Weir Group Sees 1H Pre-Items Profit Around GBP140M >WEIR.LN

14th Jun 2010 07:24

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Weir Group PLC (WEIR.LN) said Monday it expects profit before intangibles amortization and tax for the 26 weeks ending July 2 to be around GBP140 million after positive foreign exchange translation, and stronger than expected trading continued to exceed expectations. MAIN FACTS: -Expects profit for the second half of 2010 to be significantly ahead of profit for the second half of 2009 in constant currency terms. -Order input for the 22 weeks was up 25% (first quarter: 16%) against the prior year period with after market orders up 24% (first quarter: 19%). -Minerals order input for the 22 weeks was up 27% (first quarter: 30%) with original equipment orders up 34% (first quarter: 38%) reflecting the C$58 million contract award at the Canadian business as previously announced. -Oil and gas order input for the 22 weeks was up 31% (first quarter: 4%) with upstream input up 96% (first quarter: 74%) benefiting from continued high activity levels in the North American shale gas markets. -Power and industrial order input for the 22 weeks was in line with the prior year period (first quarter: down 16%) reflecting a number of Chinese nuclear contract wins in the last 9 weeks. -There has been no change to the expectation of input, revenue and margin progression over the full year. -Shares closed at 950.5 pence Friday. -By Elliott Ball, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9314; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 14, 2010 02:24 ET (06:24 GMT)