Weir group to cut 400 jobs

Weir Group is to cut more jobs in a move to save costs

Weir Group is to cut 400 more jobs in a move to save costs in the wake of the downturn of the oil and gas industry.

The latest cuts are part of a plan to deliver cost savings of £25 million per year. The majority of job losses will occur in North America, Africa and China. Weir employs around 15,000 people around the world.

In its latest financial results released today, the company revealed that oil and gas orders in the third quarter were down 58% year-on-year and original equipment orders were 60% lower.

Weir Group said: “Oil and gas markets became increasingly challenging through the period with oil prices falling nearly 25% since the end of the second quarter. After stabilising in July and August, the US rig count fell a further 12% in the past two months with the oil-directed rig count now down 64% from its peak in October 2014. In response to these market conditions, further cost reduction measures are being implemented across the division’s upstream businesses, including additional workforce reductions and service centre consolidations.”

The move follows 900 previous job cuts from its North American oil division workforce in February year – a third of the previous total.

Keith Cochrane, chief executive of Weir Group, said: “Looking ahead, we expect trading conditions to remain challenging through the fourth quarter with further declines in upstream oil and gas activity. We will focus on delivering further cost and procurement savings, alongside strong cash generation.”