After celebrating the Feb. 6 opening of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Inc.’s new Europe headquarters in London, CEO Neil Bruce was headed to Saudi Arabia, where his firm continues to feel the chill of last year’s diplomatic rupture between the oil-rich kingdom and Canada—as well asfrom other cascading developments.
除了全球事件外，现在对公司的底线进行了自助力，在国内遇到麻烦也在升级 - 正如新的政治和法律影响力达到总理贾斯汀·特鲁多（Justin Trudeau）使承包商的努力使这家50,000人的竞争力变得更加复杂，并超越了过去的道德头条新闻。
Bruce said ongoing Saudi business is relatively unscathed after Canada’s support last year for an imprisoned woman in the kingdom. But the firm’s outcomes for new work there fell below its previous roughly one-in-three success rate, he added. Oil and gas made up 37% of its approximate $6.9 billion 2017 revenue, including $747 million in Saudi Arabia.
SNC-Lavalin 2月11日宣布较低的预计2018年第四季度收入和利润结果，利润前景削减了40％以上，股价下跌了三分之一，指出了不明身份的采矿项目纠纷的影响是智利的Codelco铜矿。该公司称该问题为“孤立”，但也表示将停止在采矿业中的EPC竞标，并可以改变其部门的管理。
布鲁斯还将基础设施集团高管伊恩·爱德华兹（Ian Edwards）提升为首席运营官，以审查海外客户和市场。他是前澳大利亚的Leighton Group主管，自2014年以来一直经营SNC-Lavalin的主要基础设施业务。
与项目问题和lowered earnings outlooks,评级公司标准普尔下调the firm on Feb. 12 to BBB-, the lowest investment-grade rating, it said. Toronto-based ratings agency DBRS, owned by The Carlyle Group, said on Feb. 15 that its BBB rating "is under review," but the action does not apply to project ratings.
英国脱欧前方的不确定性
英国脱欧的影响也笼罩在该公司的伦敦扩张中，围绕着2017年购买英国设计巨头阿特金斯的1,200名员工。
“The government is really leaving it to the last moment,” said Bruce. But “we feel pretty immune,” he added, noting 99.9% retention of former Atkins employees.
Operating as SNC-Lavalin’s engineering, design and project management division, Atkins employs 11,500 people in Europe. But most of its business and more than 10,000 staff are in the U.K. SNC-Lavalin also plans a 2,000-person base in Epsom, England, 25 kilometers away.
随着英国从欧盟定于3月29日离开，总理特蕾莎·梅（Theresa May）尚未同意与其余27个成员国的离婚条约。下议院上个月以前所未有的多数票数投票决定了她585页的选秀出发协定。
没有交易离开的威胁在商业和行业中造成了几乎恐慌。商会公共帐户委员会主席梅格·希里尔（Meg Hillier）警告说：“任何业务都将在任何业务上都有巨大的不确定性……依靠进口。”
For Philip Hoare, the Atkins unit’s U.K. and Europe CEO, the Brexit worry is future workload. With Brexit dominating the political agenda, government investment decisions have been shelved, he fears, although existing large public infrastructure programs now provide the firm a secure baseline.
Back In the Headlines
But new bombshells in Canada related to past bribery scandals in Montreal and Libya involving long-terminated executives continue to plague SNC-Lavalin, as does a new potential legal headache, with the resulting financial impacts and speculation on future changes in its corporate size and shape.
The firm is in early-stage trial proceedings on federal criminal charges filed against it in 2015 related to past executives' bribes on Libya work.
Former CEO Pierre Duhaime, forced to resign in 2012 because of alleged ties to a separate Montreal hospital contract bribe scheme, pleaded guilty Feb. 1 to helping a public servant commit breach of trust and was sentenced to 40 months of house arrest and community service; other charges were dropped, however.
现在，前副总统斯蒂芬·罗伊（Stephane Roy）于2014年被起诉，但尚未审理与利比亚合同有关的贿赂，于2月13日在法庭上裁定，由于审判延误，这些指控下降了。去年，他对蒙特利尔医院项目的贿赂指控无罪释放。
Still developing with potential major new complications is a Feb. 7 report in Canada’s地球和邮件总理贾斯汀·特鲁多办公室的报纸可能已经向该国的前律师施加了压力general—who was since switched to another cabinet role and then resigned—to reverse federal prosecutors' rejection of the firm’s bid to negotiate settlement of the company bribe charges based on its revamp since 2012 of corporate management and toughened ethics rules and enforcement.
The controversy has become a Canadian media spectacle that also has attracted U.S. attention.
SNC-LavalinCEO Bruce earlier told the地球和邮件该公司“对压力或其他任何东西都没有可见性”。
涉及新的罚款和其他措施的指控解决将避免起诉并保留公司竞标联邦合同的能力。
加拿大当局尚未公开披露不授予该公司的所谓递延起诉协议的理由，这是加拿大去年6月颁布的工具，类似于美国，英国和其他地方使用的工具。
Media reports speculate that its decision is related to the firm not reporting its internal corruption probe findings to authorities.
但是在2月10日的电视露面中Attorney General David Lametti表示与公司达成和解是“可能性”。
Even so,now brewing, however,are possible provincial bribe charges outlined in December court documents against SNC-Lavalin related to alleged actions by departed employees to win a $127-million contract almost two decades ago to renovate Montreal’s Jacques Cartier Bridge. Authorities have not said when or if charges will be filed.
公司有强大的捍卫者in Quebec, who are concerned about a potential acquisition by a non-Canadian firm or a bankruptcy that could impact a core provincial employer.
与此同时,金融分析师看到稳定the firm's core businesses, are urging it to move on liquidating some investments to shore up its cash flow and quell investor anxiety—particularly completion of a sale of part of its valuable 17% stake in Toronto's 407 toll road that could generate more than $2 billion, says Bloomberg.
Says National Bank of Canada analyst Maxim Sytchev:"如果SNC的股份无法在这个相对不错的宏观环境中获得吸引力（不包括法律问题），那么当商业周期鞋下降时会发生什么？”
With new speculation among Canadian business observers on SNC-Lavalin's best or likely future strategy, as reported Feb. 15by the Globe and Mail (subscription)there could be a big audience listening on Feb. 22 when CEO Bruce reports the firm's four-quarter results.
