Yesterday's Market Movers Montreal-based AtkinsRealis Group Inc. soared 15.7 per cent after it reported its third-quarter profit edged lower compared with a year ago when it benefited from a gain on the sale of its Scandinavian engineering services business.
The engineering services firm says it earned net income attributable to shareholders of $103.7-million or 59 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
The result was down from $105.0-million or 60 cents per diluted share in same quarter last year, when it posted a gain on the sale of its Scandinavian engineering business, Systra Group, to a French consulting firm.
On an adjusted basis, AtkinsRealis says its professional services and project management business earned 63 cents per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of 38 cents per diluted share a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $2.45-billion, up from $2.20-billion in the same quarter last year.
The company says its services backlog was $16.84-billion at Sept. 30, up from $12.50-billion a year earlier, while its lump-sum turnkey project backlog was $190.1-million, down from $305.2-million a year ago.
In a research note, Desjardins Securities analyst Benoit Poirier said: “We are very pleased with the results at first glance and expect a positive trading reaction given the beat across the board, margin improvement and stronger-than-expected FCF leading to a nice step-down in leverage.”