations are those relating to expected changes in revenue (utilisation and rates) and the cost base, discount rates and 
long-term growth rates are as follows:

Power Solutions Industrial

Power Solutions Utility

Rental Solutions

2017

Post-tax 
discount 
rate

Pre-tax 
discount 
rate

Long-term 
growth 
rate

8.1%

8.1%

8.1%

11.4%

11.4%

11.4%

3%

3%

3%

EBITDA

127

225

177

2016

Post-tax 
discount 
rate

Pre-tax 
discount 
rate

Long-term 
growth 
rate

8.7%

8.7%

8.7%

12.0%

12.0%

12.0%

3%

3%

3%

EBITDA

95

291

147

Values in use were determined using current year cash flows, a prudent view of the medium-term business strategy and excludes 
any growth capital expenditure. A terminal cash flow was calculated using a long-term growth rate of 3%. On the basis that the 
business carried out by all CGUs is closely related and assets can be redeployed around the Group as required, a consistent Group 
discount rate has been used for all CGUs. 

As at 31 December 2017, based on internal valuations, Aggreko plc management concluded that the values in use of the CGUs 
exceeded their net asset value with the highest headroom value being £1.3 billion and the lowest £456 million. Given these 
headroom numbers the Directors consider that there is no reasonably possible change in the key assumptions made in their 
impairment assessment that would give rise to an impairment.

14 Other intangible assets
Refer to Note 31.A2.

130

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201715 Property, plant and equipment
Year ended 31 December 2017

Cost

At 1 January 2017

Exchange adjustments

Additions

Acquisitions (Note 29)

Disposals

At 31 December 2017
Accumulated depreciation

At 1 January 2017

Exchange adjustments

Charge for the year

Disposals

At 31 December 2017

Net book values:

At 31 December 2017
At 31 December 2016

Year ended 31 December 2016

Cost

At 1 January 2016

Exchange adjustments

Additions

Acquisitions

Disposals

At 31 December 2016
Accumulated depreciation

At 1 January 2016

Exchange adjustments

Charge for the year

Impairment charge (Note 7)

Disposals

At 31 December 2016

Net book values:

At 31 December 2016
At 31 December 2015

Assets in course of construction are included within Rental fleet.

Freehold 
properties  
£ million

Short 
leasehold 
properties  
£ million

Rental  
fleet  
£ million

Vehicles, 
plant and 
equipment  
£ million

Total  
£ million

91

(3)

1

–

(3)

86

36

(2)

3

(2)

35

51

55

22

(1)

1

–

(2)

20

16

–

1

(2)

15

5

6

3,475

(256)

246

23

(88)

3,400

2,272

(172)

275

(79)

2,296

1,104

1,203

136

(7)

24

5

(6)

152

91

(5)

17

(5)

98

54

45

3,724

(267)

272

28

(99)

3,658

2,415

(179)

296

(88)

2,444

1,214

1,309

Freehold 
properties  
£ million

Short 
leasehold 
properties  
£ million

Rental  
fleet  
£ million

Vehicles, 
plant and 
equipment  
£ million

Total  
£ million

81

10

–

–

–

91

27

6

3

–

–

36

55

54

19

1

3

–

(1)

22

13

1

2

–

–

16

6

6

2,778

568

241

10

(122)

3,475

1,729

361

261

30

(109)

2,272

1,203

1,049

97

23

19

–

(3)

136

67

12

15

–

(3)

91

45

30

2,975

602

263

10

(126)

3,724

1,836

380

281

30

(112)

2,415

1,309

1,139

131

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

16 Inventories

Raw materials and consumables

Work in progress

17 Trade and other receivables

Trade receivables

Less: provision for impairment of receivables

Trade receivables – net

Prepayments

Accrued income

Other receivables (Note (i))

Total receivables

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

221

11

232

242

5

247

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

570

(80)

490

57

139

84

770

521

(67)

454

38

109

55

656

(i) 

 In September 2016, the Group signed £14 million of private placement notes with one customer in Venezuela (PDVSA) to progress clearing the overdue debt. 
This resulted in a financial instrument which replaced the net trade receivable balance. The financial instrument is booked at fair value which reflects our 
estimation of the recoverability of these notes. This fair value is estimated to be £4 million (2016: £8 million). This financial instrument is included in other receivables.

(ii)   The value of trade and other receivables quoted in the table above also represent the fair value of these items.

The carrying amounts of the Group’s trade and other receivables are denominated in the following currencies:

Sterling

Euro

US Dollar

Other currencies

Movements on the Group’s provision for impairment of trade receivables are as follows:

At 1 January

Net provision for receivables impairment

Transfer to other receivables

Utilised

Receivables written off during the year as uncollectable

Exchange

At 31 December

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

33

110

348

279

770

19

98

340

199

656

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

67

25

–

(3)

(3)

(6)

80

64

5

(8)

(5)

(3)

14

67

Credit quality of trade receivables
The table below analyses the total trade receivables balance per operating segment into fully performing, past due and impaired.

31 December 2017

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Group

132

Fully performing  
£ million

Past due  
£ million

Impaired  
£ million

Total  
£ million

47

70

117

67

184

36

199

235

71

306

6

64

70

10

80

89

333

422

148

570

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201717 Trade and other receivables continued
31 December 2016

Power Solutions

Industrial

Utility

Rental Solutions

Group

Ageing of past due but not impaired trade receivables

Less than 30 days

Between 30 and 60 days

Between 60 and 90 days

Greater than 90 days

Fully performing  
£ million

Past due  
£ million

Impaired  
£ million

Total  
£ million

42

48

90

65

155

30

209

239

60

299

7

52

59

8

67

79

309

388

133

521

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

90

36

24

156

306

71

51

34

143

299

The Group assesses credit quality as explained below:

Power Solutions – Industrial
This is a high transaction intensive business and the majority of the contracts in this business are small relative to the size of the 
Group. There is no concentration of credit risk in this business and there are a large number of customers who are unrelated and 
internationally dispersed.

The management of trade receivables is the responsibility of the operating units, although they report monthly to Group on 
debtor days, debtor ageing and significant outstanding debts. At an operating unit level a credit rating is normally established for 
each customer based on ratings from external agencies. Where no ratings are available, cash in advance payment terms are often 
established for new customers. Credit limits are reviewed on a regular basis. The effectiveness of this credit process has meant that 
the Group has historically had a low level of bad debt in this business. Receivables written off during the year as uncollectable as a 
percentage of total gross debtors was nil% (2016: 1%).

Power Solutions – Utility
This business concentrates on medium to very large contracts. Customers are mainly state owned utilities in emerging markets.

In many instances the contracts are in jurisdictions where payment practices can be unpredictable. The Group monitors the risk 
profile and debtor position of all such contracts regularly, and deploys a variety of techniques to mitigate the risks of delayed or 
non-payment; these include securing advance payments, bonds and guarantees. On the largest contracts, all such arrangements 
are approved at a Group level. Contracts are reviewed on a case by case basis to determine the customer and country risk.

To date the Group has also had a low level of bad debt in the Power Solutions Utility business.

The total trade receivables balance as at 31 December 2017 for our Power Solutions Utility business was £333 million 
(2016: £309 million). Within this balance, receivable balances totalling £41 million (2016: £53 million) had some form of payment 
cover attached to them. This payment cover guards against the risk of customer default rather than the risk associated with 
customer disputes. The risk associated with the remaining £292 million (2016: £256 million) is deemed to be either acceptable 
or payment cover is not obtainable in a cost-effective manner.

Rental Solutions
This business is similar to the Power Solutions Industrial business above and the management of trade receivables is similar. 
Again the Group has historically had a low level of bad debt in the Rental Solutions business. Receivables written off during 
the year as uncollectable as a percentage of total Gross Debtors was 2% (2016: 2%).

133

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

18 Borrowings

Non-current
Bank borrowings

Private placement notes

Current
Bank overdrafts

Bank borrowings

Private placement notes

Total borrowings
Short-term deposits

Cash at bank and in hand

Net borrowings

Overdrafts and borrowings are unsecured. 

(i) Maturity of financial liabilities
The maturity profile of the borrowings was as follows:

Within 1 year, or on demand

Between 1 and 2 years

Between 2 and 3 years

Between 3 and 4 years

Between 4 and 5 years

Greater than 5 years

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

103

481

584

12

72

55

139

723

–

(71)

652

329

304

633

19

41

–

60

693

(1)

(43)

649

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

139

79

26

146

–

333

723

60

97

150

127

178

81

693

(ii) Borrowing facilities
The Group has the following undrawn committed floating rate borrowing facilities available at 31 December 2017 in respect of which 
all conditions precedent had been met at that date:

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

77

64

383

50

50

–

624

–

178

1

189

34

–

402

Expiring within 1 year

Expiring between 1 and 2 years

Expiring between 2 and 3 years

Expiring between 3 and 4 years

Expiring between 4 and 5 years

Expiring after 5 years

(iii) Interest rate risk profile of financial liabilities 
Refer to Note 31.A3.

(iv) Interest rate risk profile of financial assets 
Refer to Note 31.A3.

(v) Preference share capital 
Refer to Note 31.A3.

134

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201719 Financial instruments
Refer to Note 31.A4.

(i) Fair values of financial assets and financial liabilities 
Refer to Note 31.A4.

(ii) Summary of methods and assumptions 
Refer to Note 31.A4.

(iii) Derivative financial instruments 
Refer to Note 31.A4.

(iv) The exposure of the Group to interest rate changes when borrowings reprice 
Refer to Note 31.A4.

20 Trade and other payables

Trade payables

Other taxation and social security payable

Other payables

Accruals

Deferred income

The value of trade and other payables quoted in the table above also represents the fair value of these items.

21 Provisions

At 1 January 2017

New provisions

Utilised

Exchange adjustments

At 31 December 2017

Analysis of total provisions

Current

Non-current

Total

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

160

16

78

127

27

408

88

13

68

113

17

299

Business 
priorities 
programme  
£ million

1

40

(32)

(1)

8

8

–

8

The provisions for the business priorities implementation programme are generally in respect of employee severance costs and depot 
closure costs. The provision is expected to be fully utilised by the end of 2018.

135

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

22 Deferred tax
31 December 2017

At 1 January 
 2017  
£ million

Credit/(debit)  
to income  
statement  
2017  
£ million

Debit to other 
comprehensive 
income  
2017  
£ million

Deferred tax 
in relation to 
acquisition 
2017 
£ million

Exchange  
differences 
 2017  
£ million

At 31 December  
2017 
£ million

Fixed asset temporary differences

Retirement benefit obligations

Overseas tax on unremitted earnings

Tax losses

Derivative financial instruments

Other temporary differences

31 December 2016

(71)

5

(1)

40

1

22

(4)

32

–

1

(8)

–

2

27

–

(1)

–

–

(1)

–

(2)

(2)

–

–

–

–

–

(2)

1

–

–

–

–

–

1

(40)

4

–

32

–

24

20

Fixed asset temporary differences

Retirement benefit obligations

Overseas tax on unremitted earnings

Tax losses

Derivative financial instruments

Other temporary differences

At 1 January 
 2016  
£ million

Credit/(debit)  
to income  
statement  
2016  
£ million

Credit to other 
comprehensive 
income  
2016  
£ million

Exchange  
differences 
 2016  
£ million

At 31 December 
2016  
£ million

(69)

–

(1)

19

1

22

(28)

(1)

–

–

21

–

–

20

–

5

–

–

–

–

5

(1)

–

–

–

–

–

(1)

(71)

5

(1)

40

1

22

(4)

Changes to US corporation tax were substantively enacted as part of H.R. 1 (‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’) on 22 December 2017, including 
a reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% with effect from 1 January 2018. Deferred taxes at the balance sheet date have 
been measured at 24.8% to reflect the enacted tax rates for corporate and state taxes. This remeasurement gives rise to a £10 million 
credit in the 2017 Accounts.

A deferred tax liability of £nil (2016: £1 million) has been recognised in respect of unremitted earnings.

No other deferred tax liability has been recognised in respect of unremitted earnings of subsidiaries. It is likely that the majority 
of the overseas earnings will qualify for the UK dividend exemption and the Group can control the distribution of dividends by its 
subsidiaries. In some countries, local tax is payable on the remittance of a dividend. Were dividends to be remitted from these 
countries, the additional tax payable would be £13 million.

The movements in deferred tax assets and liabilities (prior to offsetting of balances within the same jurisdiction as permitted 
by IAS 12) during the period are shown below. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are only offset where there is a legally enforceable 
right of offset and there is an intention to settle the balances net.

Deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that the realisation of the related deferred tax benefit through future taxable profits 
is probable. The Group did not recognise deferred tax assets of £23 million (2016: £11 million) of which £21 million (2016: £11 million) 
relates to carried forward tax losses and £2 million relates to fixed asset timing differences (2016: nil) as our forecasts indicate that 
these assets will not reverse in the near future. Of the unrecognised deferred tax, £9 million (2016: £nil) relates to the Younicos entities 
which were acquired during the year.

Deferred tax assets of £32 million (2016: £33 million) have been recognised in respect of entities which have suffered a loss in either 
the current or preceding period. Deferred tax assets have been recognised on the basis it is probable there will be future taxable 
profits against which they can be utilised. The majority of these assets can be carried forward indefinitely.

136

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201722 Deferred tax continued

Deferred tax assets and liabilities

Fixed asset timing differences

Retirement benefit obligations

Overseas tax on unremitted earnings

Tax losses

Derivative financial instruments

Other temporary differences

Total

Offset of deferred tax positions

Net deferred tax

31 December 2017

31 December 2016

Assets  
£ million

Liabilities  
£ million

Net  
£ million

Assets  
£ million

Liabilities  
£ million

Net  
£ million

12

4

–

32

–

24

72

(30)

42

(52)

(40)

–

–

–

–

–

(52)

30

(22)

4

–

32

–

24

20

–

20

12

5

–

40

1

22

80

(29)

51

(83)

–

(1)

–

–

–

(84)

29

(55)

(71)

5

(1)

40

1

22

(4)

–

(4)

The net deferred tax asset due after more than one year is £20 million (2016: liability of £4 million).

23 Share capital

2017  
Number of  
shares

2017  
£000

2016  
Number of  
shares

2016  
£000

(i) Ordinary Shares of 4329⁄395 pence (2016: 4329⁄395 pence)

At 1 January and 31 December

256,128,201

12,378

256,128,201

12,378

(ii) Deferred Ordinary Shares of 618⁄25 pence (2016: 618⁄25 pence)

At 1 January and 31 December

182,700,915

12,278

182,700,915

12,278

(iii) Deferred Ordinary Shares of 1⁄775 pence (2016: 1⁄775 pence)

At 1 January and 31 December

18,352,057,648

237

18,352,057,648

237

(iv) Deferred Ordinary Shares of 984⁄775 pence (2016: 984⁄775 pence)

At 1 January and 31 December

188,251,587

17,147

188,251,587

17,147

(v) Deferred Ordinary Shares 1⁄306125 pence (2016: 1⁄306125 pence)

At 1 January and 31 December

573,643,383,325

19 573,643,383,325

19

The rights and obligations attached to shares is described on pages 98 to 100.

137

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

24 Treasury shares

Treasury shares

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

(7)

(14)

Interests in own shares represents the cost of 527,373 of the Company’s Ordinary Shares (nominal value 4329/395 pence). 
Movement during the year was as follows:

1 January

Purchase of shares

Long-term Incentive Plan Maturity

Sharesave maturity

Deferred shares and restricted stock

Shares in relation to dividends on Deferred Shares and restricted stock

31 December

2017  
Number of  
shares

2016  
Number of  
shares

1,048,816

535,538

–

700,000

(1,698)

(76,728)

–

(560)

(519,745)

(106,206)

–

(3,228)

527,373

1,048,816

These shares represent 0.2% of issued share capital as at 31 December 2017 (2016: 0.4%).

These shares were acquired by a Trust in the open market using funds provided by Aggreko plc to meet obligations under the 
Long-term Incentive Arrangements and Aggreko Sharesave Plans. The costs of funding and administering the scheme are charged 
to the income statement of the Company in the period to which they relate. The market value of the shares at 31 December 2017 
was £4 million (31 December 2016: £10 million).

25 Capital commitments

Contracted but not provided for (property, plant and equipment)

26 Operating lease commitments – minimum lease payments

Commitments under non-cancellable operating leases expiring:

Within one year

Later than one year and less than five years

After five years

Total

27 Pension commitments
Refer to Note 31.A5.

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

32

22

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

20

53

25

98

26

49

17

92

138

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201728 Investments in subsidiaries
The subsidiary undertakings of Aggreko plc at the year end, and the main countries in which they operate, are shown below. 
All companies are wholly owned and, unless otherwise stated, incorporated in UK or in the principal country of operation and 
are involved in the supply of modular, mobile power, heating, cooling and related services.

All shareholdings are of Ordinary Shares or other equity capital.

Company

Aggreko Algeria SPA*

Aggreko Angola Lda

Country of 
Incorporation

Registered address

Algeria

Extension La Zone Des Activities, N 01, Adrar, Algeria

Angola

Rua 21 Jan, Qunintalao Escola de Enfermagem,  
Bairro Morro Bento III, District of Samba, Luanda, Angola

Aggreko Argentina S.R.L.

Argentina

465, 2D, Av. L.N. Alem, Buenos Aires, 1001, Argentina

Aggreko Generators Rental Pty Limited

Australia

101, Woodlands Drive, Braeside, VIC, 3195, Australia

Aggreko Bangladesh Power Solutions Limited

Bangladesh

Concord Baksh Tower, Level-6, Plot-11A, Road-48, Block-CWN(A),  
Kamal Ataturk Avenue, Gulshan-2, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Aggreko Belgium NV

Belgium

7, Smallandlaan, Antwerpen, 2660, Belgium

Aggreko Energia Locacao de Geradores Ltda

Brazil

3500, Av. das Américas, – Ed Toronto 2000 –  
6° Andar – Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, 22640-102, Brazil

Aggreko Cameroon S.R.L.

Aggreko Canada Inc

Cameroon

Centre des Affaires Flatters, Rue Flatters, BP 4999, Bonanjo, Doula, Cameroon

Canada

199, Bay Street, Suite 2800, Commerce Court West, Toronto, ON, M5L1A9, Canada

Younicos Energy Services Ltd

Canada

95 Foundry Street, Suite 300, Moncton NB, E1C 5H7, Canada

Aggreko Financial Holdings Limited +

Cayman Islands

Aggreko Chile Limitada

Aggreko (Shanghai) Energy Equipment  
Rental Company Limited

Aggreko Colombia SAS

Chile

China

89, Nexus Way, Camana Bay, PO Box 31106, Grand Cayman, KY1-1205,  
Cayman Islands

Galvarino 9450, Parque Industrial Buenaventura, Quilicura,  
Region Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile

Building 16, No 99 HuaJia Road, SongJiang District, Shanghai, 201611,  
Shanghai, 201611, China

Colombia

Parque Industrial Gran Sabana Vereda Tibitoc Lote M Unidad 67-A,  
Tocancipa, Colombia

Aggreko Power Solutions Colombia SA ESP

Colombia

Parque Industrial Gran Sabana, Carretera Snrto Zipaquira Lote 67, Tocancipa – 
Cundinamarca, Colombia

Aggreko Costa Rica S.A.

Costa Rica

Centro Corporativo Forum I, Torre G, Piso 1, Santa Ana, San José, Costa Rica

Aggreko Cote d’Ivoire S.A.R.L.

Cote d’Ivoire

Vridi Canal – Base Centrale thermique à gaz, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Aggreko (Middle East) Limited**

Cyprus

3 Themistokli Dervi, Julia House, P.C. 1066, Nicosia, Cyprus

Aggreko DRC S.P.R.L. 

Democratic Republic of the Congo

50, Avenue Goma-Commune de la Gombe, Kinshasa

Aggreko Dominican Republic SRL 

Dominican Republic

Paseo de los Locutores No. 53, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Aggreko Energy Ecuador CIA

Ecuador

E 2324, Rumipamba y Av. Amazonas, Quito, NA, Ecuador

Aggreko Finland Oy

Aggreko France SARL

Aggreko Gabon S.A.R.L.

Finland

Hatanpaan Valtatie 13, Tampere, Finland

France

5, Rue Boole, Saint-Michel sur Orge, 91240, France

Gabon

Residence Du Golf, Libreville, BP: 4568, Gabon

Aggreko Deutschland GmbH

Germany

Barbarastraße 62, 46282 Dorsten, Germany

Younicos GmbH

Aggreko Hong Kong Limited

Germany

Am Studio 16, 12489 Berlin, Germany

Hong Kong

Lots 1845 and 1846 in DD125 Ho Tsuen,Yuen Long, N.T. Hong Kong, SAR,  
Hong Kong, 00852, Hong Kong

Aggreko Energy Rental India Private Limited +++

India

“The Chambers”, Office No 501, Plot No 4/12/13, Viman Nagar, Pune, 411014, India

Aggreko Energy Services Indonesia PT

Indonesia

Jl. Danau Cincin Utara Block E No 10-B, Lantai 2, Papanggo Tanjung Priok  
Jakarta Utara DKI, Jakarta Raya, 14340, Indonesia

PT Kertabumi Teknindo

Aggreko Ireland Ltd

Aggreko Italia S.R.L.

Aggreko Japan Limited

Aggreko Kenya Energy Rentals Limited

Aggreko Malaysia SDN BHD

Aggreko Mali S.A.R.L.

Aggreko Africa Limited

Indonesia

Perkantoran Mitra Matraman Blok A1-7, Jalan Matraman Raya No.148,  
Kebon Manggis Sub-district, East Jakarta, Indonesia

Ireland

Riverside One, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, D02 X576, Ireland

Italy

29, Via A. Einstein, Assago (MI), 20090, Italy

Japan

Kenya

Malaysia

4F, Ace Kudan Building, 2-2-1 Kudan-Minami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Plot 12100, Tulip House, Mombasa Road, P.O. Box 10729, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

Level 8 Symphony House Berhad Pusat Dagangan Dana 1 Jalan PJU 1A/46,  
Petaling Jaya, 47301, Malaysia

Mali

Bamako-Lafiabougou ACI 2000, Immcuble Samassa 1 Etage porte 02

Mauritius

co/o Abax Corporate Services Ltd, 6th Floor, Tower A, 1 CyberCity, Mauritius

139

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

28 Investments in subsidiaries continued

Company

Country of 
Incorporation

Registered address

Aggreko Energy Mexico SA de CV

Mexico

8, Carretera Coacalco Tultepec, Estado de Mexico, 55717, Mexico

Aggreko Services Mexico SA de CV

Mexico

8, Carretera Coacalco Tultepec, Estado de Mexico, 55717, Mexico

Aggreko SA de CV ++++

Mexico

Mar Cantabrico No. 20, Co. Popotla C.P. 11400, Mexico, D.F., Mexico

Aggreko Mocambique Limitada

Mozambique

7 Andar, Av. 24 de Julho, No 7, Bairro Polana Cimento, Distrito Urbano 1,  
Maputo, Mozambique

Aggreko Myanmar Co Limited

Myanmar

No. 112 (First Floor), 49th Street, Pazundaung Township, Yangon, Myanmar

Aggreko Namibia Energy Rentals (Pty) Ltd

Namibia

344 Independence Avenue, Windhoek, Namibia

Aggreko (NZ) Limited

Aggreko Projects Limited

New Zealand

Level 8, 188 Quay Street, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand

Nigeria

27 Festival Road, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria

Aggreko Gas Power Generation Limited ++++

Nigeria

27 Festival Road, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria

Aggreko Norway AS

Norway

44, Dragonveien, Bygg 31, Oslo, Norway

Aggreko Energy Rentals Panama SA

Aggreko Generator Rentals (PNG) Limited 

Panama

Patton, Moreno & Asvat offices in Capital Plaza Building, 8th floor,  
Roberto Motta y Costa del Este Avenue, Panama, PA, 507, Panama

Papua New 
Guinea

c/- Ashurst PNG, Level 4, Mogoru Moto Building, Champion Parade,  
Port Moresby, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea

Aggreko Peru S.A.C.

Peru

Avenida Elmer Faucett 4800, Callao, Peru

Aggreko Energy Rental Solutions Inc

Philippines

Unit 1101, Picadily Star Building, 4th Avenue, 27th Street Bonifacio Global City, 
Taguig City, 1634, Philippines

Aggreko Polska Spolka Zorganiczana

Poland

Fort Ordona 6 street, Czosnow, 05-152, Poland

Graciolica Lda

Portugal

Estrada Velha Do Quitadouro, Ilha da Graciosa,  
9880 315 Santa Cruz da Graciosa, Portugal

Aggreko South East Europe S.R.L.

Romania

Soseaua de Centura 7A, Tunari, Ilfov, 077180, Romania

Aggreko Eurasia LLC

Aggreko Rwanda Limited

Aggreko Senegal S.A.R.L.

Russia

Building 1, House 8, 2nd km Stariy Tobolsky Trakt, Tyumen, 625000, Russian Federation

Rwanda

1st Floor, Omega House, Boulevard de los, Nyarugenge, Rwanda

Senegal

Route De Ngor 29912, Dakar, Senegal

Aggreko (Singapore) PTE Limited

Singapore

8B Buroh Street, Singapore, 627532

Milman International PTE LTD

Singapore

8B Buroh Street, Singapore, 627532

Aggreko Energy Rental South Africa  
(Proprietary) Limited

South Africa

2 Eglin Road, Sunninghill, 2157, South Africa

Aggreko South Korea Limited

South Korea

Unit 3203 S-Trenue, 37 Gukjegeumyung-ro 2-gil, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul,  
Republic of Korea

Aggreko Iberia SA

Spain

35-37, Avinguda Torre Mateu, Pol.Industrial Can Salvatella, Barbera del Valles,  
08210, Spain

Aggreko Sweden AB

Sweden

Box 16285, Stockholm, 103 25, Sweden

Aggreko Energy Rentals Tanzania Limited

Tanzania

Ubungo Plaza Unit 209, 2nd Floor, PO Box 158, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Aggreko (Thailand) Limited

Thailand

Central World, 29th Floor, Rama I Road, Pathumwan Sub-district,  
Pathumwan District, Bangkok, Thailand

Aggreko Americas Holdings B.V. +

The Netherlands

Amstelveenseweg 760, 1081 JK Amsterdam, Netherlands

Aggreko Euro Holdings B.V. +

The Netherlands

Amstelveenseweg 760, 1081 JK Amsterdam, Netherlands

Aggreko Rest of the World Holdings B.V. +

The Netherlands

Amstelveenseweg 760, 1081 JK Amsterdam, Netherlands

Aggreko (Investments) B.V. ++

The Netherlands

3, Fuutweg, Haven 461b, Klundert, 4791PB, Netherlands

Aggreko Nederland B.V.

The Netherlands

3, Fuutweg, Haven 461b, Klundert, 4791PB, Netherlands

Aggreko International Power Projects B.V.

The Netherlands

Aggreko Power Solutions Trinidad Limited

Aggreko Trinidad Limited

Republic of 
Trinidad & Tobago

Republic of 
Trinidad & Tobago

Between Roundabouts 7 and 8, Opposite Red Sea Housing, PO Box 17576,  
Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

129-131 Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

5/7 Sweet Briar Road, St. Clair, Trinidad and Tobago

Aggreko Enerji ve Isi Kontrol Ticaret Anonim Sirketi 

Turkey

EGS Business Park B2 Blok Kat:6 D:227 Yeşilköy, Bakırköy, Istanbul, Turkey

Aggreko Middle East Limited FZE

UAE

E-LOB Office No E2-112F-40, PO Box 52462, Hamriyah Free Zone, Sharjah,  
United Arab Emirates

140

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201728 Investments in subsidiaries continued

Company

Aggreko Events Services Limited

Aggreko Finance Limited +

Aggreko Holdings Limited +

Country of 
Incorporation

Registered address

UK

UK

UK

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

Aggreko International Projects Holdings Limited + 

UK

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

Aggreko International Projects Limited***

Aggreko Pension Scheme Trustee Limited

Aggreko Russia Finance Limited ++

Aggreko UK Finance Limited ++

Aggreko UK Limited

Aggreko US Limited

Aggreko Generators Limited ++++

Aggreko Luxembourg Holdings

Dunwilco (680) Limited ++++

Golden Triangle Generators Limited

Aggreko Uruguay S.A.

Aggreko Holdings Inc +

Aggreko USA LLC +

Aggreko LLC

Younicos Inc

UK

UK

UK

UK

UK

UK

UK

UK

UK

UK

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

Overburn Avenue, Dumbarton, G82 2RL, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

120 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JS, Scotland, United Kingdom

Aggreko House Orbital 2, Voyager Drive, Cannock, Staffordshire, WS11 8XP, 
England, United Kingdom

Uruguay

675, Of 20, Peatonal Sarandi, Montevideo, Uruguay

USA

USA

USA

Wilmington Trust SP Services Inc, 1105 N. Market Street, Suite 1300,  
Wilmington DE, 19801, United States

The Corporation Trust Company, Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, 
Wilmington, DE, 19801, United States

The Corporation Trust Company, Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street, 
Wilmington, DE, 19801, United States

USA

3100 Alvin Devane Blvd, Building A, Suite 200, Austin, TX, 78741, United States

Aggreko de Venezuela C.A.

Venezuela

Av. Venezuela Edif. Lamaletto, piso 5, oficina Unica, El Rosal, Caracas

Joint Venture: Aggreko ownership is 49%, remainder is held by RedMed.

* 
**  Registered in Cyprus.
***  Administered from Dubai and registered in the UK.
+ 
++  Finance Company.
+++  The financial year end of Aggreko Energy Rental India Private Limited is 31 March due to local taxation requirements.
++++  Dormant Company.

Intermediate holding companies.

141

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

29 Acquisitions

Younicos
On 3 July 2017 the Group acquired 100% of the share capital 
of Younicos, a global market leader in the development and 
deployment of integrated energy systems. This capability 
investment will help us provide a lower cost, cleaner energy 
and broadens the range of products available to our customers. 
The cost of the acquisition was £47 million.

The revenue and operating loss included in the consolidated 
income statement from 3 July to 31 December 2017 contributed 
by Younicos was £10 million and £6 million respectively.

Had Younicos been consolidated from 1 January 2017, 
the consolidated income statement for the year ended 
31 December 2017 would show revenue and operating profit 
of £1,735 million and £176 million respectively.

The acquisition method of accounting has been adopted 
and the goodwill arising on the purchase has been capitalised. 
Acquisition related costs of £0.8 million have been expensed 
in the period and are included within administrative expenses 
in the income statement.

Goodwill represents the value of synergies arising from the 
integration of the acquired business. Younicos’ proprietary 
software and control systems, together with its knowledge 
of battery storage, enable the integration of multiple energy 
sources, both thermal and renewable, to deliver an optimised 
energy system. We can leverage Younicos’ expertise and 
combine this with our generating technology, deployment 
capability and global scale to provide customers with a reliable, 
cheaper and cleaner source of energy.

KBT (Kerta Bumni Teknindo)
On 14 June 2017 the Group acquired 95% of the share capital 
of KBT, an Indonesia-based power rental company, for a 
maximum consideration of £25 million. Indonesia is a good 
market for Aggreko’s solutions and this acquisition strengthens 
our business in this important power market.

Included within this maximum consideration is £7 million 
which was deposited into an escrow account as contingent 
consideration. The total potential undiscounted amount of all 
future payments that the seller could have be entitled to under 
the acquisition agreement was between £nil and £7 million, 
payable after year one and year three.

These amounts were dependent upon a number of conditions 
relating to the contracts in place at the acquisition date.

Deductions would be made for the following:

 • Any contracts that:

– are off-hired;
– are expired or have been terminate;d or
– have extended at terms lower than those currently in place.

 • Any claims against the contract including overdue trade 

receivables, tax or misrepresentations.

These conditions were assessed post acquisition and resulted in 
Aggreko recognising a receivable in relation to the full contingent 
consideration value of £7 million.

The revenue and operating profit included in the consolidated 
income statement from 14 June 2017 to 31 December 2017  
contributed by KBT was £7 million and £nil respectively.

Had KBT been consolidated from 1 January 2017, the 
consolidated income statement for the year ended 
31 December 2017 would show revenue and operating 
profit of £1,737 million and £188 million respectively.

142

The acquisition method of accounting has been adopted 
and the goodwill arising on the purchase has been capitalised. 
Acquisition related costs of £0.4 million have been expensed 
in the period and are included within administrative expenses 
in the income statement.

Negative goodwill has arisen as the seller required a quick sale 
and believed Aggreko was a good fit for the business.

TuCo Industrial Products, Inc
On 27 January 2017 the Group completed the acquisition of 
the business and assets of TuCo Industrial Products, Inc (TuCo).

TuCo specialises in providing temporary heat and air 
conditioning equipment to the construction, industrial, 
commercial and special events industries and strengthen 
our business in these sectors. The purchase consideration  
paid in cash was £3 million.

The revenue and operating profit included in the consolidated 
income statement from 27 January 2017 to 31 December 
2017 contributed by TuCo was £2 million and £nil respectively. 
Had TuCo been consolidated from 1 January 2017, the 
consolidated income statement for the period ended 
31 December 2017 would show revenue and operating profit 
of £1,730 million and £188 million respectively.

The acquisition method of accounting has been adopted  
and the goodwill arising on the purchase has been capitalised. 
Acquisition related costs of £0.2 million have been expensed  
in the period and are included within administrative expenses  
in the income statement.

Goodwill represents the value of synergies arising from the 
integration of the acquired business. Synergies include direct 
cost savings and the reduction of overheads as well as the  
ability to leverage Aggreko systems and access to assets.

The details of the transactions and the fair value of assets 
acquired in the three acquisitions are shown in the table below: 

Younicos 
£ million

KBT
£ million

TuCo
£ million

Total 
£ million

Property, plant  
and equipment

Intangible assets

Inventory

Trade and other 
receivables

Trade and other payables

Deferred taxation

Loans and financing

Cash

Net assets acquired

Goodwill (i)

Consideration (ii)

Loans and financing 
settled

Consideration in escrow 
due to be received

Less cash and cash 
equivalents acquired

Net cash outflow 

5

6

–

6

(4)

(2)

–

2

13

34

47

–

–

(2)

45

22

2

–

4

(8)

–

(18)

–

2

(2)

–

18

7

–

25

1

–

1

–

–

–

–

–

2

1

3

–

–

–

3

28

8

1

10

(12)

(2)

(18)

2

17

33

50

18

7

(2)

73

(i)  Negative goodwill of £2 million in relation to KBT is reflected in the 
income statement.

(ii) The effective purchase consideration for KBT was £7 million plus loans and 
financing settled of £18 million.

The fair values are provisional and will be finalised during the  
first half of 2018.

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201730 Post Balance Sheet Events

On 15 February 2018 the Group announced the acquisition 
in North America of the business and assets of A Contact 
Electric Rentals. The acquisition furthers Aggreko’s leadership 
position in the specialty rental market and long-term growth 
strategy to excel through specialised rental solutions. A Contact 
specialises in the rental of medium and high voltage electrical 
distribution equipment. The cost of the acquisition was  
£21 million ($30 million). For the year ended 31 December 2017  
A Contact had revenues and operating profit of around 
£9 million and £4 million respectively. The fair values will 
be calculated during the first half of 2018.

31 Notes to the Group Accounts – appendices

31.A1 Accounting policies
Derivative financial instruments
The activities of the Group expose it directly to the financial 
risks of changes in forward foreign currency exchange rates 
and interest rates. The Group uses forward foreign exchange 
contracts, and interest rate swap contracts to hedge these 
exposures. The Group does not use derivative financial 
instruments for speculative purposes.

Derivatives are initially recorded and subsequently measured at 
fair value, which is calculated using standard industry valuation 
techniques in conjunction with observable market data. The fair 
value of interest rate swaps is calculated as the present value of 
estimated future cash flows using market interest rates and the 
fair value of forward foreign exchange contracts is determined 
using forward foreign exchange market rates at the reporting 
date. The treatment of changes in fair value of derivatives 
depends on the derivative classification. The Group designates 
derivatives as hedges of highly probable forecasted transactions 
or commitments (‘cash flow hedge’).

In order to qualify for hedge accounting, the Group is required 
to document in advance the relationship between the item 
being hedged and the hedging instrument. The Group is also 
required to document and demonstrate an assessment of 
the relationship between the hedged item and the hedging 
instrument, which shows that the hedge will be highly effective 
on an ongoing basis. This effectiveness testing is re-performed 
at each period end to ensure that the hedge remains 
highly effective.

Cash flow hedges
Changes in the fair value of derivative financial instruments that 
are designated, and effective, as hedges of future cash flows 
are recognised directly in equity and any ineffective portion 
is recognised immediately in the income statement. If the cash 
flow hedge is of a firm commitment or forecasted transaction 
that subsequently results in the recognition of an asset or 
a liability, then, at the time the asset or liability is recognised, 
the associated gains or losses on the derivative that had 
previously been recognised in equity are included in the initial 
measurement of the asset or liability. For hedges of transactions 
that do not result in the recognition of an asset or a liability, 
amounts deferred in equity are recognised in the income 
statement in the same period in which the hedged item 
affects net profit and loss.

Changes in the fair value of derivative financial instruments 
that do not qualify for hedge accounting are recognised in 
the income statement as they arise.

Hedge accounting is discontinued when the hedging 
instrument no longer qualifies for hedge accounting. At that 
time any cumulative gain or loss on the hedging instrument 
recognised in equity is retained in equity until the forecasted 
transaction occurs. If a hedged transaction is no longer expected 
to occur, the net cumulative gain or loss recognised in equity 
is transferred to the income statement.

Overseas net investment hedges
Certain foreign currency borrowings are designated as hedges 
of the Group’s overseas net investments, which are denominated 
in the functional currency of the reporting operation.

Exchange differences arising from the retranslation of the net 
investment in foreign entities and of borrowings are taken to 
equity on consolidation to the extent the hedges are deemed 
effective. All other exchange gains and losses are dealt with 
through the income statement.

Share-based payments
IFRS 2 ‘Share-based Payment’ has been applied to all grants 
of equity instruments. The Group issues equity-settled 
share-based payments to certain employees under the terms 
of the Group’s various employee-share and option schemes. 
Equity-settled share-based payments are measured at fair value 
at the date of the grant. The fair value determined at the grant 
date of equity-settled share-based payments is expensed on a 
straight-line basis over the vesting period, based on an estimate 
of the shares that will ultimately vest. Fair value is measured 
using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model.

Own shares held under trust for the Group’s employee share 
schemes are classed as Treasury shares and deducted in arriving 
at Shareholders’ equity. No gain or loss is recognised on disposal 
of Treasury shares. Purchases of own shares are disclosed as 
changes in Shareholders’ equity.

Leases
Leases where substantially all of the risks and rewards of 
ownership are not transferred to the Group are classified as 
operating leases. Rentals under operating leases are charged 
against operating profit on a straight-line basis over the term 
of the lease.

Dividend distribution
Dividend distribution to the Company’s Shareholders is 
recognised as a liability in the Group’s financial statements in the 
period in which the dividends are approved by the Company’s 
Shareholders. Interim dividends are recognised when paid.

143

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

31.A2 Other intangible assets
Year end 31 December 2017

Cost
At 1 January 2017

Acquisitions (Note 29)

Additions

Exchange adjustments

At 31 December 2017

Accumulated amortisation
At 1 January 2017

Charge for the year

Exchange adjustments

At 31 December 2017

Net book values 

At 31 December 2017
At 31 December 2016

Customer  
relationships and
non-compete  
agreements
£ million

Development 
expenditure
£ million

Technology 
£ million

Total 
£ million

56

5

–

(5)

56

37

4

(3)

38

18

19

5

–

5

–

10

–

–

–

–

10

5

–

3

–

–

3

–

–

–

–

3

–

61

8

5

(5)

69

37

4

(3)

38

31

24

Amortisation charges in the year mainly comprised amortisation of assets arising from business combinations and have been 
recorded in administrative expenses.

Year end 31 December 2016

Cost
At 1 January 2016

Acquisitions

Additions

Exchange adjustments

At 31 December 2016

Accumulated amortisation
At 1 January 2016

Charge for the year

Exchange adjustments

At 31 December 2016

Net book values 

At 31 December 2016
At 31 December 2015

Customer  
relationships and
non-compete  
agreements
£ million

Development 
expenditure
£ million

Total 
£ million

42

3

–

11

56

26

4

7

37

19

16

–

–

5

–

5

–

–

–

–

5

–

42

3

5

11

61

26

4

7

37

24

16

Amortisation charges in the year mainly comprised amortisation of assets arising from business combinations and have been 
recorded in administrative expenses.

144

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201731.A3 Borrowings
(i) Interest rate risk profile of financial liabilities
The interest rate profile of the Group’s financial liabilities at 31 December 2017, after taking account of the interest rate swaps used 
to manage the interest profile, was:

Currency:

US Dollar

Chinese Renminbi

Peruvian Sol

South African Rand

Mexican Pesos

Russian Roubles

Brazil Reals

Indonesian Rupiah

Indian Rupees

Japanese Yen

Romanian Lieu

Colombian Peso

Mozambican Metical

Other currencies

As at 31 December 2017

Currency:

US Dollar

Canadian Dollars

Peruvian Sol

South African Rand

Mexican Pesos

Russian Roubles

Brazil Reals

Indian Rupees

Japanese Yen

Romanian Lieu

Colombian Peso

Euro

Mozambican Metical

Other currencies

As at 31 December 2016

Floating 
rate 
£ million

Fixed 
rate 
£ million

Total 
£ million

Fixed rate debt

Weighted 
average 
interest rate 
%

Weighted 
average period 
for which 
rate is fixed 
Years

7

5

5

5

17

10

10

17

10

7

7

3

4

6

610

617

4.0

5.9

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

5

5

5

17

10

10

17

10

7

7

3

4

6

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

113

610

723

Floating 
rate 
£ million

Fixed 
rate 
£ million

Total 
£ million

116

42

6

6

13

40

11

13

6

8

6

26

9

6

385

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

501

42

6

6

13

40

11

13

6

8

6

26

9

6

308

385

693

Fixed rate debt

Weighted 
average 
interest rate 
%

Weighted 
average period 
for which 
rate is fixed 
Years

4.3

3.9

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

The floating rate financial liabilities principally comprise debt which carries interest based on different benchmark rates depending 
on the currency of the balance and are normally fixed in advance for periods between one and three months.

145

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

31.A3 Borrowings continued
The weighted average interest rate on fixed debt is derived from the fixed leg of each interest rate swap and coupons applying 
to fixed rate private placement notes.

The effect of the Group’s interest rate swaps is to classify £74 million (2016: £81 million) of borrowings in the above table as fixed rate.

The notional principal amount of the outstanding interest rate swap contracts at 31 December 2017 was £74 million (2016: £81 million).

(ii) Interest rate risk profile of financial assets

Currency:

US Dollar

Euro

Brazilian Real

Fijian Dollar

Australian Dollar

Saudi Riyal

Indonesian Rupiah

Nigerian Naira

Argentina Pesos

Korean Won

Other currencies

At 31 December 2017

Currency:

US Dollar

Euro

Brazilian Real

Fijian Dollar

Australian Dollar

Saudi Riyal

Indonesian Rupiah

Nigerian Naira

Other currencies

At 31 December 2016

Cash at bank  
and in hand  
£ million

26

4

2

1

3

3

5

3

3

3

18

71

Cash at bank  
and in hand  
£ million

Short-term 
deposits 
£ million

Total 
£ million

4

5

3

3

2

3

5

3

15

43

–

–

1

–

–

–

–

–

–

1

4

5

4

3

2

3

5

3

15

44

All of the above cash and short-term deposits are floating rate and earn interest based on relevant LIBID (London Interbank Bid Rate) 
equivalents or market rates for the currency concerned.

(iii) Preference share capital

Authorised:
Redeemable preference shares of 25p each

2017  
Number

2017  
£000

2016  
Number

2016  
£000

199,998

50

199,998

50

No redeemable preference shares were allotted as at 31 December 2017 and 31 December 2016. The Board is authorised to 
determine the terms, conditions and manner of redemption of redeemable shares.

146

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201731.A4 Financial instruments
As stated in our accounting policies Note 31.A1 on page 143 the activities of the Group expose it directly to the financial risks of 
changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates. The Group uses forward foreign exchange contracts and interest rate 
swap contracts to hedge these exposures. The movement in the hedging reserve is shown in the Statement of Changes in Equity.

(i) Fair values of financial assets and financial liabilities
The following table provides a comparison by category of the carrying amounts and the fair values of the Group’s financial assets and 
financial liabilities at 31 December 2017. Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an 
orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Market values have been used to determine fair values.

Primary financial instruments held or issued to finance the Group’s operations:

Current borrowings and overdrafts

Non-current borrowings

Short-term deposits

Cash at bank and in hand

Derivative financial instruments held:

Interest rate swaps

Net forward foreign currency contracts

Trade receivables

PDVSA private placement notes

Trade payables

2017

2016

Book value  
£ million

Fair value  
£ million

Book value  
£ million

Fair value  
£ million

(139)

(584)

–

71

(2)

(1)

490

4

(160)

(139)

(584)

–

71

(2)

(1)

490

4

(160)

(60)

(633)

1

43

(5)

(1)

454

8

(88)

(60)

(633)

1

43

(5)

(1)

454

8

(88)

(ii) Summary of methods and assumptions
Interest rate swaps and foreign currency derivatives
Fair value is based on market price of these instruments at the balance sheet date. In accordance with IFRS 13, interest rate swaps 
are considered to be Level 2 with fair value being calculated at the present value of estimated future cash flows using market interest 
rates. Forward foreign currency contracts are considered to be Level 1 as the valuation is based on quoted market prices at the end 
of the reporting period. Private placement notes are Level 2.

Current borrowings and overdrafts/short-term deposits
The fair value of short-term deposits and current borrowings and overdrafts approximates to the carrying amount because of the 
short maturity of these instruments.

Non-current borrowings
In the case of non-current borrowings, the fair value approximates to the carrying value reported in the balance sheet.

147

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

31.A4 Financial instruments continued
(iii) Derivative financial instruments
Numerical financial instruments disclosures are set out below. Additional disclosures are set out in the financial review and 
accounting policies relating to risk management.

Current:
Forward foreign currency contracts – cash flow hedge

Non-current:
Interest rate swaps – cash flow hedge

2017

2016

Assets  
£ million

Liabilities  
£ million

Assets  
£ million

Liabilities  
£ million

–

–

–

(1)

(2)

(3)

1

–

1

(2)

(5)

(7)

Net fair values of derivative financial instruments
The net fair value of derivative financial instruments that are designated as cash flow hedges at the balance sheet date was:

Interest rate swaps

Forward foreign currency contracts

2017  
£ million

2016  
£ million

(2)

(1)

(3)

(5)

(1)

(6)

The net fair value losses at 31 December 2017 on open forward exchange contracts that hedge the foreign currency risk of future 
anticipated expenditure are £1 million (2016: losses of £1 million). These will be allocated to expenditure when the forecast expenditure 
occurs. The net fair value liabilities at 31 December 2017 on open interest swaps that hedge interest risk are £2 million (2016: liabilities 
of £5 million). These will be debited to the income statement finance cost over the remaining life of each interest rate swap.

Hedge of net investment in foreign entity
The Group has designated as a hedge of the net investment in its overseas subsidiaries foreign currency denominated borrowings 
as detailed in the table below. The fair value of these borrowings were as follows:

US Dollar

Canadian Dollars

Euro

Russian Roubles

2017  
£ million

2016  
£ million

610

–

–

–

491

42

26

40

A foreign exchange gain of £55 million (2016: loss of £117 million) on translation of the borrowings into Sterling has been recognised 
in exchange reserves.

148

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201731.A4 Financial instruments continued
(iv) The exposure of the Group to interest rate changes when borrowings reprice is as follows: 
As at 31 December 2017

Total borrowings

Effect of interest rate swaps and other fixed rate debt

As at 31 December 2016

Total borrowings

Effect of interest rate swaps and other fixed rate debt

<1 year  
£ million

1-5 years  
£ million

>5 years  
£ million

Total  
£ million

139

(55)

84

251

(222)

29

333

(333)

–

723

(610)

113

<1 year  
£ million

1-5 years  
£ million

>5 years  
£ million

Total  
£ million

60

–

60

552

(304)

248

81

(81)

–

693

(385)

308

As at 31 December 2017 and 31 December 2016, all of the Group’s floating debt was exposed to repricing within three months of the 
balance sheet date. The Group’s interest rate swap portfolio is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure it is consistent with Group policy 
as described on page 122.

The effective interest rates at the balance sheet date were as follows:

Bank overdrafts

Bank borrowings

Private placement

2017

12.1%

4.9%

3.9%

2016

8.2%

3.1%

4.2%

Maturity of financial liabilities
The table below analyses the Group’s financial liabilities and net-settled derivative financial liabilities into the relevant maturity groupings 
based on the remaining period at the balance sheet date to the contractual maturity date. The amounts disclosed in the table are 
the contractual undiscounted cash flows.

As at 31 December 2017

Borrowings

Derivative financial instruments

Trade and other payables

As at 31 December 2016

Borrowings

Derivative financial instruments

Trade and other payables

No trade payable balances have a contractual maturity greater than 90 days.

<1 year 
£ million

1-2 years 
£ million

2-5 years 
£ million

>5 years 
£ million

140

1

162

303

80

2

–

82

192

–

–

192

444

–

–

444

<1 year 
£ million

1-2 years 
£ million

2-5 years 
£ million

>5 years 
£ million

61

2

90

153

100

–

–

100

485

5

–

490

103

–

–

103

149

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

31.A4 Financial instruments continued
Derivative financial instruments settled on a gross basis
The table below analyses the Group’s derivative financial instruments which will be settled on a gross basis into relevant maturity 
groupings based on the remaining period at the balance sheet date to the contractual maturity date. The amounts disclosed in 
the table are the contractual undiscounted cash flows.

As at 31 December 2017

Forward foreign exchange contracts – cash flow hedges

Outflow

Inflow

As at 31 December 2016

Forward foreign exchange contracts – cash flow hedges

Outflow

Inflow

<1 year

(141)

140

(1)

<1 year

(123)

122

(1)

All of the Group’s forward foreign currency exchange contracts are due to be settled within one year of the balance sheet date.

31.A5 Pensions
Overseas
Pension arrangements for overseas employees vary, and schemes reflect best practice and regulation in each particular country.  
The charge against profit is the amount of contributions payable to the defined contribution pension schemes in respect of the 
accounting period. The pension cost attributable to overseas employees for 2017 was £11 million (2016: £6 million).

United Kingdom
The Group operates pension schemes for UK employees. The Aggreko plc Pension Scheme (‘the Scheme’) is a funded, contributory,  
defined benefit scheme. Assets are held separately from those of the Group under the control of the Directors of Aggreko Pension 
Scheme Trustee Limited. The Scheme is subject to valuations at intervals of not more than three years by independent actuaries.

The Trustee of the Scheme has control over the operation, funding and investment strategy of the Scheme but works closely with 
the Company to agree funding and investment strategy.

A valuation of the Scheme was carried out as at 31 December 2014 using the Attained Age method to determine the level of 
contributions to be made by the Group. The actuaries adopted a valuation basis linked to market conditions at the valuation date. 
Assets were taken at market value. The major actuarial assumptions used were:

Return on investments 
Growth in average pay levels 
Increase in pensions 

3.6% 
4.8% 
3.2%

At the valuation date, the market value of the Scheme’s assets (excluding AVCs) was £92 million which was sufficient to cover 
92% of the benefits that had accrued to members, after making allowances for future increases in earnings.

As part of the valuation at 31 December 2014, the Company and the trustees agreed upon a Schedule of Contributions and a 
Recovery Plan. Company contributions for benefits building up in the future increased from 35.9% to 41.0% on 1 February 2016. 
To address the Scheme deficit the Company has already made additional contributions of £1.25 million in 2015, 2016 and 2017 
and plans to make further additional contributions of £1.25 million each year until 2022. Employee contributions are 6% of 
pensionable earnings.

The Group has the right to a refund of any pension surplus at the end of the scheme and as such has not recognised an additional 
liability in accordance with IFRIC 14.

The Scheme closed to all new employees joining the Group after 1 April 2002. New employees are given the option to join a defined 
contribution scheme. Contributions of £2 million were paid to this defined contribution scheme during the year (2016: £2 million). 
There are no outstanding or prepaid balances at the year end.

150

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201731.A5 Pensions continued
An update of the Scheme was carried out by a qualified independent actuary using the latest available information for the purposes 
of this statement. The major assumptions used in this update by the actuary were:

Rate of increase in salaries
Rate of increase in pensions in payment
Rate of increase in deferred pensions
Discount rate
Inflation assumption
Longevity at age 65 for current pensioners (years)
Men
Women
Longevity at age 65 for future pensioners (years)
Men
Women

The assets in the Scheme were:

Equities
– UK Equities
– Overseas Equities
– Diversified Growth
– Absolute Return
Index-linked Bonds
Bonds
Cash

Total

31 Dec  
2017

31 Dec  
2016

4.9%
3.1%
3.4%
2.6%
3.4%

24.3
26.9

26.9
29.7

5.0%
3.4%
3.5%
2.7%
3.5%

24.2
26.8

26.8
29.5

Value at 
31 Dec  
2017 
£ million
10
13
8
8
49
19
2
109

Value at 
31 Dec  
2016 
£ million
9
13
8
8
49
18
–
105

Value at 
31 Dec  
2015 
£ million
8
12
7
8
37
17
1
90

The amounts included in the balance sheet arising from the Group’s obligations in respect of the Scheme are as follows:

Fair value of assets

Present value of funded obligations

Liability recognised in the balance sheet

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

2015 
£ million

109

(134)

(25)

105

(135)

(30)

90

(92)

(2)

151

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   G R O U P   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

31.A5 Pensions continued
Movement in defined benefit liability during the year:

Balance at 1 January

Included in income statement

Service cost

Interest cost

Interest income

Included in statement of comprehensive income

Remeasurements

– Effect of changes in financial assumptions

– Return on plan assets (excluding interest income)

Other

Employer contributions

Benefits paid

Defined  
benefit obligation

Fair value of 
Scheme assets 

Net defined  
benefit liability

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

(135)

(92)

105

90

(30)

(2)

(4)

–

(6)

2

–

2

–

5

5

(2)

(4)

–

(6)

(40)

–

(40)

–

3

3

–

–

3

3

–

3

3

3

(5)

(2)

–

–

4

4

–

11

11

3

(3)

–

(2)

(4)

3

(3)

2

3

5

3

–

3

(2)

(2)

(4)

4

(2)

(40)

11

(29)

3

–

3

Balance at 31 December

(134)

(135)

109

105

(25)

(30)

The Attained Age method has been used for valuation of the liabilities. Under this method an individual’s attributed benefit for 
valuation purposes related to a particular exit date (e.g. expected date of retirement, leaving service or death) is the benefit described 
under the Scheme, determined using the projected compensation and service that would be used in the calculation of the benefit 
on the expected exit date, multiplied by the ratio of credited service as of the measurement date to credited service as of the 
expected exit date. The benefit obligation is the total present value (assessed using appropriate assumptions) of the individuals’ 
attributed benefits for valuation purposes at the measurement date. The discount rate was derived using a yield curve approach and 
based on Scheme specific cash flow data from the last formal actuarial valuation to arrive at an appropriate single-equivalent rate.

The fair value of the assets is based on the underlying ‘bid value’ statements issued by the various investment managers. 
The manager statements reflect the relevant pricing basis of the units held in the underlying pooled funds.

An alternative method of valuation is the estimated cost of buying out benefits at 31 December 2017 with a suitable insurer. 
This amount represents the amount that would be required to settle the Scheme liabilities at 31 December 2017 rather than the 
Company continuing to fund the ongoing liabilities of the Scheme. The Company estimates the amount required to settle the 
Scheme’s liabilities at 31 December 2017 is around £196 million which gives a Scheme shortfall on a buyout basis of approximately 
£87 million.

Cumulative actuarial gains and losses recognised in equity

At 1 January

Actuarial (gains)/losses recognised in the year

At 31 December

The actual return on Scheme assets was a gain of £4 million (2016: £16 million).

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

63

(5)

58

34

29

63

152

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201731.A5 Pensions continued
Risks to which the Pension Scheme exposes the Group
There is a risk of asset volatility leading to a deficit in the Scheme. Working with the Company, the Trustee has agreed a phased 
implementation of an investment strategy which will reduce the Scheme’s exposure to adverse movements in interest rates and 
inflation. The reduction in interest rate and inflation risk will be achieved by investing in Liability Driven Investment (‘LDI’) funds 
which better match the liabilities of the Scheme and reduce the risk of funding level volatility. Once the phased implementation 
of the LDI funds is completed (expected to be achieved by September 2018) the Scheme will have removed 50% of interest rate 
and inflation risk (as measured on a gilts flat basis).

Through the Scheme, the Group is exposed to a number of other risks:

 • Changes in bond yields – a decrease in corporate bond yields will increase Scheme liabilities.

 • Inflation risk – pension obligations are linked to inflation and higher inflation will lead to higher liabilities.

 • Life expectancy – an increase in life expectancy will result in an increase in the Scheme liabilities.

The measurement of the defined benefit obligation is particularly sensitive to changes in key assumptions as described below: 

 • The discount rate has been selected following actuarial advice and taking into account the duration of the liabilities. A decrease 

in the discount rate of 0.5% per annum would result in a £21 million increase in the present value of the defined benefit obligation. 
The weighted average duration of the defined benefit obligation liabilities is around 30 years. 

 • The inflation assumption adopted is consistent with the discount rate used. It is used to set the assumptions for pension increases, 

salary increases and deferred revaluations. An increase in the inflation rate of 0.5% per annum would result in a £20 million 
increase in the present value of the defined benefit obligation. 

 • The longevity assumptions adopted are based on those recommended by the Scheme Actuary advising the Trustee of the 

Scheme and reflect the most recent mortality information available at the time of the Trustee actuarial valuation. The increase 
in the present value of the defined benefit obligation due to members living one year longer would be £5 million.

There is a risk that changes in the above assumptions could increase the deficit in the Scheme. Other assumptions used to value 
the defined benefit obligation are also uncertain, although their effect is less material.

Defined benefit obligation by participant status

Actives

Deferreds

Pensioners

The duration of the liabilities is approximately 29 years.

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

59

47

28

134

57

51

27

135

Expected cash flows in future years
Expected employer contributions for the year ended 31 December 2018 are £3 million. Expected total benefit payments: 
approximately £7 million per year for the next 10 years.

153

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017C O M P A N Y   B A L A N C E   S H E E T   ( C O M P A N Y   N U M B E R :   S C17 7 5 5 3)

As at 31 December 2017

Fixed assets
Property, plant and equipment

Investments

Current assets
Other receivables

Cash and cash equivalents

Deferred tax asset

Current tax asset

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Borrowings

Other payables

Derivative financial instruments

Provisions

Net current assets

Total assets less current liabilities

Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Borrowings

Derivative financial instruments

Retirement benefit obligation

Net assets

Shareholders’ equity
Share capital

Share premium

Treasury shares

Capital redemption reserve

Hedging reserve

Retained earnings

Total Shareholders’ equity

Notes

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

36

37

38

42

39

40

41

39

31.A5

43

25

730

755

790

6

5

17

818

(82)

(384)

(1)

(1)

350

1,105

(584)

(2)

(25)

494

42

20

(7)

13

(2)

428

494

12

683

695

921

33

7

10

971

(10)

(501)

(1)

–

459

1,154

(633)

(5)

(30)

486

42

20

(14)

13

(3)

428

486

The financial statements on pages 154 to 160 were approved by the Board of Directors on 6 March 2018 and signed on its behalf by:

K Hanna 
Chairman 

H Drewett
Chief Financial Officer

154

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017C O M P A N Y   S T A T E M E N T   O F   C O M P R E H E N S I V E   I N C O M E

For the year ended 31 December 2017

Profit for the year

Other comprehensive income/(loss)
Items that will not be reclassified to profit or loss

– Remeasurement of retirement benefits

– Taxation on remeasurement of retirement benefits

Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss

– Cash flow hedges

– Taxation on cash flow hedges

Other comprehensive income/(loss) for the year (net of tax)

Total comprehensive income for the year

64

125

5

(1)

2

(1)

5

69

(29)

5

1

–

(23)

102

155

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Balance at 31 December 2017

42

20

(7)

13

(2)

As at 31 December 2016

Attributable to equity holders of the Company

Ordinary 
Share 
capital  
£ million

42

Share 
premium 
account  
£ million
20

Treasury 
shares  
£ million
(14)

Capital 
redemption 
reserve  
£ million
13

Hedging 
reserve  
£ million
(3)

Retained 
earnings  
£ million
428

Total  
equity  
£ million
486

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

7

–

7

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

1

–

1

–

–

–

–

64

64

–

4

68

8

(7)

(69)

(68)

428

1

4

69

8

–

(69)

(61)

494

Attributable to equity holders of the Company

Ordinary 
Share 
capital  
£ million

42

Share 
premium 
account  
£ million
20

Treasury 
shares  
£ million
(9)

Capital 
redemption 
reserve  
£ million
13

Hedging 
reserve  
£ million
(4)

Retained 
earnings  
£ million
391

Total  
equity  
£ million
453

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

(8)

–

3

–

(5)

(14)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

1

–

1

–

–

–

–

–

13

(3)

125

125

–

(24)

101

–

8

(3)

(69)

(64)

428

1

(24)

102

(8)

8

–

(69)

(69)

486

C O M P A N Y   S T A T E M E N T   O F   C H A N G E S   I N   E Q U I T Y

For the year ended 31 December 2017

As at 31 December 2017

Balance at 1 January 2017

Profit for the year

Other comprehensive income/(loss): 

Fair value gains on interest rate swaps  
(net of tax)

Remeasurement of retirement benefits  
(net of tax)

Total comprehensive income for the year ended 
31 December 2017

Transactions with owners: 

Employee share awards

Issue of Ordinary Shares to employees under 
share option schemes

Dividends paid during 2017

Balance at 1 January 2016

Profit for the year

Other comprehensive income/(loss): 

Fair value gains on interest rate swaps

Remeasurement of retirement benefits  
(net of tax)

Total comprehensive income for the year ended 
31 December 2016

Transactions with owners: 

Purchase of Treasury Shares

Employee share awards

Issue of Ordinary Shares to employees under 
share option schemes

Dividends paid during 2016

Balance at 31 December 2016

42

20

156

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   C O M P A N Y   A C C O U N T S

For the year ended 31 December 2017

32 Company accounting policies

 • lAS 7, ‘Statement of cash flows’.

32.1 Basis of preparation
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance 
with Financial Reporting Standard 101, ‘Reduced Disclosure 
Framework’ (FRS 101). The financial statements have been 
prepared under the historical cost convention, as modified 
by the revaluation of certain financial assets and liabilities 
(including derivative instruments) at fair values in accordance 
with the Companies Act 2006.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with  
FRS 101 requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. 
It also requires management to exercise its judgement in 
the process of applying the Company’s accounting policies.

The following exemptions from the requirements of IFRS have 
been applied in the preparation of these financial statements, 
in accordance with FRS 101:

 • Paragraphs 45(b) and 46 to 52 of IFRS 2, ‘Share-based 

payment’ (details of the number and weighted-average 
exercise prices of share options, and how the fair value 
of goods or services received was determined).

 • IFRS 7, ‘Financial Instruments: Disclosures’.

 • Paragraphs 91 to 99 of IFRS 13, ‘Fair value measurement’ 
(disclosure of valuation techniques and inputs used for 
fair value measurement of assets and liabilities).

 • Paragraph 38 of lAS 1, ‘Presentation of financial statements’ 

comparative information requirements in respect of:

 – Paragraph 79(a)(iv) of lAS 1;

 – Paragraph 73(e) of lAS 16 ‘Property, plant and equipment’;

 – Paragraph 188(e) of lAS 38 ‘Intangible assets’ (reconciliations 
between the carrying amount at the beginning and end 
of the period).

 • The following paragraphs of lAS 1, ‘Presentation of 

financial statements’:

 – 10(d) (statement of cash flows);

 – 10(f)(a) (statement of financial position as at the beginning  

of the preceding period);

 – 16 (statement of compliance with all IFRS);

 – 38A (requirement for minimum of two primary statements, 

including cash flow statements);

 – 38B-D (additional comparative information);

 – 40A-D (requirements for a third statement 

of financial position);

 – 111 (cash flow statement information); and

 – 134-136 (capital management disclosures).

 • Paragraph 30 and 31 of lAS 8, ‘Accounting policies, changes 
in accounting estimates and errors’ (requirements for the 
disclosure of information when an entity has not applied  
a new IFRS that has been issued but is not yet effective).

 • Paragraph 17 of lAS 24, ‘Related party disclosures’ 

(key management compensation).

 • The requirements in lAS 24, ‘Related party disclosures’ 
to disclose related party transactions entered into 
between two or more members of a group.

32.1.1 Going concern
Given the going concern disclosures in the Group Accounts 
on page 116, the Directors consider it appropriate to adopt 
the going concern basis of accounting in preparing these 
financial statements.

32.1.2 Changes in accounting policy and disclosures
New and amended standards adopted by the Company
There are no new standards that are effective for the first time 
this year that have a material impact on the Company.

Property, plant and equipment
Property, plant and equipment is carried at cost less 
accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. Cost includes 
purchase price, and directly attributable costs of bringing the 
assets into the location and condition where it is capable for use. 
Borrowings costs are not capitalised.

Property, plant and equipment is depreciated on a straight-line 
basis at annual rates estimated to write off the cost of each 
asset over its useful life from the date it is available for use. 
The principal period of depreciation used is as follows:

Vehicles, plant and equipment 

4 to 8 years.

Impairment of property, plant and equipment
Property, plant and equipment is depreciated and reviewed 
for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances 
indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. 
An impairment loss is recognised for the amount by which 
the asset’s carrying amount exceeds its recoverable amount. 
The recoverable amount is the higher of an asset’s fair value 
less costs to sell and value in use. Value in use is calculated 
using estimated cash flows. These are discounted using an 
appropriate long-term pre-tax interest rate. For the purposes 
of assessing impairment, assets are grouped at the lowest 
levels for which there are separately identifiable cash flows 
(income-generating units).

157

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   C O M P A N Y   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

32 Company accounting policies continued

Foreign currencies
At individual Company level, transactions denominated in 
foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange on the 
day the transaction occurs. At the year end, monetary assets and 
liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the 
rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Non-monetary 
assets are translated at the historical rate. In order to hedge 
its exposure to certain foreign exchange risks, the Company 
enters into forward foreign exchange contracts. The Company’s 
financial statements are presented in Sterling, which is the 
Company’s functional currency.

Derivative financial instruments
The accounting policy is identical to that applied by the 
consolidated Group as set out on page 143.

Deferred income tax assets are recognised only to the extent 
that it is probable that future taxable profit will be available 
against which the temporary differences can be utilised. 

Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are offset when 
there is a legally enforceable right to offset current tax assets 
against current tax liabilities and when the deferred income 
tax assets and liabilities relate to income taxes levied by the 
same taxation authority on either the same taxable entity or 
different taxable entities where there is an intention to settle 
the balances on a net basis.

Employee benefits
The Company operates both a defined benefit pension scheme 
and a defined contribution pension scheme. The accounting 
policy is identical to that applied by the consolidated Group 
as set out on page 120.

Borrowings
Borrowings are recognised initially at fair value, net of transaction 
costs incurred. Borrowings are subsequently stated at amortised 
cost. Any difference between the proceeds, net of transaction 
costs, and the redemption value is recognised in the income 
statement over the period of the borrowings using the effective 
interest rate.

Investments
Investments in subsidiary undertakings are stated in the balance 
sheet of the Company at cost, or nominal value of the shares 
issued as consideration where applicable, less provision for 
any impairment in value. Share-based payments recharged 
to subsidiary undertakings are treated as capital contributions 
and are added to investments.

Taxation
The tax expense for the period comprises current and 
deferred tax. Tax is recognised in the income statement, 
except to the extent that it relates to items recognised in 
other comprehensive income or directly in Shareholders’ 
funds. In this case, the tax is also recognised in other 
comprehensive income or directly in Shareholders’ funds, 
respectively. 

The current income tax charge is calculated on the basis of 
the tax laws enacted or substantively enacted at the balance 
sheet date in the countries where the Company operates 
and generates taxable income. Management periodically 
evaluates positions taken in tax returns with respect to 
situations in which applicable tax regulation is subject to 
interpretation. It establishes provisions where appropriate 
on the basis of amounts expected to be paid to the 
tax authorities. 

Deferred income tax is recognised on temporary differences 
arising between the tax bases of assets and liabilities 
and their carrying amounts in the financial statements. 
However, deferred tax liabilities are not recognised if they 
arise from the initial recognition of goodwill; or arise from 
initial recognition of an asset or liability in a transaction 
other than a business combination that at the time of the 
transaction affects neither accounting nor taxable profit 
or loss. Deferred income tax is determined using tax rates 
(and laws) that have been enacted or substantively enacted 
by the balance sheet date and are expected to apply 
when the related deferred income tax asset is realised 
or the deferred income tax liability is settled. 

Leases
Leases where substantially all of the risks and rewards of 
ownership are not transferred to the Company are classified 
as operating leases. Rentals under operating leases are 
charged against operating profit on a straight-line basis 
over the term of the lease.

Share-based payments
The accounting policy is identical to that applied by the 
consolidated Group as set out on page 143 with the exception 
that shares issued by the Company to employees of its 
subsidiaries for which no consideration is received are treated 
as an increase in the Company’s investment in those subsidiaries.

Dividend distribution
Dividend distribution to the Company’s Shareholders is 
recognised as a liability in the Company’s financial statements 
in the period in which the dividends are approved by the 
Company’s Shareholders.

33 Critical accounting estimates and assumptions

Taxation
This is explained in Note 1 to the Group Accounts on page 121.

34 Dividends
Refer to Note 11 of the Group Accounts.

158

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 201735 Auditors’ remuneration

39 Borrowings

Fees payable to the Company’s  
auditor for the audit of the  
Company’s annual accounts

Fees payable to the Company’s auditor 
and its associates for other services:

 – Other assurance related services

 – Other

36 Property, plant and equipment

Cost
At 1 January 2017

Additions

At 31 December 2017

Accumulated depreciation
At 1 January 2017

Charge for the year

At 31 December 2017

Net book values:
At 31 December 2017

At 31 December 2016

2017 
£000

2016 
£000

248

224

46

–

72

230

Total 
£ million

Non-current
Bank borrowings

Private placement notes

Current
Bank overdrafts

Bank borrowings

Private placement notes

Total borrowings

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

103

481

584

1

26

55

82

666

329

304

633

–

10

–

10

643

19

17

36

7

4

11

25

12

The bank overdrafts and borrowings are all unsecured.

(i) Maturity of financial liabilities
The maturity profile of the borrowings was as follows:

Within 1 year, or on demand

Between 1 and 2 years

Between 2 and 3 years

Between 3 and 4 years

Between 4 and 5 years

Greater than 5 years

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

82

79

26

146

–

333

666

10

97

150

127

178

81

643

(ii) Borrowing facilities
The Company has the following undrawn committed floating 
rate borrowing facilities available at 31 December 2017 in respect 
of which all conditions precedent had been met at that date:

The property, plant and equipment of the Company comprise 
vehicles, plant and equipment.

37 Investments

Cost of investments in subsidiary undertakings:

At 1 January 2017

Additions

Net impact of share-based payments

At 31 December 2017

£ million

683

41

6

730

Details of the Company’s subsidiary undertakings are set out 
in Note 28 to the Group Accounts. The Directors believe that 
the carrying value of the investments is supported by their 
underlying net assets.

The additional investment was in Aggreko Holdings Limited to 
allow it to invest in Aggreko Russia Finance Limited which was 
set up during 2017 to provide funding to Aggreko Eurasia LLC.

Expiring within 1 year

Expiring between 1 and 2 years

Expiring between 2 and 3 years

Expiring between 3 and 4 years

Expiring between 4 and 5 years

Expiring after 5 years

40 Other payables

38 Other receivables

Amounts due from subsidiary 
undertakings

Other receivables

2017  
£ million

2016  
£ million

Amounts owed to subsidiary 
undertakings

Accruals and deferred income

783

7

790

917

4

921

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

77

64

383

50

50

–

624

–

178

1

189

34

–

402

2017 
£ million

2016 
£ million

367

17

384

491

10

501

159

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017N O T E S   T O   T H E   C O M P A N Y   A C C O U N T S   ( C O N T I N U E D )

For the year ended 31 December 2017

41 Provisions

At 1 January 2017

New provisions

Utilised 

At 31 December 2017

42 Deferred tax

At 1 January

(Debit)/credit to statement of comprehensive income

At 31 December

Deferred tax is provided in the accounts as follows:

Deferred tax assets

At 1 January 2016

Deferred tax credit in statement of comprehensive income

At 1 January 2017

Deferred tax debit in statement of comprehensive income

At 31 December 2017

The net deferred tax asset due after more than one year is £5 million (2016: asset of £7 million).

43 Share capital
Refer to Note 23 of the Group Accounts.

Business 
priorities 
programme  
£ million

–

6

(5)

1

2017  
£ million

2016  
£ million

7

(2)

5

2

5

7

Derivative 
financial 
liabilities 
£ million

Relating to 
retirement 
benefit 
obligation 
£ million

Total 
£ million

2

–

2

(1)

1

–

5

5

(1)

4

2

5

7

(2)

5

44 Profit and loss account
As permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the Company has not presented its own income statement and related 
notes. The profit for the financial year of the Company was £64 million (2016: £125 million).

160

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017O V E R V I E W

B U S I N E S S   S T R A T E G Y

O U R   P E R F O R M A N C E

G O V E R N A N C E

F I N A N C I A L   &   
O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

S H A R E H O L D E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

Financial calendar
19 April 2018
Ex-dividend date – Final dividend

20 April 2018
Record date to be eligible for the final dividend

26 April 2018
Annual General Meeting

22 May 2018
Final dividend payment for the year to 31 December 2017

1 August 2018
Half Year Results announcement for the year to  
31 December 2018

early September 2018
Ex-dividend date – Interim dividend

early September 2018
Record date to be eligible for the interim dividend

late September/early October 2018
Interim dividend payment for the year to 31 December 2018

Our website
Provides access to share price and dividend information as well 
as sections on managing your shareholding online, corporate 
governance and other investor relations information. To access 
the website, please visit www.plc.aggreko.com

Managing your shares online
Shareholders can manage their holding online by registering to 
use our share portal at https://shares.aggreko.com. This service 
is provided by our Registrar, Link Asset Services, giving quick and 
easy access to your shareholding, allowing you to manage all 
aspects of your shareholding online, with a useful FAQ section.

Electronic communications
We encourage Shareholders to consider receiving their 
communications electronically. Choosing to receive your 
communications electronically means you receive information 
quickly and securely and allows us to communicate in a more 
environmentally friendly and cost-effective way. You can register 
for this service online using our share portal.

Payment of dividends
We encourage Shareholders to have dividends paid directly 
into their bank accounts as this has a number of advantages, 
including ensuring efficient payment to receive cleared funds 
on the payment date. 

If Shareholders would like to receive their dividends directly 
to their bank account, they should contact our Registrar, 
Link Asset Services. UK Shareholders may also register using 
the share portal. 

Overseas Shareholders may also be able to have the 
dividend converted to local currency before payment to 
your bank account using the international payment service. 
Please contact our Registrar, Link Asset Services, for details.

Dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP)
This allows eligible Shareholders to purchase additional shares 
in Aggreko with their dividend payment. Further information 
and a mandate can be obtained from our Registrars, Link Asset 
Services, or by using the share portal.

Duplicate documents
Some Shareholders find that they receive duplicate 
documentation and split dividend payments due to having 
more than one account on the share register. If you think you 
fall into this group and would like to combine your accounts, 
please contact our Registrar, Link Asset Services.

Changes of address
To avoid missing important correspondence relating to your 
shareholding, it is important that you inform our Registrar, 
Link Asset Services, of your new address as soon as possible.

Sharegift
If you have a very small shareholding that is uneconomical 
to sell, you may want to consider donating it to Sharegift 
(Registered Charity no. 10526886), a charity that specialises 
in the donation of small, unwanted shareholdings to good 
causes. You can find out more by visiting www.sharegift.org 
or by calling +44 (0) 207 930 3737.

Shareholder queries
Our share register is maintained by our Registrar, Link 
Asset Services. Shareholders with queries relating to their 
shareholding should contact Link Asset Services directly. 
For more general queries, Shareholders can look at our 
website at www.plc.aggreko.com

Unsolicited mail and Shareholder fraud
Shareholders are advised to be wary of unsolicited mail or 
telephone calls offering free advice, to buy shares at a discount 
or offering free company reports. To find more detailed 
information on how Shareholders can be protected from 
investment scams visit www.fca.org.uk/consumers/scams/
investment-scams/share-fraud-and-boiler-room-scams

Our Registrar
Link Asset Services  
(formerly known as Capita Asset Services)
The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road
Beckenham, Kent BR3 4TU
United Kingdom

Share portal https://shares.aggreko.com
Website www.linkassetservices.com
Email enquiries@linkgroup.co.uk
Telephone 0371 664 0300*

*Calls are charged at the standard geographic rate and 
will vary by provider. Calls outside the United Kingdom are 
charged at the applicable international rate. Lines are open 
between 9.00am – 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday excluding 
public holidays in England and Wales.

Aggreko’s registered office
8th Floor, 120 Bothwell Street
Glasgow G2 7JS
Scotland, United Kingdom
Telephone +44 (0) 141 225 5900
Email investors@aggreko.com
Registered in Scotland No. SC177553

161

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017D E F I N I T I O N   A N D   C A L C U L A T I O N   O F   N O N   G A A P   M E A S U R E S

Adjusted Return on average capital employed (ROCE)

Definition:
Calculated by dividing operating profit pre-exceptional items for a period by the average net operating assets at 1 January, 
30 June and 31 December.

Calculation:

Operating profit pre-exceptional items

Average net operating assets

1 January

30 June

31 December

Average (i.e. total of 1 Jan, 30 June and 31 Dec divided by 3)

Accounts reference

Income statement

Note 4(h) of 2017 and 2016 Accounts

Refer to Note (a) below

Note 4(h) of 2017 & 2016 Accounts

December 
2017 
£ million

December 
2016 
£ million

229

248

2,124

2,070

2,078

2,091

1,707

1,991

2,124

1,941

ROCE (operating profit pre-exceptional items divided by average operating assets)

11%

13%

Note (a):

Per June 2017 Interim Accounts

Note 4(e)

Assets

Liabilities

Net operating assets

Adjusted Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)

Calculation:

Operating profit pre-exceptional items  
(Earnings Before Interest and Taxation)

Depreciation

Amortisation

EBITDA

Accounts reference

Income statement

Note 5

Note 5

2,464

(394)

2,070

2,286

(295)

1,991

December 
2017 
£ million

December 
2016 
£ million

229

296

4

529

248

281

4

533

162

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017Adjusted Interest cover: EBITDA divided by net finance costs

Calculation:

EBITDA (£ million)

Net finance cost (£ million)

Interest cover (times)

Adjusted Net debt to EBITDA

Calculation:

Net debt (£ million)

EBITDA (£ million)

Net debt/EBITDA (times)

Adjusted Dividend cover

Accounts reference

Per above

Income statement

Accounts reference

Cash flow statement

Per above

Definition:
Basic earnings per share (EPS) pre-exceptional items divided by full year declared dividend.

Calculation:

Basic EPS pre-exceptional items (pence)

Note 12 

Accounts reference

Full year declared dividend

Interim dividend (pence)

Final dividend (pence)

Dividend cover (times)

Note 11

Note 11

December 
2017

December 
2016

529

34

16

533

27

20

December 
2017

December 
2016

652

529

1.2

649

533

1.2

December 
2017

December 
2016

53.98

61.98

9.38

17.74

27.12

2.0

9.38

17.74

27.12

2.3

163

FINANCIAL &  OTHER INFORMATIONBUSINESS STRATEGYOVERVIEWOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCEAGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017F I N A N C I A L   S U M M A R Y

Revenue £m

Adjusted Operating Profit2 £m

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

1,730

1,515

1,561

1,577

1,573

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Adjusted Operating Profit Margin2 %

Dividend per Share1 Pence

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Adjusted Profit Before Tax2 £m

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

13

16

18

20

23

195

221

252

289

333

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Adjusted Diluted EPS2 Pence

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Average Number of Employees

Net Operating Assets £m

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Adjusted Return on 
Average Capital Employed2 %

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Net Debt £m

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

5,978

6,090

6,433

6,112

5,749

11

13

16

19

21

652

649

489

494

363

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Capital Expenditure £m

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Shareholders’ Funds £m

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

229

248

275

310

358

27.12

27.12

27.12

27.12

26.30

53.94

61.95

71.68

82.49

92.03

2,078

2,124

1,707

1,690

1,598

272

263

254

251

228

1,317

1,368

1,115

1,078

1,140

1  The Board is recommending a final dividend of 17.74 pence per Ordinary Share, which, when added to the interim dividend  

of 9.38 pence, gives a total for the year of 27.12 pence per Ordinary Share.

2  Adjusted excludes exceptional items in 2017, 2016 and 2015.

164

AGGREKO PLC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2017I N S I D E   T H I S   Y E A R ’ S   R E P O R T

P E R F O R M A N C E   H I G H L I G H T S

O V E R V I E W

Performance highlights 

Introducing Aggreko

A personal perspective from our CEO

Our business today

B U S I N E S S   S T R A T E G Y

The marketplace

Business model

Our strategic priorities

Stories around our strategy

O U R   P E R F O R M A N C E

Our key performance indicators

Group performance review

Financial review

Risk

G O V E R N A N C E

Chairman’s introduction

Our Board

Nomination Committee report

Audit Committee report

Ethics Committee report

Remuneration Committee report

Statutory disclosures 

Statement of Directors’ responsibilities

F I N A N C I A L   &   O T H E R   I N F O R M A T I O N

Independent auditor’s report

Group income statement 

Group statement of comprehensive income 

Group balance sheet 

Group cash flow statement 

Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement  
  in net debt 

Group statement of changes in equity 

Notes to the Group accounts 

Company balance sheet 

Company statement of comprehensive income

Company statement of changes in equity

Notes to the Company accounts

Shareholder information 

Definition and calculation of non GAAP measures

Financial summary 

Pages 1-55 comprise the Strategic report

01
02
06

08
12
14
15

32
36
42
48

56
58
66
68
72
76
98
103

105
110
110
111
112

113
114
116
154
155
156
157
161
162
164

Watch our Aggreko in 2017 video online: plc.aggreko.com/
investors/investor-centre/2017-annual-report-summary

Revenue

£1,730m 

Pre-exceptional Diluted EPS3

53.94p 

Reported Diluted EPS4

41.51p 

2016: £1,515m

2016: 61.95p

2016: 48.86p

Pre-exceptional Return on Capital Employed2,3

11% 

Return on Capital Employed2

9% 

2016: 13%

2016: 10%

Pre-exceptional Profit before Tax3

£195m 

2016: £221m

Reported Profit before Tax4

£154m 

2016: £172m

Pre-exceptional Operating Profit3

£229m 

2016: £248m

Reported Operating Profit4

£188m 

Dividend per share1

27.12p 

2016: £199m

2016: 27.12p

M A T E R I A L I T Y

This report and financial statements aims to provide a fair, 
balanced and understandable assessment of our business 
model, strategy, performance and prospects in relation 
to material financial, economic, social, environmental and 
governance issues. 

The material focus areas were determined considering 
the following: 

 • Matters that are critical to achieving our strategic objectives.

 • Key risks identified through our risk management process.

 • Feedback from key stakeholders during the course of the year.

1 

2 

 The Board is recommending a final dividend of 17.74 pence per Ordinary Share  
which, when added to the interim dividend of 9.38 pence, gives a total for the year  
of 27.12 pence per Ordinary Share.
 Calculated by dividing operating profit for the year by the average net operating 
assets as at 1 January, 30 June and 31 December.
 Exceptional items are explained in Note 7 to the accounts.

3 
4  Reported is per the Accounts on pages 110 to 153.

Design and production Radley Yeldar | www.ry.com
Board photography George Brooks
Print Park Communications on FSC® certified paper. Park is an EMAS certified company and its Environmental Management System 
is certified to ISO 14001. 100% of the inks used are vegetable oil based, 95% of press chemicals are recycled for further use and, 
on average 99% of any waste associated with this production will be recycled.
This document is printed on Galerie Satin, a paper containing 15% recycled fibre and 85% virgin fibre sourced from well managed, 
responsible, FSC® certified forests. The pulp used in this product is bleached using an elemental chlorine free (ECF) process.

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F I N D   O U T   M O R E

Visit our website to find out more about Aggreko
www.aggreko.com/about-us

A G G R E K O   P L C

The power to  
make a difference 

Annual Report and Accounts 2017

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