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Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (GILT)

Q1 2014 Earnings Call· Wed, May 21, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Gilat’s First Quarter 2014 Results Conference Call. All participants are at 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, May 21, 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

Thank you. Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Gilat’s first quarter results conference call. A recording of this call will be available beginning at approximately noon Eastern Time today, May 21 until May 23 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 first quarter results, and then discuss the business. Following my comments, Yaniv will discuss our financial results. I will then summarize and open the call for questions. Our revenues for the first quarter of 2014 were $50.9 million, compared to $55.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. The revenue decline is attributed to two projects that were completed, our previous project in Colombia which ended in Q4 2013, and completion of installing all 48,000 VSATs in NBN FRSS project. I will point out that in Colombia we were awarded a new project at the end of 2013 where we will begin to provide Internet services to schools. This project will start generating revenues in the second half of 2014. In Australia, we are now continuing the operations phase of the project. NBN has yet to make a decision whether or not to expand services under the FRSS, and if so, by what means and to what extent. In this quarter, we see the Commercial and Defense divisions improve their profitability when compared to the fourth quarter of 2013. We are also starting to see the results of the cost cutting efforts implemented last year. As a result, we see an increase of our non-GAAP gross margin to 42%, up from 39% in the fourth quarter of 2013, and a non-GAAP operating income of $0.5 million, compared to an operating loss of $100,000 in the fourth quarter 2013. On a GAAP basis, our gross margin was 39%, up from 36% in the fourth quarter. Our GAAP operating loss for the first quarter was $1.5 million as compared to an operating loss of $2.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.…

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, amortization of intangible assets resulting from the purchase price allocation, restructuring costs and net income or loss from discontinued operations. The reconciliation table in our press release highlights this data, and our non-GAAP information is presented excluding these items. Now, moving to our financial highlights for the first quarter of 2014. Revenues for the first quarter of 2014 were $50.9 million, compared to $65.4 million for the same period in 2013. The difference is mostly attributed to the completion of our project in Colombia and from NBN Co. We have finished the Compartel project in Colombia and have not yet started to generate revenues from the new MINTIC project. This is expected at the second half of 2014. In addition, we had lower revenue from the NBN Co project in Commercial division. We have finished the installations at NBN Co and have not yet received a notification as to whether the project will be extended beyond 48,000 sites. We continue to generate revenues from the service portion of the project. On a GAAP basis, our gross margin this quarter reached approximately 39.3%, compared to approximately 34.8% in the comparable period last year. As we have mentioned over the past few quarters, our gross margin is affected by the regions in which we operate and the types of deals we recognize. The increase in our gross margin this quarter was primarily due to two reasons. The first is due to the mix of deals with higher margin and the second is due to our cost reduction in COGS. Gross R&D expenses…

Erez Antebi

Management

Thank you, Yaniv. Before I begin my summary, I would like to remind you of some corporate updates from this quarter. Amiram Levinberg, one of the founders of the company and Chairman of the Board, has decided to step down from his position. I would like to thank Amiram for the long period we worked together and for his contributions to the company over many years. Dov Baharav was elected as the new Chairman of the Board of Gilat. Mr. Baharav served as the CEO of Amdocs and Chairman of the Board of Israel Aerospace Industries in addition to numerous other senior executive positions. I speak for the entire management team when I say we are happy to have him as part of our team and wish Dov success in his new position. Additionally, in the first quarter of 2014, FIMI acquired approximately 2.1 million shares from York. FIMI is now the largest stakeholder of Gilat at 23.2%. And to my summary, this quarter we announced two important partnerships in the Ka-band and HTS market. One was Inmarsat Global Xpress and the second was Thaicom IP start. We saw a steady flow of deals in the Commercial division and are optimistic regarding our new products. Two promising products are the Capricorn VSAT and CellEdge small cell solution. We also had our first significant sale of CellEdge to a leading mobile operator. In the Defense division, we announced new products targeting unmanned platforms. Our products have been chosen by another UAV system integrator and our maritime terminals were deployed in combat operations. There is more visibility of the U.S. DoD budget and growth of demand in international defense markets. Our service operations in Peru and Colombia are on track with our plans for the year. Looking at the year in general, when planning to budget for 2014 we estimated a stronger half for the year. The growth in the second half is expected to come from two main factors, first, growth in revenues from the projects in Peru and Colombia, which we expect to see in the second half of 2014, and second, growing commercial and defense activity. We are starting to see an improvement in the profitability of our Commercial and Defense divisions and the effects of the cost cutting steps we took last year. These are reflected in our gross margins as well as in our operating expenses. We are confident we are on track to meet our management objectives for the year, which we previously stated, achieving 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

Analyst · Discovery Group. Please go ahead

I have two questions. Question number one concerns the Eastern European area with regards to its current political instability; will this help or hurt the Gilat’s prospects and its market sectors? And number two question is that India’s political climate changing to a new leadership, how will that impact, if at all, Gilat’s business in that region?

Erez Antebi

Management

Regarding Eastern Europe, I think that -- first of all, to answer both your questions, it’s a bit early to tell what the exact impact will be. But we are seeing in Eastern Europe, we’re seeing a more, I would say, interest in our defense products as they are looking -- because they are seeing higher tensions and they are looking at what they are going to do with their defense budgets and they are looking towards probably increasing them, therefore we are seeing more interest from that area. So, potentially it could help our business there. Regarding India, there was a new government elected, but I think it’s very recent and it’s too early to tell. We hope it will be positive but we have no way of knowing.

Gunther Karger - Discovery Group

Analyst · Discovery Group. Please go ahead

Regarding India, the reason I asked the question about India because the new leadership is said to be more friendly towards business, more friendly towards business from other countries, and that’s the reason I was asking that question.

Erez Antebi

Management

I understand. We read the same newspapers. We also see that’s what they are said to be. But the new government just stepped in and we don’t know yet what will actually happen on the ground. So we’re hopeful but that’s all we can be.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions at this time. Before I ask Mr. Erez Antebi to go ahead with his closing statement, I would like to remind participants that a replay 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 03-925-5900. Internationally, please call 972-3-925-5900. Mr. Antebi, would you like to make your concluding statement?

Erez Antebi

Management

I just like to thank everyone for participating. We appreciate the time and we appreciate the attendance. Thank you very much and hope to see you soon on the next call.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes Gilat’s first quarter 2014 results conference call. Thank you for your participation, you may go ahead and disconnect.