Engineering giant Jacobs said Wednesday it took in $3.4 billion in revenue during its fiscal 2020 second quarter, up from the $3.1 billion generated during the same period of 2019, despite moving most of its worldwide workforce to telework.
Thanks to rapid action since the beginning of the crisis, Jacobs expedited the shift of its 55,000-member workforce to remote operations, Chair and CEO Steve Demetriou said in a news release. Most personnel have worked remotely for about two months now, he added.
Jacobs’ Critical Mission Solutions division, which provides services at Energy Department nuclear sites and other government work, will earn lower income for the short term because the contracts are dependent on having people physically on-site, executives said Wednesday.
A provision in the federal CARES Act signed into law in March will enable Jacobs to recoup the cost of paid leave for employees who cannot report to federal job sites during the pandemic but cannot telecommute due to the nature of their work, Demetriou said.
The chief executive said he envisions staffing levels returning to more normal levels at DOE nuclear sites over the next few months. Jacobs subsidiary CH2M is the majority partner in the venture that recently won a 39-month extension for remediation at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state. It is also a minority partner in a team managing liquid waste at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Critical Mission Solutions operating profit amounted to $84 million for the quarter ended March 27, compared to $74 million a year ago.
The company sustained a net loss of $122 million, or $0.92 per share, for its second quarter of fiscal 2020, a steep drop from net earnings of $115 million, or $0.82 per share, for the same period in fiscal 2019. That was largely due to financial accounting for the 2019 sale of its energy and chemicals business to WorleyParsons, according to the earnings material.
The company expects its earnings per share for fiscal 2020 in the range of $4.80 to $5.30.
Most of the company’s business sectors are affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but Jacobs expects recovery to begin in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, according to its presentation for the call.
