Fluor Doubles Its Quarterly Net Earnings

With more work and a hefty settlement on a longstanding claim, Fluor Corp. in Irvine posted net income of $33.9 million for its third quarter ended July 31, more than double last year’s third-quarter earnings of $13.4 million.

The engineering, construction and mining firm’s earnings came on revenue of $1.6 billion, a 23% increase over last year’s revenue of $1.3 billion.

For the nine months ended July 31, net earnings were $79.4 million, compared to $32.8 million in earnings for the same period last year. Total revenue climbed 31% to $4.6 billion this year from $3.5 billion last year.

Fluor’s core engineering and construction business, operated through its Fluor Daniel subsidiary, has been brisk, said David S. Tappan Jr., Fluor’s chairman and chief executive.

New engineering and construction awards jumped 34% in the third quarter and 28% in the first nine months from the same periods last year. The business accounts for about 85% of Fluor’s revenue.

One indicator of Fluor’s health in the near future is the amount of business it has generated but has yet to complete.

That backlog at the end of July was $8.2 billion, a 39% increase over $5.9 billion at the same time last year.

In July, the company announced that it had received $43 million in a settlement with the National Iranian Oil Co. for unpaid bills on a refinery construction job interrupted in 1979 by the revolution in Iran. The settlement contributed $9 million to the bottom line.

Fluor also owns Massey Coal Co. in Richmond, Va., and a 57% stake in Doe Run Lead Co. in St. Louis. Tappan said the mining firms’ operating incomes were down slightly from last year’s figures. Massey was somewhat affected by a United Mine Workers strike against another firm, he said.