Environmental firms steadily ease into the next stage of their development

JOIN THE CLUB
There were four firms in the billionaires’ club in 1997. Beside U.S. Filter and Philip were the Bechtel Group Inc. and Foster Wheeler Corp.; both reported revenue gains in 1998. Runner-up Bechtel added more than 18%, reaching $2.6 billion, and Foster Wheeler moved up a notch to third place by boosting revenue 21%, to $1.4 billion.

Bechtel is gaining momentum in capturing large government contracts. DOE, under pressure to cut cleanup costs at its large sites, seems to be placing more emphasis on quantifiable results. San Francisco-based Bechtel, which built its reputation on heavy civil engineering expertise, is well positioned to benefit from the transition from site characterization to cleanup. The firm won the Oak Ridge, Tenn., operations and management contract in 1998 and added doe’s $3.5-billion, five-year Idaho lab o&m agreement this spring. “This is not high-tech,” says John Wallace, Bechtel vice president and manager of finance. “Dirt can be cleaned up cheaply these days.” Wallace expects to see “more pressure on costs and competitiveness at doe.”

The three newcomers to the billionaires’ club in 1998, are The it Group, URS Corp. and CH2M Hill Inc., respectively in slots four, five and six. It and URS added revenue through large well publicized, large acquisitions. CH2M Hill reported $900 million in revenue in 1996 and 1997. The Denver-based firm crossed the threshold by integrating several small additions from the past few years and capturing more business from design-build delivery and outsourcing. “Utilities are changing what they expect from their consultants,” says Mark Laswell, director of business development and planning for the company’s water group. “Most utilities are looking at alternate methods” of project delivery, he says. “They are outsourcing services from meter reading to operations of facilities.”