Iridium earnings fall 42%; revenue up - San Antonio Business Journal:

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The Bethesda-based provider of satellite telephone services, which expects to becomew publicly traded this summer throughan acquisition, posted a 42 percengt decline in net income in the firsg quarter ended March 31, to $9.7 million from $16.7u million a year ago. Th company attributede the decline to costs related toits next-generationb satellite program. “Iridium continued to although the pace slowed given the currengeconomic climate,” said CEO Matt “In addition to the impactr of phasing out equipment amortization, we believe the economi climate is affecting equipment sales, as is the transitiob of newly introduced products into the distributiobn channel as our partners move existing inventory to make way for new Company officials say either Bethesda-based Lockheed Martimn or Thales Alenia Space will be selecte d as the program’s lead contractor this summer.
The program’s new network of satellitea called Iridium NEXT is expected to be deployedfin 2014. Iridium NEXT will provide higherdata speeds, greatere bandwidth and the potential to deliver new data services and applicationzs to customers. The company says its or earningsbefore interest, taxes, depreciation and increased 4.9 percent to $27.6 millio in the first quarter, up from $26.3 millionb a year ago, though most analysts do not use that as a reliabl financial measure. Iridium’s revenue rose 2 percentf to $75.8 million for the compared to $74.3 million for the firsg quarter 2008. The slightly higher revenue came from increasedf commercial services revenueof $36.
8 million but was offset by a declinew in subscriber equipment revenue to $20.5 milliob for the quarter. Iridium’s commercial markets includer maritime, aviation and land mobile which grewby 11.5 percent for the quarter. The company’ss sales to government customers, including the Department of grew31 percent. Despite a 31 percent increase in subscriberdto 328,000, compared to 250,000 in the firsft quarter of 2008, a $2 million amortization of equipment relatedr to prior year equipment sales, added to the declinw in subscriber equipment revenue. The company is planninh to go publicthis summer, but it is not taking the initiao public offering route.
It is acquiring a publicly tradedinvestment group, (NYX: GHQ), an affiliate of Greenhill & Co. Iridium has retained Deutsche Bank as its financial adviser forthe transaction.