Fluor Expects Lower Profit for Year

Fluor Corp. said that operating profit will come in $100 million below expectations in the coming fiscal year for its global engineering and construction businesses. The news sent its already battered shares down by 9.4%. Analysts had been predicting profit from its core Fluor Daniel unit in the $325-million to $350-million range in the fiscal year, which began this month. James Rollans, Fluor’s senior vice president, said that even before the turmoil in Asian financial markets in recent weeks, the company was considering cutting back its bids on projects in the hotly competitive Pacific Rim countries. Uncertainties stemming from Asian stock markets’ declines have rendered business prospects in that region and elsewhere in the world even less clear, he said. The news was the latest in a series of negative announcements this year by the Irvine-based company, which has acknowledged it let internal controls slip while on an expansion boom.