Insituform swings to 1Q profit after year-ago charges

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April 25, 2008

CHESTERFIELD, Mo.—Insituform Technologies Inc., a contractor that rehabilitates sewers and underground piping systems, said Friday it swung to a first-quarter profit on easy comparisons to a prior-year quarter hurt by charges.

For the quarter ended March 31, Insituform earned $1.9 million, or 7 cents per share, compared with a loss of $15.3 million, or 56 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2007.

The prior-year period's results included a charges of $11.8 million, or 43 cents per share, related to the closure of its tunneling business.

Earnings from continuing operations totaled $2 million, or 7 cents per share, compared with a loss from continuing operations of $3.3 million, or 12 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose 9.5 percent to $125.9 million from $115 million in the same period last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 7 cents per share on $121.3 million in revenue.

The company credited the jump in revenue to its European operations, which benefited from a strong backlog and a weak U.S. dollar.

Rehabilitation revenue rose 6.5 percent to $110.1 million.