Weir seals Flow Control sell-off

Weir Group, the Glasgowheadquartered global engineer, has completed the £275 million sale of its Flow Control division.

Chief executive Jon Stanton hailed the move as an “important step in successfully delivering our strategy”.

Plans to sell the operation were first announced in April 2018 alongside Weir’s bumper $1 billion-plus (£760m) acquisition of Us-based Esco Corporation. In February of this year the group agreed to sell the Flow Control business to private equity outfit First Reserve.

In a stock market update, Weir said it had now completed the sale of the division to First Reserve for an enterprise value of £275m, subject to “working capital and debtlike adjustments”.

Stanton said: “The sale of the Flow Control division marks an important step in successfully delivering our strategy. It means Weir is now a more focused business with strong positions in premium upstream mining and oil and gas markets around the world.

“On behalf of everyone at Weir, I would like to thank David Paradis and the Flow Control team for their longstanding contribution to the group and we wish them every success in the future.”

Flow Control will continue to be led by current president Paradis and his management team.

In February, Weir forecast further profit growth after a “transformational” year saw it notch up stronger sales and orders.

Results for the 12 months to the end of December revealed that sales from continuing operations were up by 15 per cent on a like-for-like basis to £2.45bn. Orders were up by a similar percentage to just over £2.5bn.

Operating profit from continuing operations before exceptionals rose by 13 per cent to £348m. In April, Weir said it was on track to meet its latest full-year goals after a solid first-quarter performance.