Glasgow engineering giant Weir hails strong demand amid 'highly resilient' mining market

Weir Group, the Glasgow-headquartered global mining engineer, is sticking to its full-year forecasts after strong demand in its latest quarter.

In a trading update for its third quarter, the group, which has some 11,000 staff operating in more than 60 countries, said it had seen significant growth in aftermarket orders while revenues were up strongly year-on-year. Supply chain and logistics challenges were easing, the firm added, and input cost inflation had been mitigated.

The FTSE 250 group’s chief executive Jon Stanton told investors: “The group performed strongly in the third quarter, significantly increasing orders and delivering sequential revenue growth, while mitigating the impacts of inflation. Demand for our aftermarket spares was particularly strong, reflecting the highly resilient nature of our business, as miners continue to maximise ore production. We also made good progress on our strategic growth initiatives, with increasing customer demand for our digital offerings and solutions for more sustainable mining.

“Moving into the fourth quarter, supply chain challenges are easing, we have strong operating momentum and a record order book. Our [full-year] guidance for strong revenue and profit growth, operating margin expansion and 80-90 per cent free operating cash conversion is unchanged.”

Weir Group was founded in 1871 by two Scottish engineers, James and George Weir. The company now has a global presence with some 11,000 workers in about 60 countries.

Analysts at brokerage Shore Capital noted: “Weir Group has issued a solid Q3 trading update reflecting very strong demand for its mining equipment/spares, operating momentum and pricing power. Population growth, the convergence of living standards in developing economies, urbanisation, ore grade decline and decarbonisation all point in Weir’s favour as demand for essential mining commodities is growing/required.”