TEMPORARY power supplier Aggreko unveiled an 8% rise in underlying revenue while confirming it hopes to remove its generators from weather-affected parts of the west coast of Scotland within weeks.

The FTSE-100 company deployed kit capable of supplying more than 30 megawatts as snow storms led to major power disruptions on Arran and at other Scottish locations last month.

Rupert Soames, chief executive, praised Aggreko staff for the work they had done in "appalling conditions".

He said: "When the storm hit [Arran] our colleagues here mobilised and we ended having to go across on a specially chartered ferry.

"Our customers tell us that people [affected] are very pleased with us.

"When you get very stressful situations like [Arran] then Aggreko does what it does best."

Demand from emerging economies was a major driver in the uplift in revenue between January and March.

On a geographic basis the Americas was ahead by 9% on an underlying basis, Europe, Middle East and Africa by 13% and Asia, with Pacific and Australia nudging upwards by 1%.

The local business arm, which conducts day-to-day rental of equipment, had 17% more power on rent than in the same period of 2012 with growth reported in most regions outside Europe.

The power projects division landed several large contracts including 122 megawatts of cross-border power for Namibia and Mozambique plus a 56 megawatt installation in the Caribbean. Mr Soames said: "We are very, very pleased with South America. It is doing well, as is North America, and Africa is very strong.

"The local business has had a very strong start to the year helped by an acquisition we did last year in Brazil.

"Power projects are kind of where we expected them to be. Things seem to be a little more active than they were but we are waiting to see how things transpire. It is too early to tell whether things are going back to normal as the markets in that area have been subdued."

Guidance that profits are likely to be down this year, partly due to a lack of major sporting events, was re-iterated.

Mr Soames said: "Our expectations for the year as a whole are unchanged. We think we are going to make slightly less profit than last year.

"When you consider last year we had £100 million of revenue between the Olympics, Japan and Afghanistan, which won't re-occur this year, it is not enormously surprising."

Mr Soames said the company's "radar is always on" when considering acquisitions but said there was nothing specific being worked on.

Net debt in the quarter increased by £4m to £597m. The increase in net debt from the £428m reported at the end of March 2012 was mainly attributed to the £136m acquisition of South American firm Poit Energia.

Broker Panmure Gordon said: "Local Business has had a better start than expected, though in overall terms trading patterns are largely unchanged.

"While we leave forecasts unchanged, we believe this underlines that Aggreko remains very much on a solid footing."

Analysts from Cantor Fitzgerald said: "Aggreko remains one of our top picks in the sector."

Shares closed the day up 31p, or 1.78%, at 1792p.