(RTTNews) - Granite Construction Incorporated (GVA: News ) reported a sharp decline in its third-quarter profit, hurt by lower sales in all its segments. In addition, the company said it reduced about 160 salaried positions across the country.

The Watsonville, California-based Granite Construction's net income attributable to the company was $30.6 million or $0.79 per share, compared with $51.74 million or $1.35 per share in the year-ago period.

On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.77 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Total revenue was $720.3 million, down from $897.8 million in the comparable quarter last year. Analysts expected revenue of $749.39 million for the quarter.

Segment-wise, revenue declined in the construction segment to $549.05 million from $643.53 million, construction material segment revenue fell to $64.52 million from $109.06 million and real estate revenue slipped to $1.53 million from $0.88 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue from Granite west segment fell to $564.1 million from $749.5 million, reflecting intense competition for public works projects, reduced public sector funding and lower demand for construction materials, While revenue from east segment increased to $155.2 million from $146.9 million in the comparable quarter last year.

Operating income for the quarter was $46.3 million compared with $74.4 million in the year-ago period.
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in joint ventures increased to $5.9 million from $0.6 million in the year-ago period.

For the nine months ended September 30, net income attributable to the company dropped to $57.46 million or $1.49 per share from $90.47 million or $2.35 per share in the prior-year. Year-to-date, revenues declined to $1.52 billion from $2.04 billion last year.

Granite now expects fiscal-2009 West revenue to be in the range of $1.4 billion-$1.5 billion and East revenue in the range of $600.0 million - $650.0 million. Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in joint ventures is now expected to be approximately $26.0 million for the year.

In addition, the company announced the reduction of approximately 160 salaried positions across the country, with pre-tax charges associated with Granite's reorganization estimated to be about $6.0 million, to be recognized mainly in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company also estimates annualized pre-tax savings associated with personnel-related costs to be about $11.0 million

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