Weir Group’s half-year results highlight 17% order growth, sale of Flow Control business
The Weir Group has released its interim results for the first half of 2019, reporting operating profits of £172 million (€187.6 million), an increase of 5%.
The Glasgow-headquartered engineering company highlighted a 17% order growth for H1, benefitting from its recent portfolio transformation.
The sale of its Flow Control business was completed for an enterprise value of £275 million (€300.1 million). The sale of the segment to private equity investment firm First Reserve was announced in February this year, allowing the group to focus on its mining and drilling services.
Profit after tax for the group was £53 million (€57.8 million), down from £67 million (€73.1 million) in the first half of 2018.
“The first half of the year progressed largely as we expected it to,” commented Jon Stanton, Weir Group CEO. “We are making good progress in our mining equipment businesses benefiting from our focus on aftermarket-intensive applications, particularly for battery metals including copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt supported by our extensive installed base and global service network. Our pipeline of firm OE quotes has grown significantly year-on-year with encouraging demand for our technology that reduces water and energy consumption.
“While oil and gas markets in North America continued to be challenging compared to the same period last year we saw good demand for our latest innovations. This included our Large Bore Simplified Frac System and our new QEM 5000 frack pump which is well positioned to support the development of future electric frack fleets.”
He concluded: “As we look to the rest of 2019, we continue to anticipate another year of good constant currency revenue and profit growth.”
The Glasgow-headquartered engineering company highlighted a 17% order growth for H1, benefitting from its recent portfolio transformation.
The sale of its Flow Control business was completed for an enterprise value of £275 million (€300.1 million). The sale of the segment to private equity investment firm First Reserve was announced in February this year, allowing the group to focus on its mining and drilling services.
Profit after tax for the group was £53 million (€57.8 million), down from £67 million (€73.1 million) in the first half of 2018.
“The first half of the year progressed largely as we expected it to,” commented Jon Stanton, Weir Group CEO. “We are making good progress in our mining equipment businesses benefiting from our focus on aftermarket-intensive applications, particularly for battery metals including copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt supported by our extensive installed base and global service network. Our pipeline of firm OE quotes has grown significantly year-on-year with encouraging demand for our technology that reduces water and energy consumption.
“While oil and gas markets in North America continued to be challenging compared to the same period last year we saw good demand for our latest innovations. This included our Large Bore Simplified Frac System and our new QEM 5000 frack pump which is well positioned to support the development of future electric frack fleets.”
He concluded: “As we look to the rest of 2019, we continue to anticipate another year of good constant currency revenue and profit growth.”
