Sale of Complex Lets Fluor Eke Out a Profit

Although the final numbers show a $1.1-million profit for the period, Fluor Corp. officials acknowledged Tuesday that the giant engineering company would have posted a loss of $26 million in its fiscal 1986 third quarter without the gain from the sale of its Irvine headquarters complex.

Officials said, however, that the $27-million profit booked for the third quarter was the last time Fluor would be able to report a gain from last year’s sale of its 162-acre corporate complex.

For the third quarter last year, Fluor reported a net profit of $8.6 million--after using a $55.7-million gain from the sale of its offices and land to offset what otherwise would have been a loss of $47.1 million. Fluor’s third-quarter revenue was $1.1 billion, up from $975 million in the year-ago quarter.

Fluor has been able to cut its operating losses, said Chairman David Tappan, “primarily from restructuring actions begun 18 months ago.”

The company also announced Tuesday that Dean K. Allen, executive vice president and member of the Fluor board of directors, has voluntarily resigned from the company “to pursue other opportunities.”

Allen, who was employed at Fluor for 24 years, managed the company’s engineering and construction activities until last January, when he was promoted to executive vice president.

Allen said that his duties as executive vice president will be divided between Tappan, Fluor President John A. Wright and Leslie G. McCraw Jr., who last month was named head of a new organization--called Fluor Daniel Engineering & Construction Group--that combines all of Fluor’s engineering and most of its construction operations worldwide.