Weir Group PLC (LSE:WEIR) shares rose as the engineer revealed a £40 million order from Chilean copper giant Codelco and impressed in a meeting with Deutsche Bank.
Analysts at Deutsche reaffirmed their bullish stance on the FTSE 100 firm, nudging up their target price from 2,210p to 2,710p, backed by quiet but solid delivery across the company’s minerals and ESCO divisions and increasing optimism around its software arm, Micromine.
"Sometimes boring is good," they said, repeating their 'buy' rating.
Weir’s performance is increasingly visible in its contract flow, with the Codelco order for its GEHO pumps to fit out a tailings dam expansion in the Atacama region.
Broker Panmure Gordon, which also rates the stock a 'buy' with a 2,740p price target, believes the deal, the single largest ever for Weir’s GEHO line, is likely incremental and indicative of a strengthening position in energy-efficient tailings transport.
While revenue recognition from the Codelco contract will straddle the final quarter of 2025 and early 2026, the aftermarket support that follows could prove just as lucrative, the analysts said, especially given Weir’s established service presence in Latin America.
Panmure estimates the Minerals division requires around £500 million of original equipment orders annually to sustain its high-margin aftermarket model, with this order helping to underpin 2025 forecasts.
Deutsche analysts came away from their meeting with management encouraged by operational discipline and reiterated guidance, with positive base effects in key hard-rock markets expected to support further upside.
After Micromine, the mining software firm, was acquired last year, the DB analysts slightly upgraded forecasts to reflect early completion of the transaction, now expecting 1% higher group orders and revenues for FY25. No material changes were made to projected EBIT.
The analysts said a positive for Weir was its "fairly diverse" production base globally, but suggested the shares perhaps require "greater certainty on tariffs".
The shares rose 1.6% to 2,501p.