Willbros reports fourth quarter and 2010 results

March 15, 2011 | Budget & Investment

Willbros_ProjectWillbros Group, Inc. announced today results for the fourth quarter and full year 2010. The Company recorded a net loss from continuing operations in the fourth quarter of $66.3 million, or $1.41 per share, on revenue of $398.5 million. Contributing to the loss were after-tax charges of $14.0 million related to cost overruns due to extreme weather and schedule slippage on several projects in Canada, and an after-tax impairment charge of $28.8 million related to the 2007 acquisition of the Downstream Oil & Gas (“Downstream”) segment. Absent the non-cash impairment charge, fourth quarter results would have been a net loss from continuing operations of approximately $37.5 million, or $0.80 per share.

For the full year 2010, Willbros reported a net loss from continuing operations of $31.8 million, or $0.74 per share, on revenue of $1.2 billion. Full year results were negatively impacted by $57.3 million from the following after-tax charges: $14.0 million of Canada fourth quarter project losses, $7.3 million of deal costs associated with the acquisition of the InfrastruX Group, now the Company’s Utility Transmission & Distribution (“Utility T&D”) segment, and a non-cash $36.0 million goodwill impairment charge in the Downstream segment. These charges were partially offset by an after-tax and non-cash $45.3 million reduction in the fair value of the earn out liability associated with the acquisition of InfrastruX. Absent the impairment charge and reduction in earn out, full year 2010 results would have been a net loss from continuing operations of approximately $41.1 million, or $0.96 per share.

Randy Harl, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Although market conditions started to improve late in the year, we continued to be challenged by weaker demand for our services which was compounded by poor visibility for the timing of both committed projects as well as anticipated projects. In our Downstream and Utility T&D segments, we found ourselves maintaining our operations at resource levels sufficient to initiate and complete certain projects that were delayed or cancelled on short notice. The combination of these circumstances resulted in misalignment of our costs with the uncertain timing of revenues. We also made significant investments in the future of the Company to diversify our end market exposure with the acquisition of InfrastruX and to align our service offerings with our customers’ needs. We have made several management changes and added a key position to the management team since the second half of 2010. We have high expectations from the newly configured management team.