Texas-based Fluor moved up its quarterly earnings call by several hours Thursday to announce that David Seaton has stepped down as CEO and board member effective May 1.
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Carlos Hernandez is stepping in as “interim” CEO, although there is no leadership search planned, Alan Boeckmann, now executive chairman of the Fluor board, said during the morning conference call. “Make no mistake about it, Carlos will be running the company,” he added.
Seaton has been CEO since 2011 and chairman of the board since 2012.
“I want to thank David for his 34 years of service and dedication to Fluor,” said Hernandez, who has been the company’s chief legal officer since 2007. Fluor said in a press release that Seaton would stay on through an unspecified transition period and assist management “as requested.”
There were no specifics revealed during the call about the reasons for Seaton’s departure.
On the earnings front, Boeckmann said the company was clearly “disappointed” about its performance.
During the first quarter, Fluor recorded a net loss of $58 million or $0.42 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $18 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, a year ago.
Fluor’s first-quarter revenue was $4.2 billion, compared to $4.8 billion during the first three months of 2018.
Pre-tax charges and problems with an offshore Energy & Chemicals segment project were among the issues faced by Fluor in the first quarter.
Fluor is a major player in the Energy Department weapons complex. Among other jobs, the company leads decommissioning at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio.
