Shares of Glasgow-based international mobile power firm Aggreko fell 13% after it said its pre-tax profit fell 31% to £71 million and revenue slid 12% to £685 million in the six months to June 30.

Aggreko cited “a difficult economic backdrop impacting a number of our markets, particularly North America.”

Aggreko chief executive Chris Weston said: “The trading environment in this first six months has been difficult, with the lower oil price continuing to impact a number of our markets.

“We are holding our guidance for the full year while recognising the importance of securing key contract extensions and the seasonal weighting of our North American business to the second half.

“I am pleased with the good progress we continue to make with our business priorities and the strong level of order intake in Power Solutions Utility to date.” 

In its outlook for the rest of the year, Aggreko said: “Rental Solutions is a seasonal business normally weighted to the second half.

“More broadly we continue to see challenging conditions in North America, more than offsetting good growth in our other regions and our outlook for the balance of this year remains cautious. 

“Performance in Power Solutions Industrial is expected to improve in the second half as we see the benefit of new work won in the first half in Eurasia and the Middle East. 

“The Power Solutions Utility business has strong order intake for this stage in the year, however not all of it will benefit 2016.

“The prospect pipeline remains healthy but the environment continues to be competitive. We continue to expect contract off hire levels to be around 30%, which is back to historic levels.

“The guidance assumes the extension of our largest current contract in Argentina as well as those in Venezuela and Yemen.

“We are also working hard to recover the overdue debt in Venezuela.”