Weir Group Regulatory News (WEIR)

23 Jun 2008 07:00



THE WEIR GROUP PLC

PRE CLOSE PERIOD TRADING UPDATE 

AND REORGANISATION ANNOUNCEMENT

23 June 2008

Trading Update

The Weir Group PLC issues a trading update in advance of its interim announcement for the 26 weeks ending 27 June 2008 due to be published on 12 August 2008.

The Group's financial performance in the 22 weeks ending 30 May 2008 continued to benefit from generally strong market conditions, particularly in the global mining market, better than expected recovery of the backlog position from our African Minerals operations and reduced interest charges resulting from lower US interest rates associated with the Group's recent acquisitions.

As a result, we now expect profit from continuing operations before tax, intangibles amortisation and exceptional items for the full year to be substantially ahead of 2007 and at the upper end of current market estimates.

Reorganisation

The Weir Group PLC today also announces a change to its existing organisation and reporting structure to reflect its increasing focus on the mining, oil & gas and power & industrial markets.

With effect from 1 May 2008, the Group has been reorganised into three divisions: Oil & Gas, Power & Industrial and Minerals reflecting the sector focus. The Services businesses have been integrated into each of these divisions to provide a complete end to end offering for our customers.

The Weir Group's 2008 half year results, to be announced on 12 August 2008 and subsequent results, will be reported under the new structure. Historical results at the Weir Group level are unaffected by these changes.

An analysts' seminar is being held this evening, Monday 23 June 2008.

The presentation and a re-statement of 2006 and 2007 segmental performance will be posted on the Group's website from 5.00 p.m. today, 23 June 2008 (www.weir.co.uk).

Footnote: 

The range of Analysts' forecasts at 20 June 2008 for continuing operations profit before tax, intangibles amortisation and exceptional items was £142.5m to £163.7m with a consensus of £153.3m. Intangibles amortisation for 2008 is expected to be around £12.0m.