21st century
During July 2005, Weir sold its desalination and water treatment businesses, (Weir Westgarth, Weir Entropie and Weir Envig) to Veolia Water Systems, part of the water division of Veolia Environnement: Weir Westgarth had been a pioneer of the multi-stage flash distillation process used predominantly to produce desalinated water from seawater.[15] During May 2007, the company sold its Glasgow-based business Weir Pumps to Jim McColl's Clyde Blowers plc, with the pump company subsequently being renamed to Clyde Pumps Ltd.[16][17]
In early 2006, it was reported that, amid allegations that the company had paid a multi-million pound bribe to Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Weir Group acknowledged that it had parted company with several employees over the claims.[18] In December 2010, Weir Group pleaded guilty to breaching UN sanctions imposed on Iraq between 2000 and 2002. Judge Lord Carloway of The High Court in Edinburgh fined the company £3m along with a confiscation order of £13.9m.[19][20] Following this judgement, the company continued to operate in Iraq.[21]
In 2010, Weir Group formed an agreement with the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to cooperate on pump-related work on new nuclear power stations.[22]
During August 2011, the company announced record profits of £178 million, having risen during the first six months of the year by 24%; orders were also up substantially.[23] One year later, the firm was involved in a bidding war for the Australian mining company Ludowici, but was ultimately outbid by the Danish engineering firm FLSmidth.[24][25]
In 2014, Weir Group sought to discuss an envisioned merger between itself and the Finnish engineering firm Metso Corporation; however, the board of the latter unanimously rejected the initiative.[26] A £3.7 billion bid to takeover Metso was similarly unsuccessful.[27][28]
During February 2015, the company issued a profit warning predicting significant losses after the US shale market went through a contraction. In response, Weir Group opted to reduce its workforce by approximately 650.[29][30] Due to the persistence of the oil market's downturn, further jobs cuts followed in late 2019.[31]
In February 2019, the company sold their flow control division to First Reserve.[32] That same year, Weir Group was awarded its largest ever order, valued at £100m, to supply mining equipment for a large iron ore scheme in Western Australia.[33][34]
During the late 2010s, Weir Group decided that, following losses in its US-centric oil and gas activities, it would reorient towards the mining industry, for which it was developing new technologies to reduce environmental impact.[35] During October 2020, the company sold their oil and gas division to the American equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. in exchange for $405 million.[36][37]
In April 2022, the company announced that it was withdrawing from its business activities within Russia following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.[38] That same year, Weir Group formed an alliance with Swiss Tower Mills Minerals AG to market the latter's vertical stirred grinding mills.[39]
