Separately, Panmure Gordon has called on Weir Group to stop “wasting” money on acquisitions and focus on protecting shareholder value.

In a note Sanjay Jha from the broker warned the engineering company’s minerals profits are likely to dip sharply in the coming months, coming on the back of a pronounced fall in profit from oil and gas.

Mr Jha said: “Instead of wasting more good money at mining-related acquisitions to defend a fragile strategy, we believe the management should focus on minimising shareholder value destruction. You don’t need a crystal ball to predict that minerals’ profits will follow oil and gas into the abyss.”

Mr Jha, who has a sell rating on Weir’s stock and a target price of 1160p, went on to warn the minerals industry could remain depressed for many years.

He pointed to a four per cent input decline in the high margin aftermarket and servicing segment in Weir’s minerals division and added: “You definitely don’t want to be holding this stock when global ore production collapses under its own weight.”

And on oil and gas Mr Jha saw few comforting signs for Weir, which makes around three quarters of its profits from North America.

He said: “The highly indebted US shale oil industry has little cash left to maintain more than one quarter’s worth of [capital expenditure]. With hedges fading, many companies will simply go out of business.”

Weir, where Keith Cochrane is chief executive, reported a 40 per cent drop in half-year profits to £108.2m this week, mainly as a result of the falling activity in US onshore oil and gas.

Analysts from SocGen, HSBC, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have also cut their target prices on Weir’s stock.