Fluor Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
May 2, 2025
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Operator

replay of today's conference call will be available at approximately 10:30 a. M. Eastern Time today, accessible at Fluor's website at investor.fluor.com.

Operator

The web replay will be available for thirty days. A telephone replay will also be available for seven days through a registration link, also accessible on website at investor.fluor.com. At this time, for opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Jason Landkammer, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jason Landkamer
Jason Landkamer
VP - IR at Fluor

Thanks, Ian. Good morning, and welcome to Fluor's twenty twenty five first quarter earnings call. Jim Brewer, Fluor's Chief Executive Officer and John Regan, Fluor's Chief Financial Officer are with us today. Fluor issued its first quarter earnings release earlier this morning and a slide presentation is posted on our website that we will reference while making prepared remarks. Before getting started, I'd like to refer to our Safe Harbor note regarding forward looking statements, which is summarized on Slide two.

Jason Landkamer
Jason Landkamer
VP - IR at Fluor

During today's presentation, we'll be making forward looking statements, which reflect our current analysis of existing trends and information. There is an inherent risk that actual results and experience could differ materially. You can find a discussion of our risk factors, which could potentially contribute to such differences in our 2024 Form 10 ks and our 10 Q, which was filed earlier today. During this call, we will discuss certain non GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these amounts to the comparable GAAP measures are reflected in our earnings release and posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.floor.com.

Jason Landkamer
Jason Landkamer
VP - IR at Fluor

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Jim Brewer, Floor's Chief Executive Officer. Jim?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thank you, Jason. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Please turn to Slide three. I would like to start by thanking everyone who joined us last month in Indianapolis and on the webcast for our strategy update as we roll out the next chapter of our strategy for the period 2025 to 2028. As a quick recap, this slide provides a high level look at how the strategy is going to evolve from Chapter one, fix and build, to Chapter two, grow and execute.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Under reinforced financial discipline, our focus will shift from revitalizing the capital structure, which we've accomplished, to generating cash and earnings. As we discussed a few weeks ago, we will continue to pursue fair and balanced contract terms, maintaining our robust pursuit of risk principles while focusing on commercial acumen across all levels of the company. As we grow across the portfolio, we will focus on target markets in our three segments and consider bolt on acquisitions that add specific technical capabilities in certain areas. And finally, at Fluor, our high performance culture is centered around project delivery. This is how we create value for our stakeholders.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Strong and healthy client relationships are a critical element to building trust and delivering results. We will continue to develop and promote these areas of excellence to ensure we remain at the forefront of our industry. Now let's turn to our operating review beginning on Slide four. Revenue for the first quarter was $4,000,000,000 Consolidated new awards for the quarter were strong at $5,800,000,000 led by two significant awards in Urban Solutions. Our book to burn ratio for the quarter was 1.5.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

New awards were 87% reimbursable and our total backlog is now $28,700,000,000 of which 79% is reimbursable. Our backlog reflects significant awards in life sciences and infrastructure, offset by a reduction in scope on two large projects. Moving to our business segments. Please turn to Slide six. Urban Solutions, our largest and most diverse business, reported profit of $70,000,000 in the first quarter.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Results in this segment reflect the significant ramp up of execution activities with the new awards secured over the past eighteen months, including several life sciences and metals projects. New awards for the quarter were $5,300,000,000 compared to $4,900,000,000 a year ago. Ending backlog now at $20,200,000,000 represents 70% of Fluor's total backlog. Now please turn to Slide seven. ATLS had another very strong quarter and continues to build our execution capabilities to meet client demand.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Last month, we were pleased to announce a new award from one of the world's leading pharmaceutical makers to provide EPCM services for the next phase of their multibillion dollar investment. This combined program is a world class endeavor, underpinned by the close collaboration between Fluor, our customer and our execution partners. It is also a great example of Fluor's continued commitment to the life sciences market. In fact, over the past fifty years, we've worked on 1,500 life sciences projects for clients in 30 countries. This business line is also making significant advances on existing projects.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

For example, at our biotech project in Denmark, earlier this month, we successfully doubled bioreactor capacity. When fully operational, this will be the largest biologic facility of its kind. We're excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for ATLS. Over the next few quarters, we see opportunities in pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing. In the semiconductor space, we're tracking a clean room opportunity with an existing client.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Finally, we continue to advance the design for a data center in The US under the master services agreement we signed last year with a major technology provider. In mining and metals, we received a services award for the Rakodik copper gold project in Pakistan. This award is a precursor to future EP and Centimeters support services on this project, and it further cements our reputation as a world leader in large scale copper concentrators. Looking ahead, we see interest in green steel production, multiple opportunities with an existing aluminum client and increasing focus on projects to grow copper production in North And South America. Moving to Slide eight.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

In infrastructure, new awards include $682,000,000 for a construction contract for TxDOT in the College Station area. The project involves widening a 12 mile stretch of highway from two lanes to three in each direction. This is a key commuter and commercial route for the state. Construction is set to begin this summer. The Gordie Howe project is now 96% complete, and we're on track to hand over The U.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

S. Port of entry in July, getting us closer to our completion date this fall. Moving to Energy Solutions, please turn to Slide nine. Segment profit was $47,000,000 compared to $68,000,000 a year ago. Results reflect projects nearing completion and a reserve related to a long completed project at our joint venture in Mexico.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

This was partially offset by increased profit recognition on the chemicals project due to a client directed change in scope and its impact on profit take up. New awards for the quarter totaled three fifteen million dollars and included additional pre FEED services for the Aramco petrochemical facility in Saudi Arabia. In April, we learned of Dow's decision to slow down construction site activities on their path to zero project due to market and financial considerations. Dow has instructed Fluor to complete home office engineering and procurement efforts to enhance construction readiness in advance of equipment deliveries expected in the coming quarters. Dow has stated that they remain committed to completing the project.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

On LNG Canada, field progress is advancing to the final stages with seven eighty two out of eight thirty seven systems having achieved mechanical completion. In recent weeks, the project received an LNG commissioning cargo to facilitate equipment testing and cool down of the facility. This marks another important completion milestone. I'm increasingly confident in the progress made by our team as we enter the final stretch of this project. Our next significant milestone will be the achievement of ready for startup on Train one, which will enable the client to start producing LNG.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Prospects for the next few quarters include a chemical recycling plant and a gas compression project. Moving on to Slide 10. Mission Solutions reported segment profit of $5,000,000 for the first quarter compared to $22,000,000 a year ago. Results reflect a reserve of $28,000,000 stemming from a recent ruling on a long standing claim related to a support services contract completed in 2019. We were also informed that we lost the recompete for the strategic petroleum reserve, a project that Fluor has managed over the past eleven years.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

If we're unsuccessful in our protest, we would transition to work in the second half of this year. New awards of 1 and $64,000,000 included bookings for the DOE, FEMA and the Army. Ending backlog for the quarter was 2,400,000,000.0 Over the next few quarters, we expect to hear about the full release of the Savannah River Plutonium pit facility as well as several strategic opportunities in the national security space. Before I turn over the call to John, I wanted to share a few observations from my interactions with clients over the past few weeks in the context of the current economic sentiment. Our clients are always looking for the best way to deploy their capital on projects.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Decisions include where to build, the size of facilities, the best supply chain solution and the timing of projects. Fluor's grow and execute strategy and supply chain acumen position us well to support these efforts, whether domestic or international. We're seeing clients forge ahead with their projects where there is a clear time to market driver. They're not slowing down. However, there are some clients that are more sensitive to cost and GDP growth, and they require further market clarity and cost certainty before committing to final investment decisions.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Nonetheless, these clients continue to issue work releases to advance the underlying engineering and design until full project awards are signed. Looking at our remaining new awards outlook for this year, we are already engaged and providing services on over 90% of underlying award revenue. Let me now turn the call over to John for the financial update. John?

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone. Today, I'll review the results for the first quarter and go over guidance for the balance of the year. Please turn to slide 12. Jim already referenced revenue and new awards for the quarter, but our consolidated segment profit for Q1 was $131,000,000 Our GAAP results notably reflect four items. First, a $15,000,000 reduction in Urban Solutions margin due to forex between The US and Canada on the Gordie Howe project.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Second, the mission solutions item from 2019 that Jim talked about, which amounted to $28,000,000. This matter still requires another hearing to determine an award amount, so results reflect our current best estimate. Third, the $22,000,000 reserve that Jim also mentioned related to a long completed project at our joint venture in Mexico. And fourth, the $14,000,000 for other negative income impacts of FX including the embedded derivative in Mexico. Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 was $155,000,000 compared to $88,000,000 a year ago.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Our adjusted EPS was $0.73 compared to $0.47 in '24. Adjusted results for '25 exclude those four items I mentioned except for Gordie Howe. Now all of that is detailed in the tables to our earnings release issued earlier today. G and A for the quarter was $36,000,000 down from $59,000,000 a year ago. This reduction was primarily driven by compensation that is stock price sensitive.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Net interest income in Q1 was $17,000,000 compared to $35,000,000 in Q4 and $39,000,000 a year ago. This results from lower cash balances for projects nearing completion as the advance payments we had collected were used to fund our obligations to subcontractors. This is especially relevant for a couple of our JVs. Moving to Slide 13. We had $2,500,000,000 of cash and marketable securities at March 31, a decrease of just over $400,000,000 from year end, which is mostly attributable to our share repurchase program, increased working capital on a couple of our larger projects and the typical cash flows for the first quarter, including incentive payments for the prior year.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Operating cash flow for the quarter was an outflow of $286,000,000 compared to an outflow of $111,000,000 a year ago. This results from the working capital growth on the projects that I mentioned, though some of that has normalized in April, the incentive payments and separately timing of AR collections and Mission Solutions. Also, twenty twenty four cash flow included a $40,000,000 positive effect from NuScale, which was still consolidated at that time. For our legacy info projects, in q one, we provided $70,000,000 in funding. As a reminder, due to our JV ownership structure, most of this is reflected as an investing activity and not in operating cash flow.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Our expectation of funding about $200,000,000 on legacy projects for all of 2025 remains unchanged. During the quarter, we recognized an $84,000,000 positive benefit related to the settlement of a jury verdict that had been rendered against an Infrared JV in q four. As a reminder, this project was completed over twelve years ago. With this settlement, we consider our remaining P and L exposure to be closed. As you may recall, this item is reflected in equity method results in our P and L.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Separately, equity method also reflects the mark to market of our investment in NuScale, which was a $477,000,000 negative in Q1 as their stock price slipped from approximately $18 to just over $14 though they have recovered to around $17 through yesterday. Finally, as a point of reference, our adjusted results exclude both of the equity method items. Switching to capital returns, our organic cash flow generation continues to underpin our objectives in this area. In line with our previously announced share repurchase program, we seized upon the dip in our share price by repurchasing 3,600,000.0 shares during Q1, spending $142,000,000 We now anticipate up to $600,000,000 in repurchases for all of 2025, including approximately $150,000,000 in Q2. We'll continue to leverage our robust financial foundation to pursue the most advantageous capital allocation opportunities for our shareholders, whether that is through reinvestment in the business, through purchasing shares, executing bolt on acquisitions or other forms of capital return.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Moving to guidance on Slide 14. We are holding to our 2025 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $575,000,000 to $675,000,000 and our adjusted EPS guidance of $2.25 to $2.75 However, EPS may be impacted by the ultimate tempo of our share repurchase activity. Our expectations for operating cash flow remain between $450,000,000 and $500,000,000 Key assumptions for 2025 continue to include a new awards book to burn ratio above one, revenue growth of approximately 15%, as well as the other guidance listed on the slide. We also maintain our CAL twenty five segment margins of approximately 4% to 5% in urban, approximately 3.5% to 4.5% in energy and approximately 56% in mission. As a final modeling note, through our lens, the effective tax rate in Q1 was approximately 20%.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

This is illustrated on Page 20 of the 10 Q. Over the course of 2025, we expect this rate to climb closer to 30% for the full year based on where we execute the projects in our backlog. And with that, Ian, we're ready for our first question.

Operator

Thank Our first question comes from the line of Michael Dudas with Vertical Research Partners. Your line is open.

Michael Dudas
Equity Research Analyst at Vertical Research Partners

Good morning, gentlemen.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Good morning.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Good morning.

Michael Dudas
Equity Research Analyst at Vertical Research Partners

Jim, maybe to further elaborate on your prepared remarks on your discussion with clients. So relative to maybe the fourth quarter conference call, our meeting in Indiana in April and today, the change of sentiment tender amongst the clients, maybe you can which clients are more sensitive relative to ones that are more time to market? I assume it's the much of the urban solutions area. Maybe a little bit more sense on that. And your comment about your new business award opportunities and you're working for that, that 90%, how that would reflect relative to maybe other periods of time in Ford's history?

Michael Dudas
Equity Research Analyst at Vertical Research Partners

Thanks.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thank you, Michael. Yeah. We have been engaging with our clients at various levels, including the the very senior levels of of our key clients. And I would say that most of the projects in the markets we're the fundamentals of those projects are still there, whether it's the time to market projects. And you're correct.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

They're mostly in the urban space, particularly in the ATLS space. Those, for sure, are moving forward. But even the other ones that are more price sensitive and and GDP growth and market certainty, those still have very sound fundamentals behind them. What those clients are looking for is certainty in the environment. I think you I mean, that it's no surprise that the entire business community is watching very carefully what's happened with the the trade negotiations when we're hopeful that there's gonna be some some good news on certain fronts in the coming days and weeks so that we can start seeing some clarity in the in the broader picture.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

But projects in energy, projects in copper, I would say, are requiring a little bit more certainty, whereas projects in the ATLS arena and project in the mission solution space, I would say, have greater clarity today and are proceeding as as planned. As as far as our pipeline of prospects for the near term, the 90% comment on the underlying awards, Mike, it's similar to previous cycles and floor. I would may maybe it's perhaps a little bit higher. We have spent a lot of effort in the last few quarters or a couple of years in the strategy to really focus on quality pursuits and bet on feeds that we think have a high conversion to EPC and EPC. So we feel good about that 90%.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Some of that already materialized in Q1, and we expect that trend to continue in the coming quarters.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yes. Maybe on the clients that are a little more price sensitive, I'm not sure our procurement group has ever been busier in terms of price refreshing on the projects. So we are there alongside our customers as they're trying to put a finer point on project estimates and moving towards their FIDs.

Michael Dudas
Equity Research Analyst at Vertical Research Partners

Excellent. Thanks, gentlemen.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Mike.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Jamie Cook with Truist Securities. Your line is open.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Managing Director - Equity Research at Truist Securities

Hi, good morning. And thank you for the additional disclosure on the earnings call and in the press release, it was helpful. I guess my first question, I can't believe I'm asking this, but if I look at your EBITDA for the first quarter, it was 155. If we just multiply that by four, you're at the high end of, know, mean, your EBITDA guidance for the year. And I guess, how much conservative would you say there's in your numbers?

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Managing Director - Equity Research at Truist Securities

I mean, I'm just looking at your revenue has to a growth has to accelerate in the remaining three quarters for you to make your 15% top line guide. You know what I mean? So it implies your EBITDA should be growing from the first quarter level. So I guess I'll start that with my first question. Thanks.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Hey. Good morning, Jamie. Yeah. We got some stage counsel on how to improve our earnings release. So thank thank you and thank you for that.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

So I think as you're thinking about the shape of the EBITDA curve, the one thing that we couldn't have predicted was the behavior of our stock price. And so as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we had a significant tailwind. Unfortunately for us, in terms of the executive compensation results associated with our share price. And so you should think about roughly $08 or $09 of adjusted earnings or EPS attributable to that. So that kind of distorts the shape of the curve.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

And so I don't know that it's conservatism. I think we remain confident in the outlook for the year. And I would say when you probably normalize for the share price impact, puts us a little more squarely in the midpoint of that.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Managing Director - Equity Research at Truist Securities

Okay. And I guess just my second question, on the started out sort of in the hole on cash flow for the first quarter, but you increased your you doubled your share repurchase authorization, maintained your cash flow guide. I'm just wondering if there's opportunities on upside on the cash flow guide, whether it's coming from, you know, funding less of those legacy projects, if you could just characterize

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah. I'll I'll tackle that, Jamie. I I think you've cracked up a little bit on our end. But, in terms of where the cash flow guide is, q one performance, and ultimately the impact on share repurchases. Again, we're signaling some some confidence in where cash flow generation is.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

As I suggested in the prepared remarks, we did see a little bit of an uptick in April in terms of working capital conversion to to cash. And so underpinning kind of the uplift from the 300 to the $600,000,000 of share repo, you should consider, you know, our confidence in the outlook as as part and parcel to that. Yeah. I I I don't know if if if

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

I missed anything. Lost you for a few seconds, Jamie, so I'm not sure we caught the whole question.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Managing Director - Equity Research at Truist Securities

Yeah. Yes. Thank you. And nice quarter.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Thank you, Jamie.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz with Citigroup. Your line is open.

Andrew Kaplowitz
Andrew Kaplowitz
Managing Director at Citi

Hey, good morning everyone.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Good morning.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Good morning Andy.

Andrew Kaplowitz
Andrew Kaplowitz
Managing Director at Citi

I just wanted to follow-up on Jamie's question on one sense. I think you said you're more comfortable, it's obviously a big range for EBITDA and EPS like you're more comfortable maybe with the midpoint after a strong start. But how do we think about the second half of the year given the slow decision making that you I think Jim, you mentioned the Dow project delay, the recompete loss in Mission Solutions. Do we need to worry about like underutilization in the second half? Or there's enough projects in terms of that book to bill still being over one that you can sort of fill the gap?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Andy, let me start and maybe John can chime in later. Yes, let me start with the Dow project first. Dow came out and very clearly explained the reasons for slowing down construction activities or not slowing down engineering and procurement, and it had to do with a a combination of decisions around their their market, the timing of the pricing of their products and so on. We don't think we're not seeing a trend of that in our other clients, Andy. We have people who are having yet FID projects are expect looking for further clarity and certainty, but we're not seeing the trend.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

And because we're involved on these projects and, like John said, we're working hand in hand with our clients with these mitigation strategies around the the tariffs and other factors, We feel pretty strongly about about the quality of the backlog and our ability to convert. The exact timing of the conversion may may be a little uncertain. Maybe they push out just a tad, but we're not we're not expecting significant underutilization, compared to what what the baseline was, say, a month or two ago. John, anything you'd like to add?

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah. I think a couple points. One, just part and parcel of our execution strategy is an early buyout on the procurement front. So the things that are in backlog and ongoing tend to, it's our belief that they're gonna continue moving forward. And then maybe Jim's prepared remarks was also hinting at, kind of the earnings potential of the backlog.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

So even as things are slowing down, we are performing work on the vast majority of the things we see coming. And so from an earnings potential, kind of unmitigated there, but obviously a little bit of disruption on the new award front.

Andrew Kaplowitz
Andrew Kaplowitz
Managing Director at Citi

Very helpful guys. And then, you kept guidance of still book to bill over one times as you said. Jim maybe you talked about some things that maybe need a little bit more time to get through, but confidence level on sort of end markets that can go through the fastest or where do you get the confidence to continue to tell us book to bill over one? Is it a couple of chunky projects? Is it a couple of particular end markets?

Andrew Kaplowitz
Andrew Kaplowitz
Managing Director at Citi

Where does the confidence come from given the macro uncertainty?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Andy, the the confidence comes in our close collaboration with these clients on the front end work. And you look at whether it's copper, whether it's further additional pharmaceutical work, whether it's data centers. There's a midstream compression project in The US. There's a sustainable chemicals project. There's project with a power and LNG component feeding a a new power plant.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

These are real projects with clear economic incentives. Some of it is US based. Some of it is international. So our diversification is helping us. There are some large opportunities out there.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

I'll remind you of SRPPF. That's a significant opportunity. We're tracking that as part of the plan. So we have high confidence that there is a compelling need for our client to move forward with that project. So despite the nervousness in the markets, some of these key strategic pursuits, we feel are solid enough and have a compelling enough reason that that we feel good about it.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Of course, the the tariff story, Andy, is a developing story. It's still out there. We would like to see clarity on that in the short term one way or another. I think the market will adjust to that, but I think that there needs to be clarity coming forward. But having said that, I think some of our key pros most of our key prospects have very strong footing underneath them.

Andrew Kaplowitz
Andrew Kaplowitz
Managing Director at Citi

Appreciate all the color.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Yes. Thanks, Andy.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Andy Wittmann with Baird. Your line is open.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. I had several here to just help understand the quarter. And first thing I wanted to ask about was making sure that I heard something correctly related to the Urban Solutions segment and the $84,000,000 benefit that you recognized, during the quarter. Did I hear it correctly that that's an equity income and therefore not reported in that, in that segment profit results?

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Is that right, John?

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

You're spot on.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

And therefore, was it was it was ex and therefore, it was added back or excluded from your adjusted results. Is that right?

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah. The 80 the 84,000,000 is not in the $1.55 to be to be super clear.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Yeah. And it's not in the urban segment either. It's below the line. Okay. That's that's helpful.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Okay. So then you talked about, how two projects that got descoped, were allowed you to, because you're you're therefore farther along in your percentage of completion on these two projects, it allowed you to, I guess, accelerate some profit recognition into this quarter from the descoping process. You have to love E and C accounting. Could you tell us either by segment for urban and energy where those, I think, two projects resided, one in each? Could you tell us either individually per segment or in total how much benefit that POC change afforded you in the quarter?

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

I think this will help all of us get at Jamie's question that she asked about the kind of underlying EBITDA run rate.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Sure. So the first thing I'd probably point out is that we were expecting the burn across both of those projects across the balance of '25. Maybe there was a small impact to '26. So the pull forward is not I mean, in as much as you may think of it as a one time event, it was always kind of inside of our 2025 thinking. But you should think about those as around probably 9¢ of EPS

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

in in both of the segments directionally.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Got it. Just because your tax rate is always jumpy here, what would that be on an EBITDA basis?

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

So you're probably looking at around 20,000,000 each.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Okay. 20,000,000 each. So for total of 40 then? Yeah. Okay.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Okay. Then just just on cash flow.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Andy, let me stop you.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

So as as we're thinking about it, I I know you look at it through a slightly different lens. So I think about the 40 as kind of the the the credit amount. A certain portion of that would have been inside the frame for even q one thinking, so it's probably a little bit lower than that. But, you know, we're Yeah.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

It's spread out over the year. Yeah. That makes sense. Spread out of the year. It's 40.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

It could have been maybe 10 already here and 30 for the rest of the year. It'd be

Operator

straight lining it, kind of That you go. Process. Yeah.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Well done.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Yep. That makes sense. Okay. Thanks for that clarification. I also wanted to ask about North Texas.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

It looks like that project has resolution, and, you recognized it, I guess, in fourth quarter and then, you know, some some offset here for for a net impact. But another complexity of E and C accounting here, it looks like the settlement was actually, like, $400,000,000 to the joint venture, but you took benefit here in the quarter that that we're talking about here for the tune of $84,000,000. Question's not so much on the income statement here, but I I guess the question is, has the cash already been exchanged for this? Is that done as of the balance sheet that we see today? And if not, how much cash is gonna be associated with this when you when you when you finally get out of that cash position and when?

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah. So I was very artful in the in the remarks to say we we've closed out the p and l, but we will need to fund that in the balance of 25,000,000 and you should think about it in the $30,000,000 range.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Okay. That's helpful. Okay. Those are all my clarifying questions. That's helpful.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Great. Thank you so much for helping clarify those things.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Thank you. It certainly is assumed in the operating cash flow guidance that I rendered.

Andrew Wittmann
Senior Research Analyst at Baird

Thanks, Andy. Great.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Judah Aronovits with UBS. Line is open.

Judah Aronovitz
Judah Aronovitz
Associate Director - Equity Research at UBS Group

On for Steve Fisher. What exposure is left in Mexico on legacy projects and ongoing work that could cause any margin drag?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thank you for the question, Judah. Our joint venture in Mexico has a portfolio of projects with Pemex. Some are very close to completion. Some are in the middle of execution. We feel good about those projects.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

They're they're active under strategic projects for for the country. The LNG project we've been talking about last year, that's that's proceeding well, and we don't expect any additional surprises there. The the announcement we made in this call around Mexico had to do with a project that was completed many, many years ago. And and so that was a decision we made to take that that reserve. But other than that, I think we're we're in good shape in Mexico.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah. I I would agree. It's prob probably four major ongoing projects down there, at least half of which are probably the ninth inning and and maybe late middle innings on on the other. The other two. So, again, to to the exposure question, we don't feel like there's a there's a lot of, forward looking exposure.

Judah Aronovitz
Judah Aronovitz
Associate Director - Equity Research at UBS Group

Okay. Thanks. And then and then just on cash, what is the cash collection potential from JVs this year? Thanks.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

I I would say probably a little a little bit lower than last year. Certainly, we're sort of expecting to recoup some of the profits out of Canada with a little more confidence than we are in Mexico. So but again, all of that subsumed in the cash flow guidance that we published today.

Operator

Okay. There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the call back over to Jim Brewer for some closing remarks.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thank you, Ian, and many thanks to all of you participating in the call today. As you can see, we had a strong first quarter and a successful launch to our grow and execute strategy. I wanna thank, I wanna take this opportunity to thank David and Joe for their service and leadership. We look forward to working with David in his new capacity as Executive Chairman and wish Joe the best going forward. And to our audience, we appreciate your interest in Fluor, and thank you for your time.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Jason Landkamer
      Jason Landkamer
      VP - IR
    • Jim Breuer
      Jim Breuer
      CEO
Analysts
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Key Takeaways

  • Fluor introduced its new “Chapter two: Grow and Execute” strategy prioritizing cash generation, earnings, disciplined contract terms, targeted market expansion, and value-adding acquisitions.
  • First-quarter results included $4.0 billion in revenue, $5.8 billion in new awards (87% reimbursable), a 1.5 book-to-burn ratio, and ending backlog of $28.7 billion (79% reimbursable).
  • By segment, Urban Solutions delivered $70 million in profit on $5.3 billion of new awards, ATLS secured major life sciences EPCM work, Infrastructure won a $682 million Texas highway contract, and Energy Solutions navigated project completions and client-directed scope changes including Dow’s Path to Zero and LNG Canada nearing startup.
  • Fluor ended Q1 with $2.5 billion of cash, repurchased 3.6 million shares for $142 million, and reiterated full-year guidance of $575–675 million adjusted EBITDA, $2.25–2.75 adjusted EPS, and $450–500 million in operating cash flow while planning up to $600 million in share buybacks.
  • Management noted strong client momentum on “time-to-market” projects—especially in life sciences and urban sectors—with over 90% of anticipated award revenue already in active pursuit, though some clients are advancing FEED work while awaiting market clarity before final investment decisions.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Fluor Q1 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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