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Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (GILT)

Q4 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, Feb 18, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Gilat’s Fourth Quarter and Yearend 2013 Results Conference Call. All participants are present in listen-only mode. Following the management’s formal presentation, instructions will be given for the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, February 18, 2014. I would now like to turn the call over to Philip Carlson of KCSA to read the Safe Harbor statement. Philip, please go ahead.

Philip Carlson

Management

Good morning and good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Gilat’s fourth quarter and yearend 2013 results conference call. A recording of this call will be available beginning at approximately noon Eastern Time today, February 18 until February 20 at noon. Our earnings press release and website provide details on accessing the archived call. Investors are urged to read the forward-looking statements in our earnings releases, which state that statements made on this earnings call, which are not historical facts, may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future financial operating results, involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the control of Gilat and which may cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Gilat is under no obligation to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. We expressly disclaim any obligation to do so. More detailed information about risk factors can be found in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With that said, on the call today is Erez Antebi, Gilat’s Chief Executive Officer, and Yaniv Reinhold, Chief Financial Officer. Erez, please go ahead.

Erez Antebi

Management

Thank you, Phil, and good day everyone. I would like to begin by providing a high level overview of the fourth quarter and yearend results, and then discuss some of the advancements we’ve made this quarter. Following my comments, Yaniv will discuss our financial results. I will then summarize and open the call for questions. 2013 was a challenging year for Gilat. We were fighting sequestration and budget cuts in the Department Of Defense and we had to delays in a few key projects. On the positive side, we believe that the achievements we made in 2013 have laid the foundation of a successful 2014 and beyond. We continued to invest in our technology and launch new products. In our commercial division, we launched SkyEdge II-C, a new scalable platform for KA and KU band internet access. In our defense division, we launched a new compact KA-Band Matchbox Mini Block, one of the industry’s smallest and most reliable units. We continued to strengthen our position in the market for broadband internet access, [personally] with SBBS and THAICOM and we are close to finishing the implementation of 48,000 sites of NBN Co. During the year, we also completed the sale of our Spacenet subsidiary to SageNet, enabling us to better focus on our core business. As such, Spacenet’s operational results are classified as discontinued operations and the results presented today are excluding Spacenet numbers. We also closed two very significant deals in Colombia and Peru towards the end of the year totaling around $130 million in business. In total, we signed 36 new customers this year. We expect they will provide us with a solid foundation for continued growth. In 2013, we reduced costs and streamlined operations within the company. We implemented changes across our organizational structure that has unified cross…

Yaniv Reinhold

CFO

Thanks Erez and hello everyone. I would like to remind everyone that our financial results are presented both on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The GAAP financial results include the effects of non-cash stock option expenses as per ASC 718, one time other income, expenses related to our M&A activities in payment of goodwill and intangible assets and amortization of intangible assets resulting from the purchase price allocation and restructuring costs. The reconciliation table in our press release highlights this data, and our non-GAAP information is presented excluding these items. In addition, as Erez mentioned previously, with the sale of Spacenet closed, the operational results are classified as discontinued operations, and the results presented today are excluding Spacenet numbers. Looking at the quarterly and annual financials, revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 were $55.7 million compared to $76.5 million for the same period in 2012. Our revenue for the fiscal year of 2013 was $234.9 million compared to $271.6 million for the same period in 2012. The decrease in revenue is mainly due to the sequestration and budget cuts in the Department of Defense, the delay in the implementation of key projects in our commercial division, and ending of the Compartel project in Colombia in our services division. Our gross margin for the fourth quarter on a non-GAAP basis was 38.5%, similar to the comparable period last year. Our gross margin for 2013 on a non-GAAP basis was approximately 36% as compared to 38% for 2012. The lower gross margin was mainly due to the reduction in revenue which was offset by cost reduction in COGS. On a non-GAAP basis, gross R&D expenses for the fourth quarter of 2013 were $7.5 million compared to $7.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. R&D expenses for 2013 on a non-GAAP…

Erez Antebi

Management

Thank you, Yaniv. Before we turn to your questions, I’d like to make a few closing remarks. Moving into 2014, we see strong growth potential in the market in which we operate. We will continue to focus on the market for providing internet to consumers in underserved areas and the growing opportunities in the upcoming HTS satellite. In addition, we will focus on the growing market opportunity for providing cellular coverage to rural areas that don’t currently have service. We will continue to pursue on-the-move opportunities in the defense industry and we will continue to provide solutions for the growing demand for internet in commercial aviation. In support of these opportunities, we’ll continue to develop leading edge products and solutions. For the HTS market, we will release new products and features for SkyEdge II-C, including Capricorn, the next generation VSAT. To support penetration into the small cell market, we have released the new CellEdge solution for small cell over satellite. We will launch new on-the-move antennas to support defense opportunities. These include the new EagleRay 5000 and StealthRay 300. And we will continue to develop and launch new box and amplifiers for the defense and commercial aviation market. We have made changes across our organizational structure that has unified cross company processes while reducing costs. We believe that this, coupled with the healthy balance sheet, a strong cash position and a backlog which has more than doubled from 2013 provides us with a solid base for the years to come. To date, we have practically finished the implementation at NBN Co and have not yet received confirmation as to whether the project will be expanded beyond 48,000 sites. We have also finished the Compartel project in Colombia and have yet to start with the new MINTIC project. As such, we expect to see lower revenue for the first half of 2014. During the second half, however, we expect to see normal growth in our commercial division and significantly higher growth from Peru and Colombia in our services division. Taking all of this into account, our management objectives for 2014 are to achieve revenues in the range of $240 million to $245 million and EBITDA margin levels of approximately 9%. That concludes our review. We would now like to open the floor for questions. Operator, please.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) The first question is from Gunther Karger of Discovery Group. Please go ahead. Gunther Karger – Discovery Group: Congratulations on an excellent report. A question regarding the restructuring and where we are now; how many approximate employees of Gilat are at this time worldwide and what percentage of them are in Israel?

Yaniv Reinhold

CFO

Worldwide, we have less than 1,000 employees, 900 and some, and the percentage in Israel is less than half.

Operator

Operator

The next question is from Chris Quilty - Raymond James. Please go ahead. Chris Quilty – Raymond James: Gentlemen, I was hoping maybe you could give us a little visibility into either the backlog or perhaps the last quarter’s worth of orders. If you could just aggregate that into where you see the demand coming either by end market or application, has there been some kind of a distinct shift in the business or has it been relatively steady in terms of where you’re seeing order growth?

Erez Antebi

Management

I’m sorry. I’m not sure I fully understand the question, Chris. Chris Quilty – Raymond James: So if you looked across your order book, let’s say for the most recent quarter and the backlog up pretty substantially on a year-over-year basis. Was most of that due to military orders coming in or is it specifically being driven by cellular backhaul applications internationally?

Erez Antebi

Management

Okay, now I understand the question, I think. In the fourth quarter, although it’s true that throughout the year, all the divisions increased the backlog like Yaniv said, I think the primary contributor definitely in the fourth quarter were the two deals in the services division, which were MINTIC in Colombia and the Amazonica project in Peru totaling together close to $130 million. Since we’re going to start recognizing revenues on those in the second half sometime, so you can -- those are the primary – that’s the primary reason for the growth in the backlog. Chris Quilty – Raymond James: Just for accounting purposes, was the entire order taken into backlog or a pro rata based upon how many years you put it into the backlog?

Yaniv Reinhold

CFO

We put an order into backlog when we know it is firm, and on this case, we took the whole amount of the order into the backlog. Chris Quilty – Raymond James: Perfect. A question on the tri-band, I think it was the EagleRay 5000, was that developed specific to some kind of an RFI or an RFP or was that internally developed based upon what you view the customers’ needs to be?

Erez Antebi

Management

It was developed on what we view the customers’ needs to be, with some very specific customers and programs in mind as well. Chris Quilty – Raymond James: And have you identified, are there specific budgets available for that product that you think you can tap into?

Erez Antebi

Management

At this point, I don’t think we’re at liberty to discuss that. Sorry. Chris Quilty – Raymond James: And final question, I know you had at least one win on some of the Wavestream amplifiers for the aviation market and that market seems to be taking off in the last year or two here. Have you seen any follow-up order activity and perhaps what’s your outlook for that particular market?

Erez Antebi

Management

Yeah. We’ve had actually quite a few wins I would say, and we have continuing follow-on orders for those. We’re providing the amplifiers for T-Com who is then providing the terminals to Row44, and we’re providing them to AeroSat who is then providing their terminals to Gogo, both of these are on KU, and we’ve had a very significant win with Honeywell for the Global Express project, which as you know is not yet launched and we expect it to be launched in about a year. Chris Quilty – Raymond James: And is that then one of the stronger growth areas for the Wavestream business or are there other pockets of strength?

Erez Antebi

Management

I think there are definitely other pockets of strength, but that should be a nice growth area. We definitely expect commercial aviation -- oh sorry, internet for commercial aviation to be a growth area as we’ve mentioned and we expect Wavestream to grow with that. Chris Quilty – Raymond James: Got you. And actually one more question, Russia and KA band at least in the trade press, there seems to be on again, off again regarding the deployment of some high throughput satellites over the Russian market. I know you had announced some early wins or selection on some of those programs. Can you give us a status update?

Erez Antebi

Management

The project that we had talked about, I think it was a few years ago, was a government project which is currently on hold and we are pursuing many other projects on HTS, including in Russia.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions). There are no further questions at this time. Before I ask Mr. Erez Antebi to go ahead with his closing statements, I would like to remind participants that a reply of this call is scheduled to begin two hours after the conference. In the U.S., please call 1-888-326-9310. In Israel, please call 03-925-5904 . Internationally, please call 972-3-925-5904. Mr. Antebi, would you like to make your concluding statement?

Erez Antebi

Management

Thank you, Operator. I’d like to thank everyone for your time today. We appreciate your joining us on the call. I hope we were able to give you a good understanding of the results at hand. We appreciate your continued support. Thank you and good afternoon.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes Gilat’s fourth quarter and year-end 2013 results conference call. Thank you for your participation, you may go ahead and disconnect.