Weir Group confirms full year guidance

Shares in Weir Group rallied on Tuesday after the company reconfirmed its full year guidance.

The firm's owners have been shares lose a third of their value since February, dropping from around £22 four months ago to £15 now.

The news that business was on track pushed them back up 5% on Tuesday morning to 1,515p.

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In May the engineering giant said order input fell 26% on a like-for-like basis in its oil and gas division, which the firm put down to rapid changes in the pressure pumping market.

It said it now expected full year revenues from its SPM and Mesa businesses to be slightly lower than 2011 and below prior guidance.

However, Weir added that order input in its minerals division was up 18% compared to the previous year and ahead of its expectations.

It is the minerals division that the firm will be trumpeting today to shareholders in a presentation designed to give them reassurance about the health of the company.

Executive will seek to highlight the market leadership positions in the division's core markets; its broadening and differentiated product and service offerings, and product innovation; and a number of future growth opportunities which are well developed.

"This is supported by the £1.1bn original equipment input Weir has captured since January 2010 which, as the equipment is commissioned, is expected to generate an incremental aftermarket revenue opportunity of up to £3bn over the next ten to fifteen years, underpinning the division's ambition of doubling divisional 2011 operating profits by 2016," they will say.