Granite Construction ended a four-year restructuring and grew 2013 revenue 8.8% to $2.3B

Granite Construction began a restructuring plan in 2010, shedding 13% of its workforce, and it took until the end of 2013 to finish the plan and absorb the last of the expense. The final cost showed up in the fourth quarter of 2013: a $29.8 million loss, even as quarterly revenue rose 18.5%.

CEO James H. Roberts told investors the company was on track. Full-year 2013 revenue reached $2.3 billion, up 8.8% from 2012, with part of the gain coming from Kenny Construction, a deal announced in 2012. The slimmed-down company was left with about 2,000 salaried employees.

The demand picture supported the turnaround story: on December 31, 2013 Granite sat on a $2.5 billion backlog, helped by its place in the consortium contracted to build the new Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River north of New York City, and it planned to bid on $13 billion worth of projects in 2014.

2013 revenue of $2.3B, up 8.8% year over year; Q4 revenue up 18.5%; a $2.5B backlog; and a 2014 pipeline of $13B in bids

The workforce was cut 13% under the 2010 plan, and the company absorbed the charges over several years rather than all at once.

Revenue kept growing through the restructuring, up 8.8% for 2013, helped by the Kenny Construction acquisition.

The $2.5B backlog, including the Tappan Zee Bridge consortium work, let management argue the Q4 loss was accounting, not demand.

Entering 2014, the company planned to bid on $13 billion of projects with roughly 2,000 salaried employees.

Restructuring costs land quarter by quarter and read as losses; judge the program by revenue trajectory and backlog, not by the quarters in which the charges hit.

The restructuring plan closed out at the end of 2013. Granite entered 2014 with about 2,000 salaried employees, a $2.5 billion backlog and a plan to bid on $13 billion of projects. Roberts characterized the fourth-quarter loss as the plan's final expense rather than a revenue problem, and the Tappan Zee Bridge consortium position stood as evidence that its standing in large public work was intact.