As far as investors are concerned, the latest annual results at Weir Group show the company heading in the right direction on almost all fronts, except perhaps one. Shareholders like their dividends and they like them even more when they are going up.
Revenue last year rose 19 per cent on a constant currency basis to £2.36 billion, pre-tax profit increased 32 per cent to £250 million and the value of the oil industry services company’s order book grew by 20 per cent to just short of £2.4 billion. Margins have been under pressure since the plunge in crude prices towards the end of 2014, but they rose, too, in 2017, from 11.6 per cent to 12.4 per cent.
So much for looking back; the