WEIR Group has announced plans to close factories and cut 350 jobs around the world as it bids to make £35 million of cost savings.

The Glasgow engineering giant said five small manufacturing sites, three in North America along with one each in France and Australia, would shut during 2015.

Other small service centres would be merged to make larger sites while alongside that it will reduce its workforce in other areas, look at ways to improve the value it gets from its supply chain and exit some of its lower margin operations in Libya and Indonesia.

It is thought 50 jobs in the UK are affected, with the majority of those at a plant in Yorkshire, although up to 10 jobs in Scotland are at risk.

Weir, headed by chief executive Keith Cochrane, said it expects one-off restructuring costs to be £25m while an impairment charge relating to the closure of sites is expected to be £20m.

Mr Cochrane is targeting £15m of savings in the group's minerals division with £10m from industrial and power and the same sum from oil and gas.

The cost-saving plan was revealed as Weir said third quarter trading had been in line with expectations and it was sticking to its full-year forecasts.

Across the group order input grew 14 per cent in the quarter driven by the aftermarket segment, which sells spare parts and services.

The oil and gas business was the strongest performer in the period to November 3 with order input there up 40 per cent.

Andrew Neilson, Weir's director of strategy and corporate affairs, said: "We are seeing strong growth in our pressure pumping and pressure control, which are weighted towards North America and shale in particular. We saw growth across the whole division but the higher percentage growth is coming from North America."

Mr Neilson said the potential effect of declining oil prices on investment in the industry, including in the North Sea, was still unknown.

The performance in oil and gas compared to just a one per cent rise in the minerals arm and a four per cent dip in the power and industrial division.

In the quarter, minerals saw original equipment orders dip 18 per cent while aftermarket was up 12 per cent.

Mr Neilson said Weir had won a contract worth high single-digit millions to provide high pressure grinding roles for an unnamed customer but factors including falling iron ore prices, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and political uncertainty in Eastern Europe meant the company remained cautious on any quick rebound in mining.

Original equipment orders in power and industrial were down 14 per cent although aftermarket grew by nine per cent.

Weir stated full-year profits in power and industrial would now be lower than previously expected.

However revenue and operating profit across the group in the quarter were said to be up year-on-year and it remained confident of meeting full-year forecasts.

It did warn that annual profit is expected to take a hit of £38m as a result of foreign currency fluctuations.

Mr Cochrane said Weir continued to look at acquisitions with minerals a priority and the market conditions in oil and gas possibly leading to new opportunities. He ruled out deals in the industrial and power arm until the restructuring work was complete.

The acquisition of mining products maker Trio, completed last month, is unlikely to enhance earnings in the current financial year but Mr Cochrane has high hopes for it in 2015 and beyond.

He said: "Trio only has about 25 per cent of its revenues from the aftermarket. That gives us an installed base to go after using our sales and service centre network."

Analysts at Investec retained a sell rating on Weir's stock and maintained a 1900p target price.

They suggested a weakening oil price and low commodity prices were risks to Weir's operations.

UBS analysts raised similar concerns in a note to clients.

Shares in Weir closed down 76p, or 3.4 per cent, to 2165p.