WEIR Group has sealed a number of deals to boost its presence in the mining and minerals equipment markets.
An exclusive licensing tie-up with German corporate KHD gives Weir direct control over the design, manufacture and distribution of high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) which are used in mineral processing.
Cologne-based KHD, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, will also get royalty payments on equipment sales. Up to 10 of its specialist HPGR staff are being offered jobs at Weir.
In recent years, Weir has acted as KHD's agent for marketing HPGR equipment around the world, with orders averaging around €25 million in 2011 and 2012.
HPGRs were originally developed for cement processing but have been gaining popularity in the mining sector as they are regarded as more reliable and energy efficient than a conventional semi-autogenous grinding mill.
Separately, Weir is also entering the cone-crushers market through a tie-up with Taiwan-based Minyu Machinery Corporation.
The Glasgow engineering giant has agreed a distribution agreement to sell Minyu's existing range of equipment, which is used to break up large rocks.
Weir and Minyu have also formed a joint venture to develop machines with greater capacity for use in larger mining sites.
The venture, majority owned and operated by Weir, plans to launch the larger cone-crushers within three years.
In addition, Weir has acquired Australian centrifuge-maker Aspir, which employs 15 staff.
Queensland-based Aspir's "innovative technology" is said to be complementary to Weir's existing portfolio in minerals classification products.
Weir is spending £7m on the deals with a similar sum to be spent over the next three years.
The comminution segment of minerals processing – the first stage where solid materials are reduced in size – is thought to be worth around £3 billion for crushing, grinding and screening equipment and services.
Keith Cochrane, chief executive, said the deals boost Weir's "addressable market" by £750m.
He added: "These agreements represent the logical next steps in our growth strategy in minerals processing, providing access to attractive markets that we know well and can benefit from our capabilities and technology."
The company also indicated that it should benefit from the after-sales market, which involves providing spare parts and servicing equipment deployed in the field. Mr Cochrane added: "The group can leverage its unrivalled service network as we provide customers with market-leading innovative solutions."
Mr Cochrane indicated at Weir's annual results announcement in February, at which it was revealed that profits rose 12% to £443m on the back of an 11% hike in revenue to £2.5bn, that the company would continue to pursue acquisitions and organic growth.
At that time Mr Cochrane hailed a record revenue performance of £1.3bn in the minerals arm and stated he believed capital spending in that sector would continue to grow in the coming years.
Shares in Weir closed down 35p, or 1.6%, at 2101p
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article