UK engineer Weir Group PLC (LON:WEIR) expects to deliver “another year of good constant currency revenue and profit growth” after enjoying a “transformational” 2018.
The FTSE 250 firm, which makes pumping equipment for oil and gas companies, bought excavator bucket maker ESCO for £750mln last summer, while earlier this week it sold off its flow control business to private equity investment firm First Reserve for £275mln.
Both of those deals were aimed at narrowing Weir’s focus on mining and upstream oil and gas market.
READ: Weir to sell flow control unit for £275mln
The acquisition of ESCO dragged profits down to £18mln in the 12 months ended 31 December (2017: £160mln).
Excluding acquisition costs, restructuring costs and a charge related to a legacy product issue, pre-tax profit rose 22% to £310mln (2017: £255mln).
Revenue jumped by a similar percentage to £2.45mln (2017: £1.99bn), while the board declared annual dividends of 46.2p – 5% above the 44.0p it paid out last year.
“Looking to the full year, we currently expect our mining and infrastructure markets to continue to benefit from positive industry fundamentals with oil and gas activity to improve modestly from current levels,” said chief executive Jon Stanton.
“Overall, assuming market and macro-economic conditions remain supportive, we anticipate the Group will deliver another year of good constant currency revenue and profit growth, supported by strong execution of our We are Weir strategy.”
Weir shares rose 1.2% to 1,616p in early deals on Wednesday.