A maker of artificial intelligence products and durable cameras used by mining companies is being bought by Weir Group.
The FTSE 250 engineer is paying an initial £89 million to purchase Motion Metrics, a Canadian business. A further £59 million could be added depending on how the acquisition performs until 2024.
The Vancouver headquarters of Motion Metrics will become Weir’s global centre of excellence for machine learning and AI.
Motion Metrics, founded in 1999 and employing 125 people, makes smart cameras that monitor and show how mining tools are performing. The data is analysed in real time to provide alerts on issues such foreign bodies that could damage kit and equipment, which may need to be replaced.
Its technology also can be used to improve energy efficiency and has been deployed in about 80 mines. Motion Metrics makes money through the purchase of its systems as well as subscription-based payments for its software. The company had sales of £9 million in 2021 and generated a “modest” profit.
Advertisement
Weir is a provider of components such as valves, grinders and excavator buckets to the global minerals sector. Jon Stanton, 54, its chief executive, pointed out the company operated on about 5,000 mining sites so would have the opportunity to develop Motion Metrics quickly.
He said: “We are going through a process of digitising our business and building capability that enhances our mechanical, scientific and hydraulic engineering. This is an acquisition that massively accelerates the strategy by offering new capabilities to our customers. We have very little artificial intelligence and machine-learning capability in the organisation today and this gives us a team of more than 120.
“Customers want to do things smarter, more efficiently and sustainably. The opportunity for us is to get into a space we are not really in at the moment in terms of providing data.
“We operate on close to 5,000 mining sites around the world, so if we only get 10 per cent penetration across our existing customer portfolio that is a massive step up from where [Motion Metrics] is today. We think we can rapidly scale up the revenues across the huge Weir distribution platform we have.”
Shahram Tafazoli, Motion Metrics’ chief executive, will continue to lead the business. He said the deal “brings access to every major mining region in the world, from pit to plant”.
Advertisement
Shares in Weir Group rose by 48½p, or 2.7 per cent, to £18.20.
