Dive Brief:
- Fluor Corp. reported a net loss of $782 million in its third quarter, compared to $69 million in earnings reported for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The firm reported a loss last quarter as well.
- Revenue was $3.9 billion for the quarter ending Sept. 30 — up from $3.8 billion in the same period last year.
- The Irving, Texas-based general contracting firm, the second-largest by revenue in the U.S. based on Engineering News-Records research, noted in Thursday’s earnings report that its strategic review is now complete, and that restructuring is underway. Fluor has denounced the amount of risk inherent in certain types of fixed-price, public-private partnerships and has said it will pull back on the types of projects it pursues. "We're not going to bid a project that we don't think we can execute effectively, and we're not going to take terms and conditions that unduly put risk on us," CEO Carlos Hernandez said in the company's Oct. 31 conference call.
Dive Insight:
During the third quarter, Fluor announced plans to divest its government segment and the segment that oversees its construction equipment rental company, AMECO. CEO Carlos Hernandez said at that time that the divestment would allow the company to refocus on its core strengths. The government business is not “strategically enabling to the rest of Fluor,” according to Hernandez, and AMECO “does not uniquely drive project success and is not seen by clients as a differentiated offering.”
The company has not announced a sale of those divisions yet, and has reported them as “discontinued operations,” of which it recorded net profit of $40 million, up from $9 million a year ago. It brought in new awards totaling $1.1 billion during the quarter, including an extension of the Savannah River management and operating contract for the Department of Energy. Its backlog of projects in those divisions now sits at $4 billion, down from $4.9 billion a year ago.
Segment-wise, Energy & Chemicals’ reported profit was up 70% year over year, at $85 million.
The firm split another division into two categories starting this reporting period: Mining & Industrial profit jumped 171% to $57 million and Infrastructure & Power segment recorded profit of $1 million, down 99% from $102 million the prior year.
Profit was also down 52% for the Diversified Services segment — excluding AMECO’s North American operations — to $11 million. Fluor’s "Other" segment, which includes two fixed-price government projects, reported a loss of $96 million, compared to a loss of $23 million in 2018.