WSP says US public projects now wait longer between award, funding and the start of work

On the Nov. 5 earnings call, L'Heureux said the gaps have grown since WSP's second-quarter results. He blamed reviews of federal funding by the Government Accountability Office, permitting reform and the administration's shifting infrastructure priorities. According to a GuruFocus summary of the call, he said the GAO looked at about 2,500 projects and very few were canceled. The holdups are in federal money reaching state and local clients and in notices to proceed on large jobs, with public transportation and earth and environment work hit hardest.

Backlog rose about 24% from a year earlier to C$20.3 billion (US$14.5 billion). Third-quarter revenue reached C$5.3 billion, up about 16.6%, and net earnings were C$333.7 million against C$284.5 million a year before. WSP declined to give 2027 guidance. L'Heureux said its transportation and infrastructure headcount has not changed since Jan. 1 and that less than 10% of its costs are fixed.

He expects the Dec. 11 deadline for funding under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to be pushed back so the new Congress, where Democrats won both chambers in the midterms, can work out its plans with the president. He described the recovery as gradual. On power, he said only a small share of WSP's substation and transmission design is tied to data centers, and that aging US lines will need replacing either way. American Electric Power named WSP a delivery partner in late October for Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana projects.