MONTREAL —AtkinsRéalis chief executive Ian Edwards announced the engineering firm is looking to sell its money-losing joint venture with Hitachi Energy after beating earnings expectations and notching a record services backlog last quarter.
In July, the company announced a deal to sell its Scandinavian engineering business, Systra Group, to a French consulting firm for 80 million pounds — about $137 million. The deal marked the first big move under a strategic revamp as the firm looks to sharpen its game as a pure-play engineering firm in green energy and infrastructure.
Under Edwards’ stewardship since June 2019, AtkinsRéalis has shifted its focus to engineering and consulting services and away from lump-sum projects — fixed-price contracts under which the company must foot the bill for cost overruns. The loss was lower because it relates to administrative tasks, permitting, testing and driver training, executives said.