The Weir Group LON: WEIR reported higher first-quarter orders and said it remains on track to meet full-year 2026 guidance, supported by improving demand for mining productivity and expansion projects and contributions from recent acquisitions.
Mining demand backdrop and Q1 order trends
Chief Executive Officer Jon Stanton said demand fundamentals in mining “remain positive,” underpinned by “structural growth in critical metals such as copper, iron ore, and gold.” He added that customers continue to prioritize productivity, debottlenecking and expansion projects at existing sites, alongside investments in technologies that improve sustainability and reduce total cost of ownership.
Stanton said demand for large equipment projects is “picking up pace,” highlighting a £20 million order for GEHO pumps in India during the quarter. He also pointed to ongoing market share gains in Weir’s core Warman Pump and ESCO ground engaging tools (GET) brands.
On a group basis, Weir said overall orders increased 4% year-over-year on a constant-currency basis in the quarter. The company attributed performance to momentum in underlying trading and acquisition contributions, partly offset by order phasing compared with last year and “some temporary mine disruptions” that management expects to reverse over the remainder of the year.
Weir reported:
- Original equipment (OE) orders up 1% year-over-year, with strong ESCO mining attachments demand and several medium-sized minerals wins, but no individual orders above £25 million in the quarter.
- Aftermarket orders up 4% year-over-year, supported by activity levels in copper, gold and iron ore in Minerals, strong ESCO demand across mining and infrastructure GET, and growth in Micromine and FasterMine.
- Book-to-bill of 1.14 following what Stanton described as normal seasonality.
Segment performance: Minerals mixed; ESCO strong
In Minerals, Weir said OE orders declined 3% year-over-year on a constant-currency basis, which Stanton attributed to phasing and timing rather than a change in demand. He said the large expansion project pipeline is “developing strongly,” particularly for copper in South America, and the company expects “strong OE growth for the full year.”
Stanton also highlighted competitive wins, stating the company completed four mill pump circuit trials during the quarter, with three converted to Warman pumps and one ongoing. He framed the trials as evidence of customers valuing performance, reliability, and total cost of ownership.
Minerals aftermarket orders increased 1% year-over-year. Management said the result reflected solid ore production levels in copper and gold and progress integrating Townley, partially offset by temporary mine disruptions in APAC and Africa and a tougher comparison from “lumpy” HPGR spare orders booked in the prior-year period.
ESCO performance was stronger. Weir said ESCO OE orders rose 49% year-over-year, driven by what Stanton described as “exceptional demand for mining buckets” across North America, South America, and Africa. The company also received its first orders in Australia for its Production Master product, which it had presented at its Capital Markets event in December.
ESCO aftermarket orders rose 11% year-over-year, driven by continued momentum in mining and infrastructure GET (up 7%) and growth in recently acquired software businesses. This was partially offset by dredge order phasing. Stanton said dredge orders were about $10 million in Q1 last year but “zero this year,” and noted dredge activity has been disproportionately impacted by events in the Middle East. He added that Weir achieved 19 net major digger conversions in the quarter as it targeted growth in lower-share geographies.
Software and acquisitions: Micromine and FasterMine
Stanton said the company’s acquisition integrations are progressing well and that performance is tracking in line with expectations or better. In software, he said Micromine is “starting to see incremental growth generated by leads from the broader Weir network,” citing a license sale at a Tier 1 customer that Micromine “had been trying to get into for years.”
He also said Weir saw the first international orders for FasterMine as the company works to expand beyond Brazil. In response to a question on Micromine metrics, Stanton said Weir expects Micromine to hit the annual recurring revenue growth target set at the time of acquisition and that it is “on track,” though he said the company will provide the metric at the half-year and full-year points rather than quarterly.
Weir also announced completion of its acquisition of the remaining share in ESCO’s Chilean joint venture, ESEL. Stanton said the deal strengthens ESCO’s ability to serve customers across South America and brings additional foundry capacity in-house. He said integration is progressing well, with key customers transitioned and orders up year-over-year as Weir executes its Go Direct strategy, adding that the company is “very excited” about the opportunity to grow share in Chile.
Cost savings, balance sheet, and guidance reiterated
Management said 2026 is the year it expects to deliver the full run-rate savings from its Performance Excellence program. In Q1, Weir began realizing savings from 2025 capacity optimization projects, bringing cumulative savings to £66 million. Stanton said additional Lean and Weir Business System initiatives keep the company on track to deliver its upgraded target of £90 million of cumulative savings in 2026.
On leverage, Stanton said refinancing and acquisition activity in 2025 has left Weir with “a very attractive debt profile with long-dated maturities.” He said the company expects to return toward its normal operating range of 0.5x to 1.5x net debt to EBITDA by the end of 2026. For the full year, Weir expects net interest expense of £90 million, and through 2028 expects it to reduce toward £70 million.
Weir reiterated its full-year 2026 guidance, including constant-currency revenue and operating profit growth, operating margin expansion of 50 basis points, and free operating cash conversion of 90% to 100%. As in 2025, Stanton said the company expects revenue and profit weighting to the second half, with cash conversion following typical seasonality from inventory build in the first half and collections later in the year.
Addressing Q1 organic softness and the year’s trajectory, Stanton told Barclays that aftermarket orders “will always revert to mean,” and said the company expects “mid to high single-digit aftermarket growth over the full year” across both Minerals and ESCO. He added Weir expects a recovery in the second quarter and pointed to visibility on “a couple of large-ish aftermarket orders” in addition to normal run rates. On OE, he emphasized its lumpiness and said Weir had already booked “2 nice orders” in April.
On revenue phasing, Stanton said a “massive December” shipment period created an “air pocket” in Q1 deliveries, but noted that with Q1’s book-to-bill, the order book is now higher than it was at the end of December.
Management said Weir’s global supply chains have seen limited impact from geopolitical tensions so far. Stanton said the company is monitoring the Middle East conflict closely and discussed potential second-order effects such as higher input costs for customers. He told analysts Weir was not seeing significant supply chain impacts “as we sit here today.”
CEO transition announced
Stanton also announced he will step down as CEO on August 1 after nearly a decade in the role and 16 years at the company. Andrew Neilson, President of Minerals, will succeed him. Stanton said the move is the result of long-term board succession planning and described the company’s transformation over the past decade, including portfolio changes and investments in software solutions. He said he and Neilson will work closely over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition and that he will present Weir’s half-year results at the end of July.
About The Weir Group LON: WEIR
The Weir Group PLC produces and sells highly engineered original equipment worldwide. It operates in two segments, Minerals and ESCO. The Minerals segment offers engineering, manufacturing, and service processing technology for the use in abrasive high-wear mining applications; and differentiated technology for the use in infrastructure and general industrial markets. The ESCO segment provides ground engaging tools for large mining machines. This segment also offers cloud-based Artificial Intelligence solutions to the mining industry; manufactures and distributes highly engineered wear parts; and offers aftermarket services to the mining industry.
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