Earnings rose at Fluor, Irving, Texas, in the second quarter, despite what the engineering and construction company described as hesitancy in world trade markets.
Over the next 12 months, Fluor expects to pursue Department of Energy contracts for work at the Savannah River Plutonium Pits Project and to support high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) nuclear fuel efforts, company executives said during a Friday financial conference call.
Net earnings for the second quarter ended June 30 were $2.5 billion, or $14.81 a share, up from $169 million, or $0.97 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was $4 billion, down year-over-year from $4.2 billion, according to the Aug. 1 earnings release.
The earnings were affected by $3.2 billion “pre-tax mark-to-market gains on our investment in NuScale,” Fluor said in its earnings report. NuScale is a small modular reactor company.
Quarterly segment operating income for Mission Solutions, the segment where Fluor coordinates joint ventures doing business with the DOE and Department of Defense, was $35 million, down from $41 million a year ago.
Segment revenue was $762 million, up from $704 million in the year-ago period. A copy of the Fluor earnings presentation is available here.
According to the presentation, Fluor sees “multiple opportunities in the nuclear and gas-fired power generation market.”
“Unfortunately, our results for the quarter were impacted by three long-standing infrastructure projects and a shift in expected capital spending from some clients,” Jim Breuer, chief executive officer of Fluor, said in the release. “We view this shift as temporary and believe that our long-term strategy centered around disciplined project delivery in growth markets will continue to benefit our clients and our shareholders.”
Among other contracts, Fluor heads the Savannah River Missions Solutions management and operations contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Fluor also currently leaads a team holding the environmental cleanup contract at the DOE Portsmouth Site in Ohio.