Earnings were largely up at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the first quarter, which the international engineering and construction company — with contracts across the Department of Energy nuclear weapons complex — attributed to positive trends in its key markets.
First quarter net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Fluor were $48 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, up from a net loss of $86 million, or $0.61 per share, in the year ago quarter, the company said in a Friday news release.
In addition to tax accounting, the first quarter numbers were affected by the planned sale of certain operations in South America and Europe that are no longer listed as discontinued, company officials said during the call.
Quarterly revenue was $3.1 billion, down year-over-year from $3.3 billion.
Quarterly segment operating income for the Mission Solutions branch from which Fluor directs its DOE joint ventures was $58 million, up from $44 million a year ago. Segment revenue was $593 million down from $753 million in the year-ago period, according to the Fluor release.
“This year is off to a great start as we see our strategic focus accelerate change and improve our competitive position in the key markets we serve,” said Fluor Chairman and CEO David Constable in the earnings news release. “We see our clients moving forward with a significant amount of work over the next few quarters, and we are well positioned to deploy our world-class teams to support their efforts.”
During an earnings conference call Friday morning, Constable said he anticipates transitioning to a new long-term contract later this year to run the National Nuclear Security Administration’s two main nuclear-weapon production sites: the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
In November, a Fluor-led team won a contract potentially worth $28 billion over 10 years to oversee the sites. But losing bidders led by BWX Technologies and Bechtel promptly protested the award, which they said had been tainted by a conflict of interest involving a former government employee who wound up working for a subcontractor on the Fluor team.
Also during Friday’s call, Constable said the DOE Office of Environmental Management has picked up a remaining six-month extension on the remediation contract at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio held by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth. Fluor announced signing of an extension package for the site in April 2021, saying it included a one-year extension and two potential six-month extensions that could keep the contractor on through March 29, 2023.
The DOE nuclear cleanup office is currently soliciting for a follow-on contract at the gaseous diffusion plant site.
During the call, Fluor officials also said it continues to own 57% of small modular reactor developer NuScale, which just started trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “SMR.” In addition to picking up various international investors over the past year, NuScale has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin to explore a small modular reactor option for Dairyland.
A link to Fluor’s earnings release is available here and the earnings slide presentation is available here.
