MONTREAL – SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (TSX:SNC) earned a first-quarter profit of $53.6 million, down from $66 million a year ago, the company said Thursday ahead of its annual meeting.

The engineering and construction company said the profit amounted to 35 cents per share, down 44 cents per share in the year-ago period.

Revenue totalled $1.9 billion, up from $1.79 billion a year ago.

Excluding its infrastructure concession investments, the company said it earned $18.6 million for the quarter compared with $41.2 million in first quarter of 2012.

The infrastructure concession investments earned $35 million in the quarter, up from $25.1 million in the first quarter last year.

The earnings report came in advance of an annual meeting at which SNC’s new chief executive, Michael Card, was expected to be in the hot seat as he unveils a strategy to move the company beyond improper business activities.

It is the first annual meeting for Card since taking the reins of the engineering company last October and cleaning house by replacing key executives and hiring a new compliance officer.

The company has also accepted a 10-year bidding ban from the World Bank for a key subsidiary and affiliates over bribery allegations in Bangladesh and Cambodia.

Card is expected to outline broad strokes of his strategy which analysts expect will involve selling a portion of its lucrative concession assets, or spinning them into a separate public company.

Analyst Sara O’Brien with RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note that investors will be looking at value in relation to SNC’s larger concessions like 407 International and AltaLink.

She expects any proceeds would remain with SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC) instead of being returned to shareholders because the company doesn’t yet know the magnitude of any fines it may face from current investigations.

The money would also give the company flexibility for acquisitions in its core engineering and construction (E&C) business, including the oil and gas segment.

O’Brien values the concessions at $26 per SNC share — $12 net of tax for the Toronto toll road, $9 for the Alberta electric transmission company and $5 for the rest of the portfolio.

A private transaction would capture the highest value, but an IPO would allow the company to maintain control of its share, collect a management fee and exit when projects like Montreal’s superhospital are completed.

SNC has already provided part of its strategy for the resources and environment group (oil and gas, mining and water) by focusing on growth in certain key markets.

“What we have not yet heard on strategy is regarding SNC’s large infrastructure and power segments,” she added.

Maxim Sytchev of Dundee Securities also expects the strategy to involve concessions. But he said alternatives include no change or adding even more of the concession investments that pay SNC-Lavalin dividends and recurring revenues.

“We are not banking on specific divestiture plans, but are simply looking for the path to potential monetization,” he wrote in a report.

Sytchev estimates that $2.8 billion of market capitalization has been destroyed since corruption issues surfaced 15 months ago.

The revelation of $56 million in improper payments to undisclosed agents resulted in the firing of former CEO Pierre Duhaime. He was later charged with fraud, along with former vice-president Riadh Ben Aissa, who is in a Swiss jail.

Since January 2012, SNC-Lavalin’s shares have dropped 20 per cent.