DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Fluor Corp.'s (FLR) first-quarter profit rose 2.3% as strength in its industrial and infrastructure business offset continued weakness at the oil and gas business. The engineering and construction company has seen weakness at its oil and gas business drag on results in recent quarters. But increases in the company's overall orders and backlog have suggested improvement going forward. It was mostly resilient during the downturn. Fluor reported a profit of $139.7 million, or 78 cents a share, up from $136.6 million, or 76 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 2.8% to $5.06 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of 76 cents on $5.58 billion in revenue. Gross margin was flat at 5.3%. At the oil and gas segment, revenue dropped 23% as earnings fell 33%. The unit was supplanted as the company's largest top-line and earnings contributor by the industrial and infrastructure business, which saw revenue jump 60% and profit more than double. New awards jumped 84% to $6.2 billion from a year earlier, led by a near-quadrupling of new industrial and infrastructure awards. Backlog ended the quarter at $37.19 billion, up from $25.7 billion. Shares were up a penny at $65.70 in recent after-hours trading. The stock has gained 29% over the past 12 months. -By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240; matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com
