Weir Group PLC (LSE:WEIR) shares were the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 on Wednesday morning, after the mining engineer reported third-quarter orders below expectations.
Overall group orders came in at £618 million, with group organic growth down 2%, while the City consensus was expecting a 1% increase.
Weir delivered £496 million of aftermarket orders, with organic growth of 5%, while the consensus was predicting 6%.
Weir delivered £122 million of original equipment (OE) orders, with organic growth down 21%, which was worse than the 13% decline that was expected.
Minerals was the key division, with £436 million of orders, down 6% on an organic basis, while analysts expected it to be flat.
Excluding large prior-year orders, Weir said its underlying original equipment orders grew 13% due to brownfield mining projects.
Its aftermarket orders rose 5% on higher production and installed base growth, including a £6 million contribution from the newly acquired Townley.
In the ESCO division, £182 million of orders were up 11%, ahead of the forecast 3% growth.
On the outlook, management reiterated full-year guidance for growth in constant currency revenue and operating profit, including an operating profit margin of circa 20% and free operating cash conversion of 90-100%.
Analysts at UBS said OE orders were "well below expectations in Minerals", given that a large order headwind had been factored into consensus numbers.
"Acquisitions have performed in line with Weir's expectations."
The level of organic order growth in aftermarket orders makes the loose guidance of mid-single-digit growth in the second half "tricky given the headwind in Q4 due to the phasing of a large order from the prior year".
"On the positive side, continued strength in mining was flagged, and this was largely driven by brownfield. However, soft demand was flagged in PGMs, diamonds and mineral sands."