US-based CB&I reported net income of $12.8 million or $0.28 per diluted share for the three months ended March 31, 2003, compared with $10.3 million or $0.24 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2002.
For the first quarter period, new business taken was $325 million compared with $424 million in 2002. The Qatif 2 gas/oil separation plant project in Saudi Arabia, valued at $105 million, was awarded in the first quarter of 2002, while there were no awards of this magnitude in the first quarter of 2003.
The Company expects that significant new contracts currently under negotiation or pending full release will be awarded beginning in the second quarter of 2003 and continues to anticipate full-year 2003 new business taken in the range of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion.
New contracts during the quarter included an award for a butane storage facility in China and three clean fuels-related projects in the United States. Backlog at March 31, 2003 stood at $1.3 billion compared with $997 million at the end of the first quarter 2002.
Revenues for the first quarter of 2003 grew 24 percent to $322.3 million from $259.3 million in the first quarter of 2002. Revenues increased substantially in the Company's Europe, Africa, Middle East (EAME) and Asia Pacific (AP) segments, due primarily to the strong backlog going into the year, with large projects now under way in Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Revenues increased in North America, due mainly to a higher volume of process-related work, but declined in the Central and South America (CSA) segment, as a result of lower new awards during 2002 in certain Latin American markets.
CB&I is a global specialty engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company serving customers in several primary end markets, including hydrocarbon refining, natural gas, water and the energy sector in general. It offers a package of design, engineering, fabrication, procurement, construction and maintenance services.
CB&I projects include hydrocarbon processing plants, LNG terminals and peak shaving plants, bulk liquid terminals, water storage and treatment facilities, and other steel structures and their associated systems. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
