WEIR Group has declared the escalating conflict in Ukraine has “created significant uncertainty” over its operations in the country and in Russia.

The Glasgow-based engineering giant warned this morning that the Russian invasion of Ukraine means uncertainty hangs over its ability to recover its assets in the two countries, and to continue to trade with customers there.

But it noted that its overall exposure to the two markets was “small”, accounting for around two per cent of the total group in terms of net assets, and less than 5% of the company’s revenue and operating profits.

Weir chief executive Jon Stanton said: “In 2021 we navigated successfully through a number of significant external challenges to deliver a strong performance for the year.

"Order momentum was strong, with a significant acceleration in Q4, and demand for recurring aftermarket consumables has now surpassed pre-Covid levels. As events continue to unfold in Ukraine and Russia, where our operations are relatively small, our priority is the safety of our impacted colleagues; we are doing all we can to support them and our thoughts are with them and their families.”

Mr Stanton's comments came in a results statement from Weir on its 2021 financial year this morning, which revealed an 18 per cent rise in profits at the group. Weir made a statutory profit before tax of £209 million, up from £178m the year before, while revenue from recurring operations dipped by 2% to £1.9 billion.

Citing a record order books and favourable market conditions, Mr Stanton added that Weir was confident of delivering further growth in revenue and profit this year, subject to “ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, and with Covid-19, inflationary and supply chain pressures likely to persist”.

Yesterday, Edinburgh-based investment giant abrdn said it would not invest in Russia and Belarus “for the foreseeable future”.

Shares in Weir were up more than 8% at 1,644.5p in early trading.