London-listed Weir’s share price dipped early Wednesday on the release of its 2026 third-quarter operating results which came with a warning about “shorter-term headwinds” in mining and notice of year-end net debt being outside the company’s “normal operating range”.
Weir reported healthy mining and minerals market demand despite the short-term headwinds, with group orders up 8% year-on-year in Q3 at £687 million including 3% yoy improvement in original equipment orders and 10% higher aftermarket and ESCO GET and software orders.
“Our focus is now on delivering our large aftermarket backlog in Q4 and we remain on track to deliver in line with current market expectations for 2026,” CEO Andrew Neilson said.
Weir’s standard 0.5-1.5-times net debt to EBITDA ratio would likely be breached at year-end, the company said. Net interest expense of circa-£90 million for full year 2026 was anticipated.
“Given the strong cash generation nature of our business model we expect to be within our normal operating range over the course of 2027,” Weir said.
The company said aftermarket demand from oil sands was particularly strong, “though largely offset by softer African mineral sands demand”.
“Phosphate demand has also been impacted by conflict in the Middle East reducing the availability of key raw material inputs including sulphur and ammonia.
“Following weather-related disruptions in July and August, our customers in Chile are focused on maximising production over the remainder of the year as they seek to offset the related production shortfall.”
Weir’s share price was down about 7% in early trade, capitalising the company at c£6.34 billion.
