WEIR Group chief executive Keith Cochrane’s remuneration tumbled from £1.46 million to £1.07m in 2015, with his annual bonus falling sharply as the engineering company’s profits tumbled.

Mr Cochrane’s annual bonus fell from £665,564 to £225,000, a payout which Weir says was 20 per cent of the “maximum bonus opportunity”.

Finance director Jon Stanton’s remuneration fell to £630,027 last year, from £821,811 in 2014.

Weir Group’s underlying pre-tax profits fell by 46 per cent to £220m in 2015, caused in large part by reduced activity in the North American shale oil and gas sector.