Fluor Corp. Still Losing, But Sees ‘Improvement’

Despite a massive restructuring last year and higher revenues this year, Fluor Corp. reported Friday that it continued to lose money in the second quarter and first six months of its fiscal year.

The Irvine-based company, however, is losing less money than it did a year ago.

In fact, Fluor termed the $11.6-million loss in the quarter and the $5-million loss in the first six months, both ended April 30, a “dramatic improvement” in the battle to return the engineering, construction and natural-resources firm to profitability.

The quarterly loss is a 70.6% improvement over the $39.5-million loss in last year’s second quarter, and the six-month loss is a 93% improvement over the $72 million lost in the same period last year.

Meantime, revenues in the quarter rose 27.3% to $1.4 billion from $1.1 billion a year ago. Revenues for the first six months grew 30% to $2.6 billion from $2 billion in the same period last year.

The six-month figures this year could have been much worse. Had the company not sold 10% of its interest in its St. Joe Gold Corp. subsidiary in the first quarter, it would have reported a $17.5-million loss for that quarter, instead of a $6.6-million profit, and a $29.1-million loss for the six-month period.

“As we stated earlier this year, results from operations are expected to be uneven on a quarterly basis,” said David S. Tappan Jr., Fluor’s chairman and chief executive, in a prepared statement. “However, the company will report considerable improvement for 1986 over the prior year.”

The recent red ink comes after a year in which the company lost $633.3 million, its first annual loss since 1959.