Fluor Foresees Sales Surge by Executives With Options

Fluor Corp. warned Wall Street on Friday to expect an unusually high volume of stock sales over the next 20 months as top executives cash in many of the 500,000 options that they have been granted over the past 10 years.

The Aliso Viejo engineering and construction company said in a press release that executives have previously sold very few shares and must exercise their remaining options before the benefits--and their value--expire by the fall of 2002.

Fluor said it is notifying its shareholders in advance of such stock transactions so they understand that the sales “do not reflect a lack of confidence in the company or its future prospects.”

The options have been part of the compensation packages paid to executive officers, who own a total of 3 million shares and options. Most of those securities are options, and many won’t expire until various times after 2002. All company executives and directors combined own nearly 1.5 million shares and 8.5 million options.

Fluor already has 76.1 million shares outstanding.

The company’s stock gained $1.99 Thursday to close at $44.96 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.