ConDig (28-Feb-18).  Profit at Tutor Perini more than doubled in the fourth quarter as the civil, building and specialty construction company booked a $53.3 million tax benefit, while revenue remained flat compared with the year-ago period.

The Sylmar, California-based company posted net income of $80.9 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2017, compared with $30.3 million in the same period the year prior.

It comes as Tutor Perini reported a $53.3 million tax benefit, which primarily resulted from the remeasurement of the company’s net deferred tax liabilities following the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Revenue in the fourth quarter was $1.2 billion and was flat with the same period the year before.

For the year, the company reported profit of $148.4 million, up from $95.8 million the year before. Revenue was reported as $4.76 billion, down from $5 billion in 2016.

Tutor Perini expects full-year revenue in the range of $1.9 million to $2.3 million and is expected to be driven by higher volume of work in its civil and building divisions, while increased operating income is expected to result from consistent operating margins in the civil and building segments and a higher operating margin in the specialty contractors division.

In addition, Tutor Perini said that the lower effective tax rate resulting from recent tax reform together with reduced interest expense should positively benefit the company’s 2018 results.

Income from construction operations was $59.3 million and $179.5 million for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively, compared with $52.1 million and $201.9 million for the comparable periods in 2016.

The increase in income from construction operations for the fourth quarter was largely driven by contributions from certain higher-margin civil projects.

But the company noted that income from construction operations in 2017 was adversely affected by unfavorable adjustments on certain mechanical projects in the specialty contractors division.

Project backlog as of December 31 last year was $7.3 billion, up 17% compared with $6.2 billion a year earlier. New awards and adjustments to contracts in progress during the fourth quarter and full year 2017 were $1 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively, compared with $0.8 billion and $3.7 billion for the same periods a year earlier.

The group’s civil division was the major contributor to new award activity last year and both the civil and building segments are expected to drive backlog growth in 2018, the company said.

Tutor previously announced certain sizeable new projects that are expected to be booked as new awards in the first quarter of this year, including the $1.41 billion Newark Airport Terminal One Design-Build project and a $172 million mechanical project at the Baruch Houses complex in New York.

“We had an excellent year of new awards that grew our backlog significantly. In addition, our continued intense focus on improved working capital management enabled us to generate record operating cash in 2017,” said Ronald Tutor, chairman and chief executive officer of Tutor Perini.

“The Civil segment performed particularly well, growing its backlog by 54% in 2017 and finishing with a 12% operating margin for the year. Our large current backlog and volume of prospective opportunities together with our expectation for improved profitability in the specialty contractors segment provides us with confidence for even better operating results in 2018.”