Weir Group sinks as full year guidance is slashed

Weir Group shares sunk on Tuesday following the release of a trading statement in which the company said operating profits were expected to be ‘slightly lower’ than previously thought.

Shares in Weir Group were down over 6% in early trade.

The company attributed the weaker outlook to the phasing of mineral projects and one-off configuration costs.

CEO Jon Stanton, commented in the update:

“In 2017 we continue to build on our leadership positions in rapidly improving main markets whilst investing to maximise the significant opportunities ahead of us.

“As the North American onshore oil and gas industry continues to demonstrate its increased relevance as a source of global supply, our Oil & Gas business is fully leveraging its market leadership position in support of higher activity levels among customers. While international markets remained challenging the division has accelerated in 2017 as we expected and is well placed to continue to fully capture future opportunities.

“In Minerals our brownfield solutions delivered good order growth with an increasing pipeline of future opportunities. Profits will be slightly lower than previously indicated due to project phasing, incremental investment in growth and one-off plant reconfiguration as we ensure the business is well set to benefit from increased momentum in 2018 and beyond.”

At a group level, we anticipate strong growth in full year constant currency revenues and profits. Minerals profits are expected to be slightly lower than previously indicated while expectations for Oil & Gas and Flow Control are unchanged.”

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