SNC-Lavalin announces its strategic plan

MONTREAL, May 2, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (TSX: SNC) today announced a strategic plan designed to strengthen the Company's core operations with a view to increasing long-term profitability and stability.

SNC-Lavalin's new strategy outlines the sectors and geographies which the Company will target, and the integrated solutions for its Infrastructure Concessions model with a disciplined approach to employing capital for its infrastructure concession investments (ICI) portfolio.

"Our aim is to deliver exceptional value to customers, investors and employees by being a leading global provider of safe, well-governed, ethical and compliant integrated project services," said Robert G. Card, President and CEO, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. "We intend to attain these objectives through enhancing our capacity to effectively compete for and deliver the world's largest, most complex and important projects in the resources, environment and water, power and infrastructure sectors. We believe this strategy will establish a basis for growth and success in the future and should ultimately create long-term value for our shareholders."

A Three-part Strategy

SNC-Lavalin's strategy contains three pillars, which are designed to work together to enhance performance on multiple levels and across the organization. They are:

Growth Platforms:

SNC-Lavalin is putting renewed focus on strengthening its position in certain key sectors and geographic markets.

The Company intends to leverage its expertise in resources (including oil and gas, mining, environment and water) to execute an accelerated growth strategy in these sectors across North and South America. SNC-Lavalin recently integrated its Mining & Metallurgy, Hydrocarbons & Chemicals and Environment & Water operations under its President of the Resources, Environment and Water group, Neil Bruce, a globally recognized business leader in oil and gas and mining. With this approach, the Company expects to better capture synergies between these units, particularly on the project delivery side. SNC-Lavalin further expects to make strategic acquisitions in the resources sector to support its growth strategy.

The Company will also focus on growth in the clean power and infrastructure sectors, with an emphasis on expanding its strong footprint in Canada, leveraging its substantial P3 experience and focusing on the attainment of greater market penetration in North America in particular.

Enhanced ICI Management Approach:

SNC-Lavalin is continuing to reinforce its ICI business, which has historically been a source of project work for its engineering and construction units, as well as a significant contributor to the strength of its earnings. ICI is an important element of building a successful engineering and construction company. Going forward, the Company will employ an ever more disciplined and balanced approach to managing its portfolio of assets, which includes exiting investments at maturity, unless strategic considerations justify otherwise. The Company will look at the potential disposal of non-core ICI assets and reducing its equity stakes in its principal large investments over the medium term. The Company will also seek financing solutions and partnering opportunities to unlock value as it proactively manages the portfolio.

As SNC-Lavalin looks at new opportunities, it will continue to prioritize greenfield (new-build) ICIs that it believes should provide its engineering, construction and operations and maintenance units with significant project opportunities. Brownfield (existing) ICIs will be considered mainly as a means of extending SNC-Lavalin's investment résumé into new markets and providing an additional platform for engineering and construction opportunities.

SNC-Lavalin's key geographical focus for major ICIs and public-private partnerships will continue to be North and South America. The Company will also focus on leveraging its transmission & distribution and mass transit expertise globally.

Growth Enablers:

SNC-Lavalin is improving how it shares resources, promoting greater interaction between its business units and developing more coordinated approaches to client management and business development in its offices worldwide through the execution of a Global Operations model, announced earlier this year.

The further globalization of the Company's operations also involves making better and more efficient company-wide use of its systems and processes, many of which are recognized. SNC-Lavalin is planning investments in several of these systems, including its enterprise management system, Oracle, its Human Resources Management System, and its proprietary project management suite, PM+, which the Company believes provide a strategic advantage when bidding on and carrying out medium- and large-scale projects.

Underlying all of this will be a continuing relentless focus on maintaining world-class ethics, governance and health and safety performance, as well as developing and retaining the best talent the industry has to offer.

Conference Call and Webcast

Robert G. Card, President and Chief Executive Officer, will discuss this announcement during the first quarter results conference, scheduled for this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. To join the conference toll free, please dial 1-800-814-4859, or 416-644-3414 in Toronto, or 514-807-8791 in Montreal, or 44-20-7190-1595 in England. Please note that this call will be accompanied by an online presentation that will be made available on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.snclavalin.com, under "Investor's Briefcase," approximately one hour prior to the call. A recording of the conference call will be available on our website approximately one hour after the end of the call. The strategic plan will also be discussed during today's Annual General Meeting, a webcast version of the Annual Shareholders' Meeting will be accessible by clicking here.

About SNC-Lavalin
SNC-Lavalin is one of the leading engineering and construction groups in the world and a major player in the ownership of infrastructure, and in the provision of operations and maintenance services. Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin has offices across Canada and in over 40 other countries around the world, and is currently working in some 100 countries.  www.snclavalin.com

Forward-looking Statements:

Reference in this press release, and hereafter, to the "Company" or to "SNC-Lavalin" means, as the context may require, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and all or some of its subsidiaries or joint ventures, or SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. or one or more of its subsidiaries or joint ventures.

Statements made in this press release that describe the Company's or management's budgets, estimates, expectations, forecasts, objectives, predictions, projections of the future or strategies may be "forward-looking statements", which can be identified by the use of the conditional or forward-looking terminology such as "aims", "anticipates", "assumes", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "goal", "intends", "may", "plans", "projects", "should", "will", or the negative thereof or other variations thereon. Forward-looking statements also include any other statements that do not refer to historical facts. All such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the "safe-harbour" provisions of applicable Canadian securities laws. The Company cautions that, by their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and that its actual actions and/or results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements, or could affect the extent to which a particular projection materializes. Forward-looking statements are presented for the purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding certain key elements of the Company's current objectives, strategic priorities, expectations and plans, and in obtaining a better understanding of the Company's business and anticipated operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Forward-looking statements made in this press release are based on a number of assumptions believed by the Company to be reasonable as at the date hereof. The assumptions are set out throughout the Company's 2012 Management's Discussion and Analysis (particularly, in the sections entitled "Critical Accounting Judgments and Key Sources of Estimation Uncertainty" and "How We Analyze and Report our Results" in the Company's 2012 Management's Discussion and Analysis), as updated in the Company's First Quarter 2013 Management's Discussion and Analysis. If these assumptions are inaccurate, the Company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. In addition, important risk factors could cause the Company's assumptions and estimates to be inaccurate and actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: (a) if the Company is not able to successfully execute its new strategic plan, its business and results of operations would be adversely affected; (b) the outcome of pending and future claims and litigation could have a material adverse impact on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operation; (c) the Company is subject to ongoing investigations which could adversely affect its business, results of operations or reputation and which could subject it to sanctions, fines or monetary penalties, some of which may be significant; (d) further regulatory developments could have a significant adverse impact on the Company's results, and employee, agent or partner misconduct or failure to comply with anti-bribery and other government laws and regulations could harm the Company's reputation, reduce its revenues and net income, and subject the Company to criminal and civil enforcement actions; (e) a negative impact on the Company's public image could influence its ability to obtain future projects; (f) fixed-price contracts or the Company's failure to meet contractual schedule or performance requirements may increase the volatility and unpredictability of its revenue and profitability; (g) the Company's revenue and profitability are largely dependent on the awarding of new contracts, which it does not directly control, and the uncertainty of contract award timing could have an adverse effect on the Company's ability to match its workforce size with its contract needs; (h) the Company's backlog is subject to unexpected adjustments and cancellations, including under "termination for convenience" provisions, and does not represent a guarantee of the Company's future revenues or profitability; (i) SNC-Lavalin is a provider of services to government agencies and is exposed to risks associated with government contracting; (j) the Company's international operations are exposed to various risks and uncertainties, including unfavourable political environments, weak foreign economies and the exposure to foreign currency risk; (k) there are risks associated with the Company's ownership interests in ICI that could adversely affect it; (l) the Company is dependent on third parties to complete many of its contracts; (m) the Company's use of joint ventures and partnerships exposes it to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of the Company's control; (n) the competitive nature of the markets in which the Company does business could adversely affect it; (o) the Company's project execution activities may result in professional liability or liability for faulty services; (p) the Company could be subject to monetary damages and penalties in connection with professional and engineering reports and opinions that it provides; (q) the Company may not have in place sufficient insurance coverage to satisfy its needs; (r) the Company's employees work on projects that are inherently dangerous and a failure to maintain a safe work site could result in significant losses and/or an inability to obtain future projects; (s) the Company's failure to attract and retain qualified personnel could have an adverse effect on its activities; (t) Work stoppages, union negotiations and other labour matters could adversely affect the Company; (u) the Company relies on information systems and data in its operations. Failure in the availability or security of the Company's information systems or in data security could adversely affect its business and results of operations; (v) any acquisition or other investment may present risks or uncertainties; (w) a deterioration or weakening of the Company's financial position, including its net cash position, would have a material adverse effect on its business and results of operations; * the Company may have significant working capital requirements, which if unfunded could negatively impact its business, financial condition and cash flows; (y) an inability of SNC-Lavalin's clients to fulfill their obligations on a timely basis could adversely affect the Company; (z) the Company may be required to impair certain of its goodwill, and it may also be required to write down or write off the value of certain of its assets and investments, either of which could have a material adverse impact on the Company's results of operations and financial condition; (aa) global economic conditions could affect the Company's client base, partners, subcontractors and suppliers and could materially affect its backlog, revenues, net income and ability to secure and maintain financing; (bb) fluctuations in commodity prices may affect clients' investment decisions and therefore subject the Company to risks of cancellation, delays in existing work, or changes in the timing and funding of new awards, and may affect the costs of the Company's projects; (cc) inherent limitations to the Company's control framework could result in a material misstatement of financial information, and; (dd) environmental laws and regulations expose the Company to certain risks, could increase costs and liabilities and impact demand for the Company's services. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. For more information on risks and uncertainties, and assumptions that would cause the Company's actual results to differ from current expectations, please refer to the sections "Risks and Uncertainties", "How We Analyze and Report Our Results" and "Critical Accounting Judgments and Key Sources of Estimation Uncertainty" in the Company's 2012 Management's Discussion and Analysis, as updated in the Company's First Quarter 2013 Management's Discussion and Analysis.

The forward-looking statements herein reflect the Company's expectations as at the date of this press release and are subject to change after this date. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any such forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable legislation or regulation.

SOURCE: SNC-LAVALIN