Big buy cuts SNC’s oil & gas risk

Article Excerpt

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $53 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares o/s: 175.4 million; Market cap: $9.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) saw its revenue fall 8.0% in the second quarter of 2017, to $1.9 billion from $2.1 billion a year earlier. That’s partly because it sold some of its lessimportant operations in late 2016. Earnings rose 0.7%, to $107.8 million from $107.0 million; per-share earnings were unchanged at $0.72. In July 2017, SNC completed its $3.6 billion acquisition of U.K.-based engineering firm WS Atkins. It specializes in industrial projects such as railways, nuclear power plants, water-treatment facilities and highways. Buying Atkins should cut SNC’s exposure to cyclical oil and gas clients. Before the purchase, those clients supplied 46% of its revenue. The elimination of overlapping operations should cut $120 million from the combined company’s annual costs by the end of the first year. However, big acquisitions like this add risk. SNC-Lavalin is still…