Weir shares slide as orders fall in oil and gas

Shares of Glasgow-based engineering giant Weir Group fell 4% on Tuesday after it said its first-quarter orders — excluding recent acquisition ESCO –fell 7% “reflecting reduced oil and gas refurbishment activity.”

Weir completed the acquisition of Portland, Oregon-based ESCO Corporation for an estimated enterprise value of $1.28 billion last year.

Including ESCO, first quarter orders from continuing operations increased 18% .

Weir’s oil and gas orders were down 23%.

Nonetheless, Weir said its full-year “constant currency revenue and profit expectations” remain unchanged.

Weir CEO Jon Stanton said: “Weir has continued to deliver, with our first quarter performance in line with our expectations. 

“We benefited from our strengthened leadership position in mining where we are helping more customers meet their priorities of optimising current operations and planning for future expansions. 

“ESCO’s performance remained ahead of initial expectations with good demand for its premium technology. 

“As expected, oil and gas markets were at similar levels to late 2018 as a result of capital and pipeline capacity constraints in North America and the absence of the strong levels of first half refurbishment activity seen last year. 

“The group’s full year outlook of good constant currency revenue and profit growth remains unchanged.”