Mike Nartker
NS&D Monitor
2/14/2014

Bill Lingard abruptly resigned from his position as URS President and Chief Operating Officer this week. URS announced Lingard’s resignation along with the release of the company’s preliminary Fiscal Year 2013 financial results, which came in below expectations. The company said its expected 2013 earnings would be $3.20-$3.30 per share, down from previous guidance of $4.10-$4.25 per share; and attributed the drop to issues in its oil and gas business. “We are extremely disappointed with the Company’s fourth quarter financial performance, which fell significantly short of our expectations,” URS Chairman and CEO Martin Koffel said in a release, adding, “Execution issues in our new Oil & Gas Division, which were identified during a review of the fourth quarter of 2013, led to a significant deterioration in project earnings. We also experienced project delays caused, in part, by the residual effects of lower than expected natural gas prices and pipeline capacity.”

Lingard came to URS in 2012 after it acquired Flint Energy Services, where had served as President and CEO. Lingard initially served as president of URS’ oil and gas division, and was named as executive vice president and chief operating officer last summer before assuming the role of president from Koffel last fall (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 39). When asked about succession planning late this week in a call with investors, Koffel said the “immediate work at hand” will be to improve URS’ oil and gas business. “I’m confident we’ll do that in short order,” Koffel said. He also said, “We do have a really good bench. … We need to absorb what’s happened here and deal with it operationally, but we’ll be on to it and I’ll be engaged with the Board immediately on it.”

URS Shifting GMOS Unit to Federal Division

It also emerged this week that URS intends to move its Global Management and Operations Services unit from its Energy and Construction division to its Federal Services division. URS’ GMOS unit is responsible for the company’s work in the Department of Energy marketplace, as well as in the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority market. URS declined to comment on the GMOS move this week this week. However, it may be tied to URS’ announcement this week that Wayne Shaw, President of Oil & Gas, will now report directly to George Nash, President of the Energy and Construction Division. “Both of these divisions are construction intensive, and aligning them more closely will promote the standardization of work practices, enhance focus on project execution, and increase collaboration on new business pursuits. It also will enhance the sharing of project resources, particularly the Energy & Construction Division’s large project management skills, enabling the Company to pursue larger and more technically complex projects,” a URS release states.