Shares in Florida-based APR Energy lost 6.7 per cent on Monday after the power rental group announced a tripling of net debt related to its contract in Libya, according to a report from the Financial Times.
The London-listed turbine hire group said that it had net debt of $557m at the end of 2013, compared with the $184m it reported at the end of 2012, blaming the increase on “the timing of the receipt of receivables in respect of the Libyan contracts, which were partly paid in January”, and therefore outside the accounting period..
APR’s Libyan contract is, according to John Campion (pictured), chief executive, “the largest single contract in the history of the fast-track power industry”, serving more than 1m homes.
Observers are concerned that the company is becoming over-reliant on the project, which analysts at Liberum say accounts for about 60 per cent of profits. “We believe risk remains around the group’s concentrated contract portfolio through 2014,” the analysts warned. They have a “sell” recommendation on the shares.
(Source: FT)
