(Compares results with estimates, adds Q2 details)
Aug 4 (Reuters) - Canada's SNC-Lavalin Group Inc SNC.TO reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by strength in its core engineering and construction business and lower costs.
SNC is undertaking a sweeping cost-cutting program expected to help lower 2016 expenses by about C$100 million ($77 million) and boost margins in its core business as clients cut spending due to low commodity prices.
The company said on Thursday total selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by 10.1 pct in the second quarter, from a year earlier.
SNC's adjusted earnings for the quarter was 48 Canadian cents per share, above the average analyst estimate of 36 Canadian cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net income attributable to the company's shareholders jumped more than three-fold to C$88.5 million, or 59 Canadian cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30. engineering and construction business accounted for nearly 60 percent of the company's net income.
The Montreal-based company's revenue fell 6.6 percent to C$2.11 billion.
($1 = 1.3061 Canadian dollars)