Aug 9, 2022

The latest financial results reported by publicly traded engineering and construction companies. August 9, 2022 Results updates for each firm's latest quarter make that clear. AECOM (NYSE: ACM), which sticks more closely to traditional infrastructure, reported net income Aug. 8 from continuing operations of $107 million for the its fiscal third quarter of 2022, and $274 million for the first nine months, compared to $27.9 million and $199.6 million for the same periods in the prior year. Revenue decreased 5% to $3.2 billion for the quarter, and to $9.7 billion for the nine months of 2022, compared to $3.4 billion and $9.9 billion in 2021. Segment operating margin (adjusted, non-GAAP) climbed to 14.6% for the quarter and to 14% for the first nine months, the company reported. The profit margin represents a historic high for the company in its fiscal third quarter, it reported. Gaurav Kapoor, AECOM chief financial officer, noted in a statement that the company had increased its earnings per share guidance to investors and that it had been able to return "more than $400 million to investors this year through dividends and share repurchases." Jacobs Results Jacobs (NYSE: J) reported net earnings from continuing operations of $196 million for its third fiscal quarter, compared to $166 million for the same quarter in 2021, with year-to-date net earnings of $419 million, compared to $422 million for the prior year nine months. The company reported revenue in the third fiscal quarter of 2022 of $3.83 billion, compared to $3.58 billion for the same period last year, and $11.04 billion for the nine-month period, compared to $10.51 billion for the same nine months last year. One big difference is that roughly 27% of Jacobs revenue comes from non-construction-related markets in health and life sciences (11%) and national security (16%). Another 11% falls under the category of space, some of which is building facilities for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration but also includes consulting or engineering related to flight control and operations and equipment. The various consulting and technical services consulting and design that Jacobs performs involves everything from debris management to cybersecurity. The company performs its space-related work under its Critical Missions Solutions unit, which accounted for $3.8 billion of revenue for the first nine months of 2022. Jacobs' People & Places Solutions unit is responsible for more of the construction-related work involving infrastructure modernization, climate response and supply-chain diversification. Jacobs is number one on ENR's list of the top program managers. Kevin Berryman, Jacobs' president and chief financial officer, stressed the company's healthy operating profit margins in its fiscal third quarter during a presentation to investment analysts Aug. 1. The People & Places Solutions unit had an operating profit (as a percent of net revenue) of 13.2%, compared to 13.8% in the same period in 2022. Critical Missions Solutions had a margin of 7.9% for the quarter, also down from 8.9% the year prior. All signs pointed to those margins staying healthy or improving for the rest of 2022 and in 2023, company executives said. I Deputy Editor Richard Korman, who has edited ENR's Risk Review newsletter since 2012, helps run ENR's business coverage, selects ENR's commentary and op-ed viewpoint submissions and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. He recently completed a fellowship on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. In 2015 he won the Timothy White Award from American Business Media for investigations of individual surety fraud and workplace bullying. Richard's freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, pay before the earth completes its annual orbit of the sun, record zero injuries and assign risk to parties who control an activity or willingly finance the risk. Related Articles