ENGINEERING group Weir remained cautious about the rest of the year, despite delivering better-than-expected interim figures.

The group, a specialist in pump and valve manufacturing, described the performance as solid, and said the rest of the year should see results similar to those of last year.

Weir is also pursuing a number of opportunities in the rebuilding of Iraq, although it has not provided details on the scale or timing of the projects, which are likely to focus on the oil and water treatment sectors.

Across the group, the Glasgow company said turnover fell 7.6 per cent to £393.7m, with pre-tax profits down 7.8 per cent at £23.6m - still higher than the £23m forecast by most analysts.

Weir said the figures reflected the disposal of a number of businesses in the past year and the impact of a £2.8m rise in pension costs.

Weakness in the company's design and large-scale project management business Techna, where turnover fell 31 per cent to £35.8m, was also blamed.

Chairman Sir Robert Smith said the momentum was expected to continue into the second half of the year.

But he also said: "The continued economic uncertainty in a number of our sectors makes it difficult to be definite in our outlook for the remainder of 2003.

"However, on balance, we anticipate the level of second-half performance for continuing operations will be broadly in line with those of last year."

Weir, which employs about 7,500 people at sites in Manchester, Huddersfield and Bristol, delivered sales of £426m and profits of £25.6m for the second half of last year.