Scotland’s Weir Group today revealed a record order book.
The Glasgow-based engineer, which employs 11,500 people in over 50 countries, has just announced its full-year results for 2021.
Orders for continuing operations surged by 22% to £2.196billion, though adjusted pre-tax profits were flat at £249million.
Chief executive Jon Stanton said: "In 2021, we navigated successfully through a number of significant external challenges to deliver a strong performance for the year.
"Order momentum was strong, with a significant acceleration in Q4, and demand for recurring after-market consumables has now surpassed pre-Covid levels.
"As events continue to unfold in Ukraine and Russia, where our operations are relatively small, our priority is the safety of our impacted colleagues. We are doing all we can to support them and our thoughts are with them and their families."
Weir's combined net assets in the two countries are said to be around 2% of the group total, while combined revenue and operating profits are less than 5%.
Mr Stanton added: "We are actively assessing the situation closely and will update further as required."
The CEO said Weir had started 2022 with a record order book and that market conditions continued to be favourable.
Mr Stanton went on: "Subject to ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, and with Covid-19, inflationary and supply chain pressures likely to persist, we currently expect to deliver strong growth in constant currency revenue and profit this year and further progress towards our medium-term performance goals.
"Longer-term, our mining technology focus places Weir at the heart of a multi-decade growth opportunity in partnership with the global mining industry as it delivers the minerals essential for the clean-energy transition more efficiently and sustainably."
The CEO reported that, from September, Weir had successfully managed the consequences of a sophisticated attempted ransomware attack on its business.
He added: "On detecting the threat, our cybersecurity systems and controls responded quickly and we took robust action to protect our infrastructure and data.
"System restoration across the group was broadly completed by the end of January 2022 and we have taken further steps to improve our future resilience.
"The consequences of the attack caused us significant temporary operational disruption, including engineering, manufacturing and shipment rephasing, but our teams responded magnificently to the challenge, pulling together to keep the business running and minimising the impact on our customers throughout.
"I am pleased to report that the financial impact of the attack was at the lower end of the range we set out in October, in large part due to the resilience inherent in our operating model."
Mr Stanton said that, over the past five years, Weir has been repositioned to focus on mining technology - enabling it to take advantage of powerful market trends and strong structural drivers, leveraging its leading market positions and resilient aftermarket model. The sale of the oil and gas division in February 2021 was a "significant milestone" in its transformation, he added.
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, had a disappointing time on Tuesday - finishing the day down 1.72% at 7,330.
It was up 25 points at 7,355 shortly after opening this morning.
Leading indices in the US fared badly on Tuesday.
The Dow Dropped 1.76% to 33,294 while the Nasdaq was down 1.59% to 13,532 and the S&P 500 declined by 1.55% to 4,306.
Companies reporting today
- Full-year results: Ascential, Aviva, Coats Group, Hiscox, Persimmon, Vistry, Vivo Energy, Weir Group
- Trading statement: Polymetal