Washington Division boosts URS earnings

URS Corp. said May 7 that its first-quarter profit climbed 63 percent, helped by the engineering and construction company's recent acquisition of Washington Group International Inc., Boise. For the quarter ended March 28, net income rose to $49.4 million, or 60 cents per share, from $30.4 million, or 58 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.

Excluding amortization charges related to an acquisition, the company said it earned 69 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 50 cents per share.

Revenue nearly doubled to $2.26 billion from $1.13 billion, as sales grew in every division. Analysts predicted revenue of $2.33 billion.

The first quarter was the first period that included results from Washington Group. The $3.1 billion acquisition was approved by shareholders in November.

URS in the first quarter recorded non-cash amortization expense of $13.3 million pre-tax, or 9 cents per share on an after-tax basis, for amortization of intangible assets associated with the Washington Group acquisition. Excluding this expense, net income for the first quarter totaled $57.2 million, or 69 cents per fully diluted share.

Chairman and CEO Martin Koffel said in a release that the company’s strong performance reflects positive trends across its federal, and industrial and commercial, sectors as well as expansion of positions in the high-growth power and oil and gas markets through the Washington Group acquisition.

He said the infrastructure sector remained stable during the quarter, as states and municipal agencies continued to move forward on critical transportation, water and wastewater and facilities projects. “However, we continue to monitor this market closely, as states begin to finalize their budgets for 2009.”

The Washington Division in the first quarter reported revenues of $902 million and operating income of $48.2 million. The division provides program management, planning, design and engineering, construction, operations and maintenance, and decommissioning and closure services to customers in the power, infrastructure, industrial and commercial and federal markets.

URS shares traded between $41.34 and $44.61 on May 8 compared to a one-year range between $30.75 and $64.19.