UPDATE 1-Foster Wheeler profit falls 30 percent

* Q3 EPS ex-items of 72 cts tops Wall St view of 63 cts

* Revenue down 29 pct to $1.22 bln

NEW YORK Nov 4 (Reuters) - Engineering and construction company Foster Wheeler Ltd (FWLT.O) reported a 30 percent drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday, hurt by currency effects, lower interest and higher taxes, but the results beat Wall Street forecasts.

Net income in the third quarter fell to $90 million, or 71 cents per share, from $127.9 million, or 88 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, earnings per share of 72 cents topped the 63 cents that analysts had on average forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell 29 percent to $1.22 billion, missing the analysts' forecast of $1.29 billion.

Shares of Foster Wheeler have gained 27 percent in 2009. (Reporting by Matt Daily in New York and Braden Reddall in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)