NEW YORK, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Engineering and construction company Foster Wheeler Ltd (FWLT) posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, but said its power plant business in North America was slowing.
The company also announced that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Raymond J. Milchovich would retire next year.
Net earnings climbed to $160.8 million, or $1.11 a share, from $71.9 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding an $18.3 million asbestos-related gain, the company posted quarterly earnings of $142.5 million, or 98 cents a share, topping analysts' average forecast of 84 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenues rose to $1.7 billion from $1.19 billion.
Foster Wheeler said its engineering and construction group booked $538 million in new orders during the quarter, bringing its backlog of work to $1.8 billion at the end of June, up 26 percent from a year earlier.
But its power group added $191 million in new orders, sharply down from the $550 million booked in the year-ago quarter, as North American customers deferred prospective projects because of increased environmental scrutiny, rising costs and fears about the economy.
Backlog at the power group stood at $1.5 billion at the end of the quarter, up 10 percent from a year earlier."In our (global power group) -- consistent with our guidance at the end of the first quarter of this year -- we are seeing delays but not cancellations in some North American prospects," Milchovich said in a statement.
The company would seek to offset that slowness by focusing on markets outside North America, he added. (Reporting by Matt Daily and Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
Utilities contractor Quanta Services Inc (PWR) posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, and forecast strong third quarter revenue.
For the second quarter ended June 30, net income was $40.5 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $21.9 million, or 17 cents a share, a year ago.
Before items, earnings in the latest quarter were 26 cents a share.
Revenue rose 74 percent to $960.9 million.
Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 24 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $903.0, according to Reuters Estimates.
Pro forma internal revenue growth was about 20 percent compared to the year-ago period, Chief Executive John Colson said in a statement.
In July, Quanta, which installs and maintains network infrastructure including electric power, gas, cable TV, and telephone and data lines, acquired Winco Inc, a helicopter services company.
For the third quarter, the company sees earnings of 23 cents a share to 26 cents a share on revenue of $1 billion and $1.04 billion.It expects earnings from continuing operations, excluding items, to be between 27 cents and 31 cents a share.
Analysts were looking for earnings of 30 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $967.0 million.
Shares of the Houston, Texas-based company closed at $30.66 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr)http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINBNG5472820080806?rpc=44&pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
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