Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC), a provider of technical, professional, and construction services, has announced a 40.44 percent plunge in profit for the quarter ended Jun. 27, 2014, due to sharp increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses.
The company earned $64.84 million or $0.49 a share in the third-quarter compared with $108.87 million or $0.83 a share a year ago. Analysts on average had predicted net income of $0.80 a share.
Revenue during the third-quarter climbed 4.89 percent to $3231.79 million from $3081.00 million in the last year period.
The company reported a decline in operating income to $123.94 million from $168.36 million in the previous year period. That has resulted in contraction of 163 basis points in operating margins to 3.83 percent.
As on Jun. 27, 2014, the company's cash balance stood at $772.61 million, down 40.36 percent or $522.91 million from Jun. 28, 2013.
Commenting on the results for the third quarter, Jacobs president and CEO Craig Martin said, ''Third quarter results reflect good underlying performance by the business. In spite of delays in investment decisions in a number of markets, we were able to continue to build backlog.''
Commenting on guidance, the company said, ''We're making good progress with the restructuring and expect it to be complete by the end of FY14. Excluding the unusual adjustments in the first half and the net impact of restructuring in the second, we expect our EPS for the year to be slightly below the midpoint of Q2 guidance which was $3.15 to $3.55 a share.''
Shares of the company declined $0.05 or 0.09 percent to settle at $53.94 on Monday.
