Fluor Profit More Than Triples as Sales of Construction Services Rise

Fluor Corp.’s first-quarter profit more than tripled as the largest publicly traded engineering and construction company said revenue rose 31%.

Net income rose to $41.2 million, or 51 cents a share, from $11.2 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $2.51 billion from $1.91 billion, Fluor said.

Aliso Viejo-based Fluor sold more construction services to build power plants, pipelines and offshore oil platforms, a spokeswoman said. She didn’t know which customers contributed the most to revenue and profit.

Profit, excluding stock-based compensation, rose to $36.2 million, or 45 cents a share, from $32.7 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier, the company said.

On that basis, which isn’t in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, Fluor was expected to have profit of 42 cents, the average estimate of four analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call.

Fluor said second-quarter profit would be about 50 cents a share and 2002 profit would be about $2.10 a share.

Fluor shares rose 89 cents to $41.33 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have risen 11% this year.

Other earnings from California companies, excluding one-time items:

* Capstone Turbine Corp. reported a net loss of $12 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with a loss of $9.4 million, or 12 cents, a year ago. The Chatsworth-based energy company said revenue was $4.6 million, down from $8.9 million a year ago.

* Hall, Kinion & Associates reported a net loss of $2.4 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a loss of $26.4 million, or $2 a share, a year ago. The San Jose-based personnel provider said revenue fell to $24.5 million, compared with $60.9 million a year ago.

* Hines Horticulture Inc. reported net income of $2 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $900,000, or 4 cents, last year. The Irvine-based commercial nursery reported sales of $68.7 million, up from $67.7 million a year ago.

* McKesson Corp. reported net income of $125.4 million, or 42 cents a share, contrasted with a net loss of $175.5 million, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier. The San Francisco drug distributor said revenue grew 14% to $13 billion, from $11.4 billion a year earlier.

* Provena Foods Inc. reported net income of $55,706, or 2 cents a share, compared with $9,866, or zero, a share a year ago. The Chino-based company reported sales of $9.7 million, up 26% from $7.7 million a year ago.