Calcasieu Parish offshore company beats forecast: Global Industries Ltd., which builds offshore structures for the petroleum industry, posted a second-quarter profit that handily beat analysts’ forecasts. For the three months ending June 30, Carlyss-based Global earned $45.9 million, or 40 cents per share, on revenue of $294.8 million. In the second quarter of 2008, Global lost $14.1 million, or 12 cents per share, on revenue of $300.5 million. The company said it booked $116.4 million of new work during the second quarter, resulting in a revenue backlog of $215.6 million.
Earnings fall: Telecommunications provider CenturyLink Inc., which changed its name from CenturyTel following the acquisition of Embarq Corp. last month, says that although its second-quarter earnings fell, the performance still beat Wall Street forecasts. During the April-through-June period, CenturyLink earned $69 million, or 68 cents per share, on revenue of $634.5 million, compared with year-ago earnings in the second quarter of $91.2 million, or 87 cents per share, on revenue of $657.1 million. The company took $22.5 million in integration costs for its Embarq deal. Without that cost, Monroe-based CenturyLink says it would have earned 83 cents per share. CenturyLink says it expects third-quarter revenue to range between $1.85 billion and $1.89 billion, with per-share earnings of 78 cents to 82 cents.
