McDermott Intl 1Q profit falls 22 percent

Net income slipped to $123.2 million, or 54 cents per share, from $158.1 million, or 69 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue increased 6 percent to $1.45 billion from $1.36 billion a year earlier, as higher offshore oil and gas construction and government revenue offset lower power generation systems revenue.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected profit of 54 cents per share on slightly higher revenue of $1.48 billion.

The company said it posted a $68.3 million drop in income in its offshore oil and gas construction segment, mainly due to a high-level of unproductive offshore working days for major construction vessels during the 2008 first quarter, because of poor weather conditions and reduced activities in the Caspian region.

"Despite a disruptive first quarter for Offshore Oil & Gas Construction, the outlook for all of our business segments remains strong for 2008 as we execute our record backlog and continue robust bidding activity," said Bruce W. Wilkinson, chairman and chief executive.

McDermott said offshore oil and gas revenue rose to $645.9 from $550.3 million as fewer activities in the Caspian region were offset by added work in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. Power generation sales slipped to $616.3 million from $655.4 million due to less work on new fossil utility steam systems and retrofits of existing facilities.

At March 31, McDermott's consolidated backlog was $10.2 billion, up from $9.8 billion at Dec. 31.

Shares rose 5 cents to close earlier at $53.95 and slipped 95 cents or nearly 2 percent in aftermarket electronic trading.