Weir has reported "significant growth" in aftermarket orders during the third quarter of this year.
The Glasgow-headquartered engineering group's latest trading update revealed that production trends and installed base expansion supported aftermarket order growth of 21%, while integrated solutions and small brownfield activity drover original equipment order growth by 12%.
This has led to revenues rising "strongly" year-on-year, as supply chain and logistics challenges eased and input cost inflation mitigated.
Operating margin expansion is expected to be in line with prior guidance, with 80% to 90% free operating cash conversion.
Weir's chief executive Jon Stanton commented: “The group performed strongly in the third quarter, significantly increasing orders and delivering sequential revenue growth, while mitigating the impacts of inflation.
“Demand for our aftermarket spares was particularly strong, reflecting the highly resilient nature of our business, as miners continue to maximise ore production.
“We also made good progress on our strategic growth initiatives, with increasing customer demand for our digital offerings and solutions for more sustainable mining.“
He added: “Moving into the fourth quarter, supply chain challenges are easing, we have strong operating momentum and a record order book.”
Conditions in mining markets were "highly supportive" through the quarter, with commodity prices remaining well above miners’ cost to produce - and physical inventories tightening further.
Demand rose across all regions, with particular strength in South America, as miners maximised copper production, and also in North America, with the re-shoring of production to the US and the recent resurgence in activity in Canadian oil sands continued.
However, large mining expansion projects remained slow to convert, with demand for equipment driven by the growing focus on de-bottlenecking, small expansions and sustainability projects at existing mines.
Within infrastructure, demand in the US - by far Weir's largest non-mining market - was stable at high levels, while demand in Europe continued to decline.
Within minerals, aftermarket orders rose 25%, while equipment orders were up 13%.
Equipment demand was primarily driven by orders to de-bottleneck or expand existing mines, including £16m of orders for pumps for nickel applications in Indonesia, and a £12m order for pumps and cyclones for a copper concentrator in Uzbekistan.
Weir also booked a £6m order for a Terra-flowing solution for a tailings plant in Mexico, which should increase water recovery and eradicate the need for a tailings dam.
The ESCO division saw orders rise by 13%, with revenues "strongly ahead of prior year" and sequentially higher than the second quarter.
Orders reflected strong demand from mining customers, with mining orders growing quarter-on-quarter. Demand was particularly strong in South America, as well as in Australia and Africa, where the division continues to gain market share.
Orders include a "good contribution" from Motion Metrics and Carriere Industrial Supply, both of which continue to perform ahead of initial expectations.
Elsewhere in the trading statement, Weir noted that net debt increased in the quarter, primarily reflecting translational foreign exchange on US dollar denominated debt, while as expected, the leverage ratio remained in line with that reported at the end of June.
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