LONDON (Reuters) - British engineering firm Weir Group (L:WEIR) on Thursday reported a six percent fall in first-half profits due to adverse foreign exchange conditions.
Weir saw 10 percent growth in orders to 1.24 billion pounds.
Earnings per share fell 8 percent to 61.4 pence while its share dividend rose 70 percent to 15 pence which will represent around one third of its full year dividend.
Input from Weir's oil and gas division, which has a strong position in U.S. shale, grew by 40 percent to 499 million pounds.
"We anticipate strong revenue and profit growth in the second half of 2014, assuming no further deterioration or disruption in mining end markets," Chief Executive Keith Cochrane said in a statement.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely)