Jacobs Engineering Group Inc

Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. engineering-services company, named President Craig Martin as successor to Chief Executive Noel Watson, who will remain chairman.

Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said fiscal first-quarter profit increased 61% on higher demand for energy projects. The company raised its profit forecast for this year. Net income climbed to $98.4 million, or 79 cents a share, from $61.3 million, or 51 cents, a year earlier. Analysts were expecting 71 cents. Revenue increased 22% to $2.47 billion for the quarter that ended Dec. 31. Jacobs said it might earn $2.95 to $3.25 a share in 2008, more than its Nov. 5 estimate of $2.70 to $3.10.

Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said Monday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 43% and its annual profit jumped nearly 46%. The construction services provider said it earned $287.1 million, or $2.35 a share, on revenue of $8.5 billion for its fiscal year ended Sept. 30. That compares with $196.9 million, or $1.64 a share, for fiscal 2006. The fourth quarter was similarly strong. Revenue rose to $2.3 billion, up from $2 billion in the same period last year.

Pasadena Firm Wins Chevron Job: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said it won the contract from Chevron U.S.A. Products Co. to modernize a fluid catalytic cracking unit at Chevron's Richmond, Calif., refinery. The job is worth about $290 million. The project will increase valuable light-oil product output and improve the unit's energy efficiency.

Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. agreed to buy Texas-based Carter & Burgess, adding 3,200 consultants and expanding in Southern and Western states. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Pasadena Firm Wins CITGO Contract: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced that it has been awarded a contract for engineering, procurement and construction management services from CITGO Petroleum Corp. Thomas R. Hammond, group vice president of the Pasadena-based engineering firm, said, "This agreement encompasses the performance of multiple capital projects at the Lake Charles, La., refinery.

Sverdrup Technology Inc., a unit of Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., will pay $2.5 million to settle claims it overcharged NASA in the early 1990s, the Justice Department said. Sverdrup officials were unavailable for comment.

Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. agreed to buy Texas-based Carter & Burgess, adding 3,200 consultants and expanding in Southern and Western states. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Construction services provider Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said its fiscal third-quarter earnings rose nearly 48% on higher revenue from its technical professional services unit. The Pasadena company earned $74.8 million, or 61 cents a share, compared with $50.6 million, or 42 cents, a year earlier. Revenue increased 8% to $2.08 billion. Shares of Jacobs fell 71 cents to $64.98.

NASA awarded a contract worth as much as $561 million to a unit of construction services company Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. to provide facility operation services at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Jacobs Technology Inc. won the 10-year deal, which has a three-year base and seven potential one-year options.

An "average" job review led a space engineer to buy a gun, then kill a co-worker he blamed for the appraisal and himself at NASA's Johnson Space Center, police said. The engineer, Bill Phillips, 60, left rambling notes saying his victim, David Beverly, 62, had called him stupid. Phillips, a contract employee at NASA for Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

Shares of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. engineering-services company, rose 9.2% on Tuesday after the company boosted its earnings forecast for the year. The shares jumped $7.39 to $87.85, their biggest gain in two years. They've risen 23% in the last year. Jacobs, based in Pasadena, raised its forecast for the year to $4 to $4.30 a share, above the $3.96 average estimate from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company earned $3.27 last year.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., a provider of engineering services to various industries, said fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 38% as sales surged. Net income was $50.6 million, or 84 cents a share, up from $36.6 million, or 62 cents, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 76 cents a share. Revenue rose 33% to $1.93 billion.

* Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. posted a 60% jump in second-quarter profit to $44.5 million, up from $27.8 million a year earlier. For the quarter ended March 31, Jacobs said its revenue rose 29% to $1.8 billion.