Fluor Names Boeckmann CEO
Fluor Corp., reinforcing its commitment to focus on its massive engineering and construction operations, on Monday named company veteran Alan Boeckmann chairman and chief executive.
Boeckmann, 53, who joined the Aliso Viejo company 27 years ago as an electrical engineer, will succeed Philip Carroll Jr., 64, who is retiring. Carroll, who had been chief executive since 1998, is credited with shedding the company’s coal operations and other secondary businesses that had been a drain on the bottom line for the nation’s largest publicly traded engineering and construction company.
Boeckmann, who had moved up to the No.2 position early this year when he was named president and chief operating officer, said he hopes to increase earnings by 10% to 15% annually by lining up more construction projects in such promising fields as petrochemicals, biotech and pharmaceuticals. He also identified road and railway projects as areas of potential growth.
“We’re going to focus on our core markets,” he said. “That’s what we’re good at, and that’s where significant opportunities are.”
Fluor will continue to unload such underperforming, non-core business units as heavy equipment dealerships and some temporary staffing operations, he said.
The company in October lowered its projections for the fourth quarter and year, citing slowdowns in its mining and telecommunications businesses. But Fluor has since said it expects financial results next year to meet analysts’ estimates of $2.10 to $2.20 a share. The company expects earnings of $1.76 to $1.86 a share this year, up from $1.55 in 2000, on sales of nearly $10 billion.
The company’s stock closed Monday at $36.16, down 14 cents a share, on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock is up 9% this year, while the average U.S. blue-chip stock is down 14%.
Carroll, who officially will turn over the reins Feb. 6, said Boeckmann’s in-depth understanding of Flour made him a logical successor. “He knows this company inside out,” Carroll said. “It’s in his bones, his genes.”
Boeckmann, whose office walls are adorned with framed pictures of Lycra, polyester and nylon plants built by Fluor, has held management positions around the globe, including South Africa, Venezuela and South Carolina. In addition to serving as chief executive of the company’s core engineering and construction unit, he was head of Fluor Daniel’s energy and chemicals group.
In related news, the company said Vice Chairman Jim Stein, 58, is retiring Jan. 2 after nearly 40 years with Fluor. No reason was given for his departure.
Carroll credited Boeckmann with giving him key advice on Fluor’s restructuring efforts that began in March 1999. Under Carroll’s direction, Fluor spun off its coal business, Massey Energy Co., into a separate public company, centralized operations and eliminated 5,000 jobs, although at least that many positions have been added to the 55,000-employee company since then.
The end of Carroll’s tenure is no surprise, Merrill Lynch analyst Fritz von Carp said, describing the former head of Shell Oil as a “transitional leader” brought in to put Fluor on stronger footing.
Von Carp said business trends are favorable for Fluor as North American and European oil refineries are retrofitted to produce cleaner gasoline. Also, oil and gas companies are building new refineries, which Fluor designs, builds and sometimes operates.
