AGGREKO fell to its lowest level this year as fears of increased competition in Europe and faltering revenues in the US prompted a leading stockbroker to cut its forecasts.

Shares in the provider of temporary power equipment surged after the Indian Ocean tsunami, on hopes that revenues from its Sri Lankan operations would be boosted. But Merrill Lynch, having spoken to the company, does not believe the clean-up operations will have a material impact on its numbers, given that most reconstruction is focused on residential buildings — an area outside Aggreko’s usual sphere.

The US broker thinks that the strong margin improvement Aggreko enjoyed in the US last year will be difficult to sustain, while there is evidence that Energyst, a consortium backed by Caterpillar, is becoming more aggressive in Europe.

Merrill has trimmed its 2005 earnings per share forecast by 1.5 per cent and moved from “neutral” to “sell”, pulling Aggreko down 5½p to 151½p. The FTSE 250 eased 20.2 points at 7,070.4.

After Friday’s bid speculation, HHG put on a further 2p to 61p as Bridgewell Securities advised clients to switch into the fund manager from rivals Amvescap and F&C Asset Management, 3p lighter at 245p. THB Group, the insurance broker, held steady at 73p as director Paul Dudley sold 91,500 shares at 73½p.

After last week’s sales by directors, iTouch held steady at 32¼p, despite talk that the mobile services provider has received a sales boost from its role in handling text message voting for Celebrity Big Brother, which concluded on Sunday.

The AIM-listed XN Checkout, which develops point-of-sale systems for the leisure market, added 12p to 193½p on raising £5 million at 155p to fund acquisitions and bolster working capital.

After the close, Trio Holdings, the money broker, up ¾p at 25¼p, responded to the 10 per cent rise in its shares last week by admitting that it is in bid talks with a private equity consortium, which includes members of Trio’s management. Nick Levene, a former Trio derivatives trader, now at AIM-listed Integrated Asset Management, holds 15.5 per cent, while Japan’s Nihon Tanshi owns 29.9 per cent.

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