Jacobs Engineering subsidiary CH2M boosted the parent company’s bottom line in its latest quarter thanks to enhancements in ongoing nuclear cleanup projects for the Department of Energy, Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou said Monday.
Jacobs reported net earnings of $150 million ($1.05 per share) for the quarter ended June 30, the third quarter of the company’s fiscal 2018. That was up 42 percent from $89 million (0.74 per share) in the same period a year ago. Revenue over that period rose from $2.5 billion to $4.2 billion.
Dallas-based Jacobs completed its $3.27 billion acquisition of Colorado-based CH2M in December 2017.
During recent months the company increased its scope of environmental remediation at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state, Demetriou said during the company’s quarterly earnings call with financial analysts. The company has also received a one-year extension on its contract for environmental remediation of the Central Plateau Remediation at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
The Department of Energy said in June it planned to extend the 10-year, $4.5 billion Hanford Site Plateau Remediation Contract held by CH2M through the end of September 2019. The DOE has not revealed the value of the contract extension. CH2M had also previously gotten $1.3 billion of economic stimulus work during the administration of President Barack Obama. The actual extension had not occurred as of last Thursday, according to a DOE spokesperson.
Jacobs spokespeople could not immediately be reached Monday for more detail on the expanded scope of work at West Valley, where CH2M Hill BWXT has a $542 million cleanup contract through March 2020.
Contracts with the Energy Department are within Jacobs’ Aerospace, Technology, Environmental, and Nuclear business segment. The business brought in roughly $1.2 billion in revenue during the recently completed quarter, compared with $610 million during the same quarter in fiscal 2017. Operating profit spiked from $49 million to $89 million.
“The combination of Jacobs and CH2M is surpassing our expectations,” Demetriou said.
Jacobs expects its earnings for fiscal 2018 will be at the high end of its previously announced target of $4 to $4.40 of adjusted earnings per share.
