Foster Wheeler given OK to build boiler

Foster Wheeler Ltd., a Bermuda-based engineering and construction firm, on Wednesday said it received received notification to begin building a circulating fluidized-bed boiler island for a new power plant in southern Poland.

Shares of Foster Wheeler climbed to a fresh 52-week high on the news, jumping $2.10, or 5.1 percent, to $43.07 on the Nasdaq. The stock has steadily risen from a low of $12.40 in January 2005.

The CFB boiler island would be the world's largest and will support a $550 million, 460-megawatt power plant being constructed at Lagisza, Foster said. Its share of the work is valued at about $200 million, of which $175 million was logged in its fourth-quarter bookings. Poludniowy Koncern Energetyczny, one of Poland's largest utilities, is building the Lagisza unit -- due for startup in 2009 -- alongside its existing 840-megawatt plant.

Source: AP/Business Week