Stuart Bradie, CEO of publicly-traded design-build firm KBR Inc., Houston (KBR:NYSE), told investors and analysts in a June 16 presentation that it will exit fixed-price energy-project construction amid a sharp market turndown to focus on its higher-growth, higher-margin government services business. The firm did not announce the change.
"EPC lump-sum construction risk is completely off the table, it goes away," said Bradie, named CEO in 2014 from a previous post as group managing director at WorleyParsons. "This gives more weight to our government services business and marks another step in our transformation."