Engineering and project management firm AtkinsRéalis reported higher quarterly profit and increased revenue, supported by strong performance in its nuclear and engineering services businesses. The company also raised its nuclear revenue outlook to as much as $2.3 billion for the year.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Ian Edwards, president and chief executive officer at AtkinsRéalis, about the global momentum for CANDU technology, the company’s progress on key projects and its expectations for growth into 2026.
Key Takeaways
- AtkinsRéalis posted higher profit and revenue, driven by strength in nuclear and engineering services.
- The company increased its nuclear revenue guidance to as much as $2.3 billion for the year.
- Global demand for CANDU technology is rising, with interest from Europe, Asia and other regions.
- Progress continues on major infrastructure projects, including final testing of Toronto’s Eglinton LRT.
- Management expects engineering services growth to accelerate in 2026 despite short-term softness.
Read the full transcript below:
ROGER: Engineering and project management company AtkinsRéalis posted higher profit in its most recent quarter, as well as revenue that topped expectations. The Montreal-based company also raised its outlook for its nuclear division and now expects revenue of up to $2.3 billion, driven by strong backlog and continued revenue growth. Let’s get more on this from Ian Edwards, president and chief executive officer at AtkinsRéalis. Thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate it, Ian.
IAN: Good morning, morning. Thanks for having me back.
ROGER: A good quarter for you. What are you attributing the success to?
IAN: Yeah, very, very pleased with the quarter. I mean, the business is in two halves. We’re a commercial nuclear global business, and we’re an infrastructure engineering services business global. The nuclear business is going into this power and energy nuclear supercycle, and we’re riding on the back of that. And the growth that we’ve had through the year is almost exponential, as we’ve taken on new backlog and new work, particularly in Canada and with prospects also around other parts of the globe. And engineering services, I mean, where we’ve specifically positioned the company to replace aging infrastructure, to assist governments and clients around the world, is also performing very well.
BRIAN: And Ian, we’re hearing the IESO, the Ontario Electricity System Operator, is calling for a need to roughly triple nuclear power generation capacity in Ontario by 2050. We’re hearing talks that there may be some very, very large new-build reactors cited, perhaps at the Wesleyville location or elsewhere. Just wondering, you know, you would be close to the action on that. Are you hearing that a decision may be imminent, or whether you think your firm might have an opportunity to get involved in something like that, should it come to fruition?
IAN: Yeah, as AtkinsRéalis, we own the rights to deploy the CANDU technology, which is the Canadian indigenous technology developed over seven decades. And the existing technologies across Canada and, specifically, Ontario are all CANDU technologies. They were deployed in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, and we’ve actually been busy rebuilding those reactors to give them life extension for our customers at OPG and Bruce. Now the province is primarily energized by nuclear, and there is an ambition to increase that significantly through two sites at Bruce and, as you say, at Wesleyville. We have to compete for those, and we are in competition, and we’re working very hard to ensure that we secure those as Canadian technology, so that it actually fuels jobs and supply chain that is Canadian and based in Ontario. So, you know, we’re working hard. I think the decision is probably a way off. It’s probably a 2026 event to select the technology, but we would hope to prevail, yeah, for sure.
ROGER: And where is the Canadian technology? We used to talk about CANDU and they were cutting edge. Have you managed to play catch-up? Are we playing catch-up? And with all the talk of nuclear powering the data centres south of the border, what kind of involvement do you see for yourself?
IAN: Yeah. I mean, the World Nuclear Exhibition was last week in Paris, and absolutely AtkinsRéalis, Canada, and the CANDU technology plays on the world stage. It’s a very well-respected technology, and we are a very well-respected country globally for nuclear power. Now, we built, in the last Renaissance, power plants across the world — in Argentina, in India, in South Korea and Romania and China — and we are rebuilding some of those right now to give them life extension. But we’re also promoting the technology in Eastern Europe and in Asia, and we’re getting really good traction. I mean, nothing firm to announce today, but there’s a real opportunity here for Canada and a real opportunity for AtkinsRéalis. And it’s a very, very small pool of technologies that are available today. You know, we play against the big players of China and France, and we have a fantastic supply chain here in Canada. We’ve got over 90,000 people working in the nuclear industry here in Canada. So a lot of advantages and a lot to be optimistic about for Canadian jobs and for AtkinsRéalis.
BRIAN: And Ian, switching gears a little bit — I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask on behalf of our viewers here in Toronto. I know a number of years ago, pre-COVID, you had a small number of projects that were on a sort of problem list, a run-off file, the Eglinton LRT being one of them. And so I don’t know if “light at the end of the tunnel” is the right metaphor for an LRT project, but we’re seeing some stirrings there. Can you tell us what people should expect and when we’ll be seeing a ribbon cutting there?
IAN: So I can’t talk to when it’s open. That’s a decision of the province. It’s a decision of our customer. But what I can say is we are in the final testing phase of the Eglinton system, and we would hope to close out that testing phase this year, and then that would pave the way to an opening date that the client and the province and the city would want to make.
ROGER: And just a question from an analyst perspective. Your organic revenue growth — you’re calling for eight per cent. It was flat, I believe, this year or this quarter. Are you optimistic you can hit that?
IAN: No, well, we won’t. We’ve put some revised guidance out for this year. We’ve got long-range guidance out in that range. We’ve had some year-over-year issues this year and some temporary setbacks in the market in the U.S. We’re seeing really good growth come back in Q4, and we’re really optimistic about engineering services growth through our global business in 2026. So you will see that kind of growth coming back. But the profitability is up. I mean, the work that we have been executing in engineering services through the year has increased in profitability. So overall, the business has performed pretty well.
ROGER: OK, Ian, I think we’re going to have to wrap it up there. But thank you very much for joining us. Thank you.
IAN: Thank you.
ROGER: Ian Edwards is president and chief executive officer at AtkinsRéalis.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Nov. 14, 2025 interview with Ian Edwards are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
