Shaw Group Swings to 1Q Profit

BATON ROUGE — Strong demand for fossil and nuclear power projects pushed The Shaw Group Inc., an engineering, construction and environmental contractor, to a first-quarter profit, the company said Wednesday.

For the three months ending Nov. 30, Shaw earned $2.23 million, or 3 cents per share, versus a year-ago loss of $12.3 million, or 15 cents per share.

Revenue rose to $1.71 billion from $1.28 billion a year ago.

Excluding the company's investment in its Westinghouse nuclear segment, net income totaled $41.2 million, or 49 cents per share. That segment took a non-cash currency transaction loss of $57.2 million, Shaw said.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected a per-share profit of 49 cents on revenue of $1.68 billion. Those forecasts typically exclude one-time items.

"Our fossil and nuclear power, and our fabrication and manufacturing groups are performing well in what continues to be a robust market," said J.M. Bernhard, Jr., chairman, president and chief executive. "Our energy and chemicals group and maintenance group also performed well during the quarter."

Shaw said strong global energy and petrochemical markets contributed to a quarterly backlog of $14 billion, 47 percent higher than a year ago. Of that, $6.6 billion, or 47 percent, is tied to fossil and nuclear power projects, the company said.

Shaw said it expected 68 percent of the backlog to be converted to revenue over the next 24 months.

The company also maintained its previous guidance for the 2007-08 fiscal year, saying it expected per-share earnings of $2.30 to $2.60 on revenue of about $7 billion.

Shaw shares fell 48 cents to $59.22 Wednesday. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $28.60 to $77.30.

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