| Type | Public (LSE: WEIR) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Engineering |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Headquarters | East Kilbride, Scotland |
| Key people | Lord Smith of Kelvin, (Chairman) Keith Cochrane, (CEO) William Weir (Former Chairman) |
| Revenue | £1,635.0 million (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | £309.7 million (2010)[1] |
| Net income | £185.5 million (2010)[1] |
| Employees | circa 9,000 (2010)[2] |
| Website | www.weir.co.uk |
The Weir Group plc (LSE: WEIR) is an engineering company headquartered in East Kilbride, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
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The Company was established in 1871 as a pump manufacturing business, G. & J. Weir Ltd..[3] These pumps became extremely well known for their use as boiler feedwater pumps, and for ship's auxiliary equipment such as evaporators.
Under W G Weir, the company turned to producing munitions and war materiel in the First World War. As well as shells, they manufactured aircraft including the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2 fighter and bomber.
James George Weir (aviator, son of James Galloway Weir) a director of the company formed the Cierva Autogiro Company. G & J Weir would be a financial supporter of the company for several years. In 1943, they provided the finances for the construction of the W.9, an experimental helicopter, to Air Ministry requirements.
It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1947.[3] Double-acting Weir steam pumps were virtually standard fitment on British-built steamships, being used for pumping water, fuel, air and much else well into the 1950s, as well as being used on other ships worldwide.
In July 2005, the Company sold its desalination and water treatment businesses, (Weir Westgarth, Weir Entropie and Weir Envig) to Veolia Water Systems, part of Veolia Water, the water division of Veolia Environnement: Weir Westgarth had been a pioneer of the multi-stage flash distillation process used predominately to produce desalinated water from seawater.[4]
The Company bought Pompe Gabbioneta, an Italian pump manufacturer for £69m in 2005.[5]
In May 2007, the Company sold its Glasgow-based business Weir Pumps to Jim McColl's Clyde Blowers plc, with the pump company subsequently being renamed to Clyde Pumps Ltd.[6]
In November, 2010, Company announced acquisition of American Hydro Corporation, which makes turbines for hydro-electric power stations.[7]
In December 2010, Weir was fined three million pounds over Saddam sanctions breaches. Judge Lord Carloway from The High Court in Edinburgh confiscated £13.9m of illegal profits from Weir in this venture.[8]
The company is structured into three divisions:[9]
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