Engineering firm Weir Group today revealed a drop in orders during the third quarter but said it expects to deliver full-year profits in line with City forecasts.
The Glasgow-based group said orders during the third quarter were down 15 per cent compared with the previous year on a like-for-like basis, following a sharp drop in oil and gas activity.
In a trading update ahead of its annual results, it said full-year upstream revenues are now expected to be around $800 million (£500m), adding: “Although market conditions remain challenging with short order lead times ensuring visibility remains limited, our full-year divisional revenue and margin expectations remain unchanged.”
Overall, Weir expects to deliver a full-year pre-tax profit of between £440m and £450m, which it said was in line with its expectations and current market consensus.
It added: “Conditions remained mixed across the group’s end markets, impacted by increasing global macro-economic uncertainty and resultant declines in certain commodity prices.”
Investec analyst Chris Dyett described today’s update as “solid” and said the broker expects to upgrade its profit forecast to £445m, up from its previous estimate of £437m.