Nuclear deals power 52% profit surge at AtkinsRealis, prompt brighter forecast

Globe and Mail

15-05-2025

Nuclear projects fuelled a big surge in revenue at AtkinsRealis Group Inc. ATRL-T last quarter, paving the way for better financial results in the year ahead, the engineering firm said.
'We cannot overstate our belief in the significant opportunity in front of AtkinsRealis in the nuclear sector,' chief executive Ian Edwards told analysts on a conference call Thursday.
'We continue to position extremely well to take advantage of the ongoing nuclear supercycle.'
The Montreal-based company formerly known as SNC-Lavalin raised its 2025 nuclear revenue outlook to between $1.9-billion and $2-billion from the previous range of $1.6-billion to $1.7-billion. It also increased its projections for adjusted earnings.
AtkinsRealis shares were up 14 per cent to $86.45 on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of midday.
Edwards also brushed off any concerns about the impact of the global trade war set off by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has also tried to freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants and loans.
'We are not directly impacted by tariffs, and we are minimally exposed to federal agency contracts,' he said.
During its latest quarter, AtkinsRealis boosted its backlog of nuclear work to a record $5.25-billion in a 185 per cent leap from a year earlier.
Revenue in the segment grew organically by 77 per cent year-over-year to a quarterly record of $538-million, accounting for the vast majority of the company's total revenue increase and its 52 per cent jump in profits.
Last quarter, Atkins subsidiary Candu Energy signed a multibillion-dollar contract for a life extension on four reactors at Ontario's Pickering nuclear power station.
It also secured a contract to extend the life of a reactor at the Cernavoda nuclear plant in Romania, after winning a bid late last year to build two new multibillion-dollar reactors there.
In March, the federal government announced a preliminary agreement to finance half the cost of Candu's proposed Monark reactor – AtkinsRealis' latest homegrown nuclear technology – with a $304-million loan.
'We're negotiating both for additional life extensions in Korea, additional phases of life extensions in Canada and obviously new builds (in Europe and Asia),' Edwards said Thursday.
The one drain on the company's income statement remained three so-called lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) construction contracts: Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown light-rail transit system, Ottawa's Trillium Line and the greater Montreal area's REM light-rail network extension. But, the losses totalled far less than the $84.4-million from the previous quarter.
The legacy segment yielded $14.9-million in adjusted losses before interest and taxes. The loss was owed mainly to 'overhead costs from the ongoing efforts to bring the remaining projects to completion' – particularly the REM in Montreal, where most of the construction backlog lies – the company said.
The backlog for the costly LSTK division – its fixed-price contracts mean companies must pay for any cost overruns themselves – sat at $200-million last quarter, down from $299-million the year before.
AtkinsRealis halted all bidding on new construction contracts in 2019.
It also continues to hunt for a buyer for its money-losing joint venture with Hitachi Energy, Linxon, which focuses on electrical substations.
On Thursday, the company reported a net income $70.6-million for the three months ended March 31 versus $46.6-million in the same period a year earlier.
First-quarter revenues increased 12 per cent year-over-year to $2.55-billion from $2.26-billion.
On an adjusted basis, AtkinsRealis' professional services and project management business earned 57 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 42 cents per diluted share a year ago.