Fluor sees earnings drop

Fluor Corporation posted a drop in net earnings, profit and revenue for the first quarter of the year, ended March 31, 2014. The US contractor reported net earnings of US$ 149 million, down from Q1 2014 figures of US$ 166 million.

Revenue for the first quarter was US$ 5.4 billion, down from US$ 7.2 billion last year. Fluor attributed the decline in revenue to a significant drop in business from its Industrial & Infrastructure segment’s mining and metals business line.

However, Fluor did see positive results in new business. New awards for the quarter were a record US$ 10.7 billion, including US$ 8.8 billion in Oil & Gas, US$ 924 million in Industrial & Infrastructure and US$ 748 million in Government. Consolidated backlog at the end of the quarter rose to US$ 40.2 billion, up US$ 5.3 billion over last quarter, and up from US$ 37.5 billion a year ago.

"Our Oil & Gas group continues to perform extremely well, posting nearly US$ 9 billion in new awards and growing profitability by +32%," said chairman and CEO David Seaton. "However, our overall expectations for the year are tempered by continued weakness in a number of our other end markets.”

The Industrial & Infrastructure group reported segment profit of US$ 100 million, down from US$ 127 million in the first quarter of 2013. Revenue for the quarter was US$ 1.7 billion, nearly half of 2013’s $3.1 billion.

New Industrial & Infrastructure awards totalled US$ 924 million, including additional scope on a copper project in Peru and an iron ore facility in Australia. Backlog for the quarter was US$ 9.9 billion, down from US$ 16 billion a year ago, which again the company attributed to substantially lower mining and metals new awards over the past year.