Weir Group, the Glasgow-based global mining and engineering FTSE 100 firm, announced on Thursday that Jon Stanton will step down as chief executive officer on August 1, 2026, after 16 years at the firm and 10 years as CEO.
Stanton will be succeeded by Andrew Neilson, president of Weir’s minerals division, the company’s largest business.
Shares of Weir, which also published a trading update on Thursday, fell as much as 9% before closing down around 5%.
Weir has 12,000 employees operating in over 50 countries, with a presence in every major mining region of the world.
The Glasgow company said Stanton “led Weir’s strategic transformation into a global mining technology leader.”
Neilson will be elected to the Weir board of directors after Thursday’s AGM and will become CEO Designate, before assuming full responsibilities as CEO on August 1.
Neilson will receive a base salary of £825,000.
“This has been set taking into account the scale and responsibilities of the role and represents an appropriate initial positioning on appointment relative to the remuneration of the previous CEO, with reference to relevant market benchmarks,” said Weir.
“It is intended that Andrew’s salary will be actively progressed in the near term as he establishes himself in the role, and reflecting performance and ongoing market benchmarking.
“Andrew will also receive the standard CEO benefits package and will be eligible to participate in the annual bonus and restricted share plan, all in line with Weir’s existing remuneration policy.”
Weir chair Barbara Jeremiah said: “On behalf of the board, I want to thank Jon and acknowledge his outstanding leadership over the last ten years.
“Weir has gone through enormous change under Jon’s stewardship and we are a more focused, more successful, and more profitable business today thanks to his efforts.
“Jon’s commitment to the success of our mining customers through our leading equipment and software platforms, means that Weir is stronger than ever, underpinned by the reshaping of our portfolio, our commitment to continuous improvement and our uncompromising dedication to working safely in our facilities and on our customers’ sites.
“I am delighted to announce that Andrew will be our next CEO. He brings a fundamental understanding of our businesses and a commitment to growth and continuous improvement.
“This, together with his deep conviction in our We are Weir promise to one another and to our shareholders, make him uniquely qualified to lead Weir and deliver on the high ambitions we have set for ourselves.
“Andrew’s dedication to helping every Weir colleague thrive and succeed is unmatched and this underpins the Board’s confidence in a continuation of the success we have experienced during Jon’s tenure.”
Stanton said: “It has been an immense privilege to lead Weir but after ten years and with the company in great shape it is the right time for a leadership transition.
“Over its long history, Weir has brought innovative engineering to solve the challenges of the time and I have loved every minute of the journey with my amazing colleagues to lead it to the forefront of the critical minerals challenge and create the multi-decade opportunity that lies ahead.
“Weir today is uniquely positioned for growth in the mining value chain with leading technology in equipment and software, unmatched customer intimacy and a strong operating platform.
“Throughout my tenure, Andrew has played a major role in Weir’s strategic transformation and has huge followership as a leader across the business.
“I look forward to supporting his seamless transition and to watching the Weir team go from strength to strength as I begin my next chapter.”
Neilson said: “I am incredibly honoured to be appointed as the next CEO of Weir, and grateful to Jon and all of the colleagues who have supported me on this journey. Weir is a very special company, with a rich engineering heritage and a great future ahead, being uniquely positioned to support our customers in meeting global critical mineral needs.
“We have the right strategy to deliver for all our stakeholders and I look forward to working with my 12,000 talented colleagues around the world to realise this tremendous growth opportunity and deliver on our mission to make mining more sustainable.”
In its first-quarter trading update, Weir said: “We have good visibility across the group of our pipeline brownfield and greenfield expansion projects as customers are increasingly investing in expansion and debottlenecking projects as supply deficits in critical metals emerge.
“Group OE (original equipment) orders increased +1%, as good underlying momentum in the quarter was masked by phasing, with expectations of strong full year growth enhanced as projects accelerate.
“Good momentum in AM (aftermarket) orders across Minerals and ESCO in the quarter was offset by a number of mine site disruptions and orderbook phasing, and overall AM orders were +4%.
“Strong integration progress across our recent acquisitions of Micromine, Fast2Mine, Townley and ESEL contributed +7% to Group AM orders in the quarter.
“In total, on a constant currency basis, year-on-year Group orders increased +4% in the first quarter …”
In its outlook, Weir said: “We expect good growth in orders over the full year and are encouraged by both our visibility of the orderbook and operational momentum. As in 2025, we expect a weighting in revenue and profit to the second half.
“We expect cash conversion to follow normal seasonal patterns, with a steady build in inventory through the first half followed by collections toward the end of the year.”
Stanton added: “Looking ahead to the full year, we remain focused on disciplined execution despite several challenges facing the mining industry, not least rising uncertainty as to potential impacts from conflict in the Middle East.
“With supportive commodity prices driving demand for expansions and high underlying activity levels, we expect orders to develop very positively through the year and reiterate our full year guidance for growth in constant currency revenue and operating profit, together with achievement of our margin and cash conversion targets.”