Weir Group has faced no shortage of headwinds in the last three years, with Covid, a cyber-attack and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine all presenting serious challenges to the company.

But there can be no denying that the outlook for the Glasgow engineering giant now seems decidedly bright.

Weir, which has been led by chief executive Jon Stanton since October 2016, reported a thumping rise in first-half profits this morning and was able to declare the results for the full-year would be better than analysts’ previously guided, lifting shares in a company which can trace its roots back to 1871.

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The good mood around Weir is down to the fruits of a strategy overseen by Mr Stanton which has seen the business narrow its focus to supplying equipment and solutions to the global mining industry.

In particular, Weir has focused on developing technology to help its customers meet their long-term targets of reducing water and energy usage, amid the broader drive towards net zero.

With Weir’s customers driving production from their mines hard, in part supported by buoyant prices for copper, gold, and iron ore, and keen to expand, demand for its services around the world is strong and is anticipated to remain so, positioning the company well for the future.

“The backcloth in terms of commodity demand is strong, and as we move forward with decarbonisation [and] electrification [these] fundamental underpins should provide long-term structural growth for us,” Mr Stanton told The Herald.

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But there are other reasons for Weir to feel uplifted. Mr Stanton pointed to two major pieces of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Bill which are expected to unlock huge investment in crucial infrastructure across the Atlantic and in turn benefit Weir. He also cited positive spin-offs from an upturn in mining industry which is now being seen in the US.

“We see a real shift in that,” Mr Stanton he said. “We are seeing a big pick-up in some of the mining areas of the US. There is a realisation about the performance of mineral security and the market is moving towards more investment in mining, which we have been a beneficiary of.

“And, of course, the infrastructure business will see a benefit because we are involved in principally Southern aggregates, quarrying in the US, which is going to be needed for the materials to build bridges and roads and the green infrastructure that is coming.”