Engineering-Construction Unit Powers Irvine Firm’s Gains : Fluor’s Quarterly Earnings Hit $21.6 Million

Continuing its financial recovery, Fluor Corp. on Thursday reported earnings of $21.6 million for the quarter ended Jan. 31, more than double the $9 million recorded in the same period a year ago.

The Irvine-based engineering and construction giant logged revenue of $1.4 billion for the first quarter of its 1989 fiscal year, up 37% from $1 billion in 1988.

Fluor Chairman David Tappan Jr. attributed the improvement primarily to gains at Fluor Daniel, the company’s principal engineering and construction unit. He said the company’s investments in coal and lead mining operations also contributed to profits.

Fluor said it won $1.6 billion in new contracts during the first quarter; the firm won $1.3 billion in contracts in the same period a year ago. The company’s backlog of engineering and construction work rose to $7 billion in the quarter; it was $5.1 billion last year in the period.

After 2 years of heavy losses and extensive restructuring, Fluor returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1987 and has remained in the black ever since.

Fluor has diversified its construction and engineering operations since the late 1970s, when its mainstay was designing and building large refineries, petrochemical plants and other energy-related projects.

That work hit the skids in 1981, when oil prices began falling.

In recent years, Fluor has benefited from the declining value of the dollar in relation to foreign currencies and from a resurgence of capital spending by heavy manufacturers, particularly in the pulp, paper and petrochemical industries.