Weir books annual loss after oil division writedown

Archived article

Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.

Engineering company Weir booked a full-year loss after it booked a writedown on the sale of its oil and gas business and focused its attention on the mining sector.

Pre-tax losses for the year through December amounted to £149 million, compared to losses of £379 million year-on-year, and included a £209 million impairment charge.

Revenue edged back 1% to £1.97 billion, while adjusted pre-tax profit fell 5% to £255 million.

Weir did not declare any dividends for the year.

On current trading, Weir said it had made a 'good start' to 2021 following a 14% sequential improvement in orders in the fourth quarter of 2020.

'The group delivered a highly resilient performance in what was an extraordinary year,' chief executive Jon Stanto said.

'We've had a good start to 2021 and we expect to deliver growth in full year constant currency profits subject to any further disruption from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.'

'More broadly, underlying conditions are favourable and with the strong platform we've created we're confident of outperforming our markets over the next three years and delivering sustainable long-term profitable growth.'