Engineering firm Weir Group saw its annual profits tumble by almost half, driven lower by woes in its key oil and gas markets.

The Glasgow-based company - which makes pumps, wellheads and valves - said its pre-tax profit slumped 47% to £220 million in the 12 months to the beginning of January as it faced "unprecedented" challenges.

Oil and gas explorers have axed projects and cut billions from their capital spending budgets, as crude prices have fallen by some 70% since their peak in the summer of 2014.

Weir said its cost cutting last year saved it £110 million as it closed plants in the US, Australia and Europe and axed 1,600 staff, principally from its US oil and gas workforce, which fell by 40%.

The firm, founded in 1871, employs around 14,000 staff across 70 countries.

It plans to make a further £40 million of savings this year and raise up to £100 million by selling off non-core assets.

Chief executive Keith Cochrane said: "As Weir has always done, we adapted quickly to market conditions. Costs were aggressively reduced."

But he cautioned that "given ongoing market conditions, 2016 will be another challenging year".

Mr Cochrane added the group was planning for a further fall in its operating profit this year "driven primarily by lower activity levels in upstream oil and gas markets".

Shares in Weir fell 2%.

Analysts at Jefferies said: "We see nothing to get excited by in these results - and plenty to be concerned by."

Earlier this week, Aberdeen-based oil and gas services firm Wood Group revealed it cut 8,000 jobs last year as it battled to slash costs amid the global slump in commodity prices.