Aggreko power play as it wins Olympics contract

Glasgow-based Aggreko said it had also been signed up as a sponsor for the Games after securing the power deal from the London Organising Committee.

Aggreko's contract cheer follows its work on the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the World Cup, which saw the group deliver 259 generators and chillers, 525 kilometres of cable and more than 1,200 distribution panels to the 11 football sites.

The 2012 Olympic contract will see it provide around 220 megawatts of power – more than the 160 megawatts supplied for the Beijing Games. Aggreko delivered power across 37 venues for the Beijing Olympics.

But its work at the World Cup was its largest ever events contract by value and Aggreko raised profit expectations last Friday as it said work on the football tournament boosted first-half revenues by nearly 29m.

Turnover in the events division soared to 85m from 48.5m a year earlier, helping drive a 19 per cent rise in interim profits to 127.1m.

As well as the strong performance at the World Cup, Aggreko enjoyed a boost in trade from the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Glastonbury Festival and the US Superbowl.

At the Vancouver Winter Olympics, its North American business supplied more than 1,800 electrical panels, 750 electrical transformers and 500 miles of cable, servicing 52 venues.

The group, which has also provided temporary power for the Eurovision Song Contest and the UK and US golf Open Championships, joined the FTSE 100 Index in December last year.

The business was founded in Holland in 1962 and set up its UK arm in Scotland in 1973. It now has more than 5,000 staff worldwide in over 144 locations.