Michael Steuert has ended his second term as chief financial officer for Fluor, and was succeeded Wednesday by longtime company executive Joe Brennan.
The financially troubled Irving, Texas-based engineering and construction multinational announced the change on Friday.
Steuert joined Fluor as CFO and senior vice president in 2001 and retired in 2012. He returned as chief financial officer in June 2019 as the company shook up its executive leadership. He is retiring again, but will stay on as a senior adviser through the close of 2020, according to a Fluor press release.
“After seven years of retirement, I returned to Fluor last year to help the new management team with the strategic review of our organization and to provide expertise as Fluor charted a new path forward,” Steuert said in a prepared statement. “While the past year has been challenging, I believe we have made great strides. I am confident that Fluor’s financial operations are in good hands, and I have made the personal decision to return to retirement and transition the role to a seasoned executive. Joe has the knowledge and experience required to complete our on-going internal review as it moves to conclusion and manage Fluor’s finance function going forward.”
Brennan has been Fluor’s senior vice president and operations controller for just a month, the latest position in a nearly 30-year career with the company. Previous jobs included segment controller for Fluor’s Energy and Chemicals busines from 2016 to 2020 and general manager for Southern California from 2013 to 2016.
In February, Fluor issued only preliminary select financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal 2020, which was the last calendar quarter of 2019. Fluor has not said when it expects to file the earnings report. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission raised questions about projects for which the company recorded charges in the second quarter of 2019. Company management has said it provided the requested documents and believes the probe won’t find any major errors. Fluor suffered a $555 million loss in the second quarter of 2019.
Fluor also suspended its dividend as of April 29. Prior to the SEC probe, like other engineering, procurement, and construction vendors Fluor was hit by a downturn in the market for building new natural gas-fueled power plants in North America.
As of Friday morning, Fluor’s stock price stood at $12.35, far below its 52-week high of $33.65 recorded one year ago, but up from its low of $3 in mid-March, which perhaps signals a mini-really during the ongoing pandemic.
Fluor is being investigated by the SEC regarding financial reporting and accounting during 2019. Carlos Hernandez became CEO last year, replacing David Seaton. Two vice presidents also left the company earlier this year.
Management also this year reversed a prior plan to sell off Fluor’s government business, which would have included its Department of Energy contracts. Industry sources speculate that Fluor decided to change course because offers for the government contracting business were weaker than expected.
The company remains a leading company within the DOE nuclear complex, managing environmental remediation at the Idaho National Laboratory and partnering with BWX Technologies for cleanup at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Fluor also leads Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, management prime for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
