Halliburton profit boosted by government work

updated 9:24 a.m. ET July 22, 2005

HOUSTON - Oilfield services firm Halliburton Co. reported a second-quarter profit, driven by an influx of new government contracts that boosted results at its KBR and energy services units.

In a report after the markets closed Thursday, Halliburton said it earned $392 million, or 78 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30 compared with a loss of $667 million, or $1.52 per share, last year. The year-ago result included a $200 million loss from an offshore engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning project in Brazil.

Revenue rose 4 percent to $5.2 billion from $5 billion.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 56 cents per share on revenue of $4.87 billion.

Halliburton attributed the reversal due to its KBR unit and Energy Services Group.

KBR, which was formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, reported operating income of $122 million versus a loss of $277 million a year ago, with government and infrastructure business rising to $73 million from $19 million last year. The year-ago results reflected a pretax loss of $310 million related to the Brazilian project in the unit's energy and chemicals segment.

Meanwhile, Halliburton's energy services group, which provides drilling and production services, posted operating income of $522 million, up 93 percent from the same period last year.

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