Excluding such items from both quarterly periods, consolidated EBITDA in the first quarter of 2009 was $107.3 million, compared with $181.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

Global Engineering and Construction (E&C) Group

New orders booked in Foster Wheeler scope reached an all-time Global E&C Group quarterly record of $713 million due to the booking of the Paradip refinery project in India. The contract includes more than four million man-hours and contributed to a record-level 16.2 million man-hours in backlog at the end of the first quarter of 2009. Additionally to its role as PMC contractor for all the process units and the majority of the offsites and utilities, Foster Wheeler is acting as EPC contractor on 16 units; however, the company did not book flow-through revenues on this project because the client is directly placing orders for equipment and materials.

Scope operating revenues were less than the comparison periods due primarily to the unfavorable impact of currency translation. Contributing to the decline in scope operating revenues was a reduction in the volume of work in the first quarter of 2009 versus year-ago quarter.

EBITDA was adversely impacted by around $21 million of non-operating items, mainly currency translation, relative to the average quarter of 2008. EBITDA was also unfavorably impacted by around $32 million of operating items, relative to the average quarter of 2008, consisting of timing and mix of contracts, lower volumes, and volume-related under-absorption of costs.

Global Power Group (GPG):

New orders booked in Foster Wheeler scope were well below the comparison periods, partly reflecting the fact that client award decisions for 2009 solid-fuel boiler prospects are skewed toward the second half of 2009.

Scope operating revenues and EBITDA were below the average quarter of 2008 due to reduced volumes of work. EBITDA was adversely impacted by around $5 million of non-operating items, including currency translation, relative to the average quarter of 2008.

Foster Wheeler’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Raymond J. Milchovich, said, “In the first quarter of 2009, we booked the largest single contract in terms of man-hours in the company’s history – for engineering, procurement and construction management of a new oil refinery in India. While that contract will be an important contributor to income in future periods, the project was just gearing up at the end of the first quarter and thus did not contribute materially to the company’s performance in the period.”

Milchovich added, “Foster Wheeler’s net income in the first quarter of 2009 was lower than that of the average quarter of 2008 due to a decline in EBITDA in both of our business groups caused by a combination of factors. Non-operating items, mainly unfavorable currency translation in our Global Engineering and Construction (E&C) Group, amounted to around $29 million relative to the average quarter of 2008. Additionally, the Global E&C Group executed lower volumes of work and experienced unfavorable timing and mix of contracts, and volume-related under-absorption of costs relative to the average quarter of 2008. Our Global Power Group (GPG) experienced lower volumes of work executed. Finally, our net income for the first quarter of 2009 was unfavorably impacted by an effective tax rate that was higher than the average quarter of 2008.”

Milchovich said, “Our view of the market has not materially changed from the view we provided in February of this year. Demand for solid-fuel boilers this year appears to be very weak, especially in North America, although we are pursuing several international prospects that could potentially book at mid-year or later. The EBITDA performance of GPG in the remaining quarters of this year will be somewhat sensitive to the size, timing and quantity of new boiler orders.

“In our E&C business, we have identified and are in pursuit of numerous prospects, including very large potential contracts, for which clients have indicated an intent to proceed to award decisions later this year. Even so, we have continued to see three related trends in our E&C business: slippage on the timing of client decisions, increased competitive pressure in the market and a tendency on the part of clients to release or award large contracts in small increments. The results of our E&C business this year will be impacted, at least to a certain degree, by the way in which these trends play out over the course of 2009. Having said that, I would add that we expect the EBITDA performance of E&C in the remaining quarters of this year to benefit from improved timing and mix – and from improved cost absorption.”