Business
Iridium Announces First-Quarter 2019 Results; Company Affirms 2019 Outlook
MCLEAN, Va., April 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM) ("Iridium") today reported financial results for the first quarter of
About this update from Iridium Communications Inc
[{"type":"text","content":"MCLEAN, Va., April 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM) (\"Iridium\") today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2019 and affirmed its full-year 2019 outlook. Net loss was $18.0 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2019, as compared to net income of $11.5 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2018. This decrease in net income was primarily the result of a $34.5 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense compared to the year-ago period. Operational EBITDA (\"OEBITDA\")(1) for the first quarter was $78.0 million, as compared to $68.5 million for the prior-year period, representing a year-over-year increase of 14.0% and an OEBITDA margin(1) of 58%. OEBITDA primarily benefitted from the recognition of revenue from hosted payload and other data services, telephony pricing actions and growth in the Company's IoT data business.\nIridium reported first-quarter total revenue of $133.7 million, which consisted of $107.0 million of service revenue and $26.7 million of revenue related to equipment sales and engineering and support projects. Total revenue increased 12% from the comparable period of 2018, while service revenue grew 19% from the year-ago period. Service revenue, which represents primarily recurring revenue from Iridium's growing subscriber base, was 80% of total revenue for the first quarter of 2019.\nThe Company ended the quarter with 1,151,000 total billable subscribers, which compares to 996,000 for the year-ago period and is up from 1,121,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2018. Total billable subscribers grew 16% year-over-year, driven by growth in commercial and government IoT customers.\n\"Iridium enjoyed solid revenue and subscriber growth to start 2019, driven predominantly by strength in commercial services. New contributions from hosted payloads and continued momentum in commercial IoT are expected to be a tailwind to our business and support OEBITDA growth for the remainder of the year,\" said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium.\nThe Company's negotiations continue with the Department of Defense (\"DoD\") to renew its Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (\"EMSS\") contract with the U.S. government. On April 19, 2019, the Company entered into a short-term contract extension with the DoD to provide additional time t...