Rotork Sees no Impact from Weak Oil

Martin Lamb to replace Roger Lockwood as chairman.

March 3 (Reuters) - Valve-control systems maker Rotork Plc said it had yet to see any noticeable impact on orders despite weakness in the oil and gas exploration industry, helping to send up the company's shares more than 9 percent on Tuesday.

The steep slide in oil prices has prompted many energy companies to slash capital spending and cut jobs.

Rotork, which makes valve-automation equipment used in the oil and gas, water, power and nuclear industries, has a smaller exposure to the upstream oil and gas market than other sectors.

"This commentary is better than we feared, to be frank, given the comments made by overseas peers...", Jefferies analysts said in a client note.

Rotork, which reported a 2.3 percent rise in pretax profit on Tuesday, said its exposure to markets such as unconventional energy, LNG, petrochemicals and pipelines, would help the company make up for any weakness in demand from oil and gas explorers and producers.

"The majority of the business is more in the midstream and downstream end of the market, and I think that is going to be a lot more resilient this year than the upstream. So, the impact to us will be quite low," CEO Peter France told Reuters.

Upstream projects accounted for 15 percent of Rotork's total revenue in 2014, compared with a contribution of 57 percent from the overall oil and gas industry. Downstream, which includes refineries, contributed the biggest chunk at 27 percent.

Rotork's full-year pretax profit rose to 141.2 million pounds ($217.3 million) from 138.0 million pounds a year earlier, helped by a 16 percent rise in sales to the power industry.

Total revenue rose 2.8 percent to 594.7 million pounds.

The FTSE-250 company also said its chairman of 17 years, Roger Lockwood, would retire in April, and be replaced by former IMI Plc Chief Executive Martin Lamb.

Lamb was appointed to Rotork's board in June as a non-executive director.

By Roshni Menon

Rotork shares were up 6.3 percent at 2,600 pence at 1215 GMT, and were among the top gainers on the London Stock Exchange.