ViaSat Reports Results for 4th Quarter and Year-end of Fiscal Year 2002
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Carlsbad, CA - ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT) reports results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2002. Fourth quarter sales totaled $47.2 million compared to $44.9 million in sales for the comparable quarter last year, a 5.1% increase. Pro forma net loss, which excludes the effects of acquisition charges (including amortization of goodwill and a charge for in process research and development), was $1.9 million or $0.07 per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2002, based on 26.4 million weighted average shares. This is a 142.2% decrease from pro forma net income of $4.5 million or $0.20 per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2001, based on 22.8 million weighted average shares. The net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 includes a pre-tax $4.7 million non-cash charge for accounts receivable relating to ORBCOMM which ViaSat assumed with the acquisition of the business from Scientific-Atlanta. Without this charge, the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 pro forma net income was $1.0 million or $0.04 per share.
Actual net loss, which includes the effects of acquisition charges, for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2002 was $3.4 million or $0.13 per share which is a decrease of 206.3% compared to actual net income of $3.2 million or $0.14 per share for the fourth quarter of the prior year.
ViaSat posted record sales for the year ended March 31, 2002 of $195.6 million, a 19.0% increase over $164.4 million in sales for fiscal year 2001. Pro forma net income, which excludes the effects of acquisition charges (including amortization of goodwill and a charge for in process research and development) for fiscal year 2002 was $7.9 million, or $0.33 per share based on 24.0 million weighted average shares. This is a 47.0% decrease from net income of $14.9 million or $0.66 per share for fiscal year 2001 based on 22.5 million weighted average shares. The net income for fiscal 2002 includes a pre-tax $4.7 million non-cash charge for accounts receivable relating to ORBCOMM. Without this charge, the fiscal year 2002 pro forma net income was $10.7 million or $0.45 per share.
Actual net income, which includes the effects of acquisition charges, for fiscal year 2002 decreased 78.6% to $2.2 million or $0.09 per share compared to actual net income of $10.3 million or $.46 per share for fiscal year 2001. The pro forma results simply reflect actual net income adjusted to remove acquisition related charges (i.e., goodwill and IPR&D). In prior periods the tax rate allocated to the acquisition charges was the actual tax rate for the period. However, the actual tax rate for this quarterly period was negative, which would have resulted in a less meaningful value for pro forma results. Therefore we allocated our incremental statutory 40% effective tax rate to those acquisition charges. This is a much higher rate than the actual effective tax rate for fiscal year 2002, and results in significantly lower pro forma results than would have been calculated using the actual tax rate.
Cash consumed in the current quarter was primarily for the repayment of debt, payments related to the acquisition of US Monolithics and Comsat Laboratories, reduction in accounts payable and delays primarily on two development programs which resulted in invoicing and/or collections extending past the end of the quarter. In addition, we incurred costs associated with the restructuring and consolidation of our VSAT business which have been charged as operating expenses.
"Our fiscal year 2002 was a challenging year for ViaSat as well as for the entire telecom and satellite communications industries," said Mark Dankberg, chairman, president and CEO of ViaSat. "But, we're very pleased to be able to show both organic revenue growth and profits under such difficult market conditions. In addition, we completed two significant acquisitions (Comsat Labs and US Monolithics) which effectively fulfilled our strategic positioning objectives for satellite networking for defense and commercial systems using conventional FSS and broadband spotbeam satellites. Our near term objectives entering the new fiscal year are centered around operating cash flow generation and new contract awards."
ViaSat ended fiscal year 2002 with sales backlog of $139 million compared to $236 million at the end of fiscal year 2001. New contract awards for fiscal year 2002 were $192 million compared to $239 million in fiscal year 2001.
Fiscal Year 2002 Business Highlights
Some specific highlights from fiscal year 2002 follow:
* ViaSat acquired the Comsat Labs products group from Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications (LMGT) and recently consolidated it with our Satellite Networks group to reduce operating costs. "We concentrated development in our Maryland facility and manufacturing and customer support in our Atlanta facility. Now, we are integrating the product lines to gain additional cost leverage while preserving our broad range of satellite networking capabilities," said Dr. Benjamin Pontano, president of Comsat Laboratories.
* ViaSat completed development and successfully passed contractor and government qualification tests for both its airborne and ground-based Multifunction Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals. "This represents the completion of the development and test phase of the MIDS programs and improves our competitive position for upcoming production awards. We have recently received MIDS production and related Link-16 test equipment orders valued at close to $10 million," said Paul Baca, vice president of Tactical Networks.
* ViaSat acquired US Monolithics, LLC (USM), a designer of proprietary gallium arsenide millimeter wave integrated circuits (MMICs) with strong capabilities in the packaging and integration of subsystems including power amplifiers, block upconverters and entire transceivers, especially in complex high-frequency applications. ��USM is expected to improve ViaSat��s margins on existing product lines, as well as on large broadband opportunities that ViaSat is pursuing," said Mark Dankberg, ViaSat chairman, president and CEO.
* ViaSat was awarded two significant new contracts relating to information security products for defense applications, including an undetermined portion of a 3-year, multi-vendor $300 million requirements contract with the Maryland Procurement Office to produce and deliver KIV-21 products and accessories. "These awards are indicative of ViaSat's progress in this area and help illustrate the potential value of the defense information security market to our business," said Mark Dankberg, ViaSat chairman, president and CEO.
* Our Connexion by BoeingSM modem program has progressed nicely. We delivered the initial set of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) fully flight-qualified airborne receive and transmit subsystems (ARTS) for Connexion by Boeing. Connexion by Boeing has successfully met FAA requirements and been granted certification for a Boeing 737. Lufthansa will use a Boeing 747-400 for a three-month Connexion by Boeing service trial beginning in late 2002. "This delivery is an important step toward enabling initial deployment of this breakthrough communication system," said Steve Cable, vice president of Broadband Systems.
ViaSat produces advanced digital satellite telecommunications and wireless signal processing equipment for commercial and government markets. ViaSat has a full line of VSAT products for data and voice applications. ViaSat is a market leader in Ka-band satellite systems, from user terminals to large gateways for both geosynchronous and low earth orbit systems. Other products include network security devices, tactical data radios, and communication simulators. ViaSat has locations in Carlsbad, CA, and Norcross, GA, along with its Comsat Laboratories division based in Clarksburg, MD. Additional field offices are located in Boston, MA, the United Kingdom, Australia, Chile, China, and India.
In addition the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, US Monolithics, designs and produces monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) and modules for use in broadband communications. USM is based in Chandler, Arizona.
Safe Harbor Statement
Portions of this release, particularly the "Fiscal Year 2002 Business Highlights" section, may contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. ViaSat wishes to caution you that there are some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to: ViaSat's ability to perform under existing contracts and obtain additional contracts, ViaSat's ability to develop new products that gain market acceptance, changes in product supply, pricing and customer demand, changes in relationships with, or the financial condition of, key customers or suppliers, changes in government regulations, changes in economic conditions globally and in the communications markets in particular, increased competition, potential product liability, infringement and other claims, and other factors affecting the communications industry generally. ViaSat refers you to the documents it files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled Factors That May Affect Future Performance in ViaSat's Form 10-K. These documents contain and identify other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements. Stockholders and other readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. We undertake no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements.
Comsat Labs and Comsat Laboratories are tradenames of ViaSat, Inc. Neither Comsat Labs nor Comsat Laboratories is affiliated with COMSAT Corporation. "Comsat" is a registered trademark of COMSAT Corporation.

