With Opec struggling to prop up prices and an electric automotive future opening up, some commentators are already sounding the death knell for the oil and gas industry. For now, however, the global economy is still dependent on the black stuff. So, too, is Glasgow-based engineer Weir (WEIR), which detailed a 20 per cent rise in comparative orders at the half-year mark, buoyed by increased fleet utilisation in North America’s unconventional oilfields and what it has recently called a “significant tightening of industry capacity”.
Weir’s chief executive John Stanton said the group’s two main businesses – the other being minerals – are “transitioning from an intense downturn into a recovery and growth phase”. “Intense” is one way of putting it, so we shouldn’t expect a full retracement in capital budgets across the extractive industries. Weir continues to sell into a buyers’ market, so while the group recorded double-digit revenue growth at constant currencies, operating profit contracted by 8 per cent on the same basis.
UBS gives adjusted profit of £294m for the December 2017 year-end and EPS of 91.1p, compared with £207m and 60.8p in 2016.
| WEIR GROUP (WEIR) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 1,871p | MARKET VALUE: | £4.18bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,868-1,871p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,096p | LOW: 1,379p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.4% | PE RATIO: | 62 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 592p* | NET DEBT: | 65% | |
| Half-year to | Turnover | Pre-tax | Earnings per | Dividend |
| 30 Jun | (£bn) | profit (£m) | share (p) | per share (p) |
| 2016 | 0.87 | 25.4 | 11.0 | 15.0 |
| 2017 | 1.09 | 59.1 | 21.2 | 15.0 |
| % change | +26 | +133 | +93 | - |
| Ex-div: | 21 Sep | |||
| Payment: | 03 Nov | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £1.54bn, or 689p a share | ||||
