Eric DeMarco
Analyst · B. Riley and Company
Great, thank you, Laura. Good afternoon. First quarter revenues and EBITDA performance came in pretty much as expected at $215 million and $24.4 million respectively, with adjusted cash flow form ops of approximately $32 million exceeding the high end of our expectations.
Accordingly, the business plan is on track and we are reaffirming our previous 2012 revenue guidance of $950 million to $1 billion, adjusted EBITDA guidance of $120 million to $130 million and adjusted free cash flow guidance of $50 million to $65 million. The integration of the critical infrastructure business that we acquired at the beginning of the first quarter is well underway with significant cost cutting actions already having them implemented, which will result in significantly greater EBITDA margins over the balance of 2012, in particular, the second half of the year.
Additionally, certain back office and administrative functions during the first quarter were being provided to Kratos by the previous owner of this business under a Transition Services Agreement or TSA, which Kratos is paying for and which TSA is currently in the process of being phased out. The required services under this TSA are expected to be substantially eliminated by the second quarter or early in Q3.
The elimination of the TSA and its associated costs at the end of Q3 or early -- excuse me at the end of Q2, early in Q3, is expected to further increase the overall EBITDA margins of the business and for Kratos as a whole. The bottom-line here is that the integration is going very well, it is on track and we expect the profitability of this acquired business to continue to improve throughout the remainder of the year as we had originally planned.
Kratos’ Public Safety & Critical infrastructure security business had a record backlog at the end of the first quarter. And the big pipeline remains extremely strong as we continue to address some of the most significant potential threats to our country’s strategic assets and critical infrastructure including cyber related threats. Our critical infrastructure business' book-to-bill ratio in the first quarter was 1.3 to 1, reflecting the strength and opportunity that we are seeing here, with this business making up approximately 20% of Kratos’ overall business today.
A significant portion of our critical infrastructure security business is the maintenance or operation of the specialized security systems that we deploy and with strategic accounts, which are large national or international businesses, enterprises or agencies where Kratos has the strategic agreement to provide all or a substantial portion of these entities critical infrastructure security requirements. Virtually none of Kratos’ critical infrastructure business customers are U.S. Department of Defense related.
With the acquisition of the critical infrastructure business at the beginning of the first quarter, we substantially increased the number of these strategic accounts in addition to increasing the related annuity type security system operation and maintenance services portfolio that we have. Accordingly, we have good visibility for a significant portion of this business due to the long-term nature of these assignments and the recurring nature of these operation and maintenance assignments once the security systems are deployed.
Related to the momentum we are seeing with this business, we believe that we will be able to formally announce next week an extremely important new strategic customer relationship and related contract award with an entity that has an excess of $20 billion in annual revenues and with sites in over 20 countries internationally. This is obviously a huge achievement for our company and we are looking forward to formally announcing this contract award next week.
As we have discussed previously, our country’s critical infrastructure, power plants, refineries, transportation systems, datacenters, and water treatment facilities, all current Kratos PSS customers depending on the integrity and security of their computer networks. Approximately, 85% of this critical infrastructure is owned by the private sector and last year alone, there were over 200 disclosed attempted or successful cyber intrusions of the control systems that run these facilities, which was nearly a 5-fold increase from the previous year.
Kratos is building a significant cyber practice, which is proprietary product, solutions and services based and which is seeing incredible demand in the military, security, commercial, and critical infrastructure areas. Kratos’ acquisition of Secureinfo late last year is turning out to be fantastic for our company, with Secureinfo Cyber Solutions and Services now being active across virtually all of Kratos’ customer sets throughout our entire company, including at our critical infrastructure security division, with the only limitation we see for our cyber business’ growth potential being the recruitment of adequate qualified resources.
In the cyber area, a key Kratos’ focus area and differentiator for our company is our specialized proprietary products, such as Kratos’ NeuralStar and dopplerVUE, which we have deployed at multiple customer networks to address their cyber based and network management situation awareness needs including DoD, other federal government agency, commercial, critical infrastructure, transportation and black customers.
Further in Kratos’ cyber software product offering, a few weeks ago, we announced the family of some of our newest cyber security products, which we call the cyber C-4 product suite, which addressed cyber based equipment hardening in cyber threats, situational awareness, focused on the satellite communications and related terrestrial communications markets, where as you know, Kratos has currently a significant customer presence. One of these new Kratos projects, cyber C-4 alert, is the force multiplier for network and security personnel, who otherwise face the difficult task of manually going through thousands of log files generated per second to identify if the network is being threatened.
Kratos’ cyber C-4 alert is the real time situation awareness, cyber threat identification product. Very recently in their report to Congress, the Pentagon stated that it is planning to dramatically speed up the development of new cyber weapons, giving the ability to field such weapons against specific targets, which is designed to respond to urgent, mission critical needs, when risk to operation and personnel is unacceptable if such threats are not addressed quickly. This is just one of the most recent high-level indices of the accelerating threat profile in the cyber area across this country.
There are also current discussions and national security circles as to where electronic warfare ends and cyber warfare begins. In electronic attack, cyber is the message and the conveyance of the electromagnetic signal. For example, you inject the cyber signal into the emitter that makes what you are targeting, a radar or sensor, think that the signal it is seeing is something else. Cyber is what occurs when this stooping signal gets into the receiver on the target network and you either stoop it or inject it with malware.
Today, cyber weapons and other sophisticated counter measures can attack aircraft, ships, and ground vehicles through their antennas. Additionally, the threat of electronic and cyber-attack against U.S. forces is very real, both in the manned and unmanned areas, with the Chinese and Russians having designed specific EW platforms to attack high-value U.S. assets. This type of warfare is going to be a major part of any significant future conflict. A very large part of Kratos’ business is in the electronic warfare and electronic attack arena and Kratos is directly involved in EW developing into CyberFare.
Our electronic warfare, electronic attack and electronic products business had another extremely solid quarter in Q1, including the receipt of new contract awards that are positioning in this business for the balance of 2012 and into the future. Bookings in Kratos’ EWEA and EP business have been extremely strong year-to-date, including thus far into Q2. Some of the important awards that we recently received in the business, and which we have been cleared publicly to disclose, including a specifically related to electronic warfare and electronic attack, included a $17.2 million sole source award for certain U.S. electronic attack platform and a 9.4 million sole source single award contract, to provide electronic warfare related threat simulation products to international customer and $6.7 million award to support the airborne threat simulation office.
We were also just able to recently announce a production award related to the U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon program. The Poseidon is the U.S. Navy’s newest maritime reconnaissance aircraft. It’s a long range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence surveillance reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad area maritime and littoral operations. Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. Navy celebrated fleet delivery of the first P-8A Poseidon, which is the replacement for P-3 after 50 years of P3 service. There are currently over 115 P-8s planned for the U.S. Navy and Kratos has designed them with significant content on this very strategic platform, which will be in service for decades in the future.
So as I stated before, this concept of being designed in is a critical element of Kratos’ business model across virtually our entire corporation including in EW and EA electronic products, SATCOM products, Aegis BMD targets, specialized training systems, cyber, and PSS Security Systems. In our Electronic Products business area, Kratos also recently received a $24 million sole source award for 3 extremely specialized microwave products for certain international missile program, but we’re unable to say much about this opportunity. We believe that over the next few years, this specific program could easily become one of the largest in our company, as we are now designed in and supporting a system that is addressing extremely lethal threat profiles.
At the macro level in the same tactical missile systems and electronic product area, is really seeking $700 million from the United States to fund additional batteries of Iron Dome counter-rocket system along with funding for the Arrow, Spider, Barak, and Sling of David missile defense systems, all programs that are supported with similar specialized Kratos products. Continuing the Missile Defense area, in the first quarter Kratos’ rocket support services business substantially completed one of the largest single internally funded efforts in our company, a program to engineer, design and produce a new Kratos Aegis Readiness Assessment Variant, which culminated with a successful test firing of this significantly enhanced capability system, which we were formally able to announce just last weak.
Kratos has invested several millions of dollars in the successful effort to address several new ballistic missile defense program opportunities and threat profiles, which we cannot get into details publicly. Kratos’ internally funded effort on this program is now substantially complete, and we have already received new orders from certain customers for this very capable BMD system. Kratos’ RSS, BMD and Aegis related business was the fastest organic growth business in Kratos in the first quarter. And with our new TVC rocket system we expect Kratos’ RSS business to continue to be a key growth driver for our company in the future.
Kratos’ RSS business and Kratos’ ARAV, including Kratos’ new ARAV variant, is a recent example where Kratos’ designed to a major strategic national security program, and where we’ve made a rifle shot investment on a proven, deployed and low cost product or system to address new markets and where we believe there is a clear demand. We’ve successfully executed on this strategy with this ARAV, including the new customer orders for this new Kratos systems that I just mentioned.
Kratos is also involved in or supporting Aegis, THAAD, Patriot, GMD, Chaparral, Hawk and other missile defense related programs and platforms. And we believe strategically that both tactical and strategic missile defense will remain very well-funded areas, both domestically and internationally. The proliferation of missile systems throughout the globe is accelerating rapidly, which we can all see clearly in current world defense. In the EW and EA arena, the Australian government is moving forward with its plans to upgrade its F-18 fleet with radar electronic attack equipment. The F-18 and radar program is some of the largest in our company today. The Australian plan is good news for Kratos in our future book of business.
In Kratos’ satellite communication business, where Kratos products are used on more than 85% of space machines, it was a lot of activity in Kratos supported programs over the past few months. The air force accepted control of the fourth wideband global satellite communications spacecraft with Air Force operators at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, currently conducting tests before moving the satellite into its operational position for its expected entry into the service this summer. The Air Force has already placed orders for the 5 additional of these space systems.
During the first quarter, on over testing was completed on the first advanced extremely high frequency military communication satellites. The AEHF system will be a constellation of the communication satellites in geo-synchronous orbit that will replenish the existing EHF system, Milstar satellite at a much higher capacity and data rate capability. The AEH constellation will provide survivable, anti-jam worldwide secured communications for both strategic and tactical users, and there are currently 4 AEHF satellites planned.
Kratos is also under contract to supporting the mobile user objective system, UHF satellite system program, which is a planned four satellite constellation. Kratos is also currently under contract on the space based infrared system, or severance high program, which is to consist of 4 dedicated satellites operating in geo-synchronous earth orbit and 2 satellites operating at a highly elliptical orbit.
And finally, Kratos is also supporting the global positioning or GPS system, which is currently expected to consist of at least 24 satellites on orbit at all times. Kratos’ SATCOM business is primarily specialty product and specialty proprietary software based and we’re expecting this business to be a growth driver for our company for many years into the future.
Our specialty training systems business, also primarily specialty proprietary products based, is coming off an extremely strongly in 2011 and continued its outstanding performance in the first quarter of '12. This business is where Kratos designs, engineers, produces, deploys and maintains full scale and subscale specialized training systems for a number of proven and deployed platforms in the aviation, missile system, armored vehicle, and unmanned systems area.
As the number of newer replacement platforms or systems has reduced, either through new program cancellation or truncation, proven deployed systems are being upgraded with new C4ISR systems, weapon systems, propulsion systems and other systems, which are driving this training business for Kratos. Major current programs that Kratos has designed in on or holds the data rights for the specialized training systems include Chinook, Black Hawk, Abrams, certain unmanned systems and certain other national security based platforms.
Here at the macro level, our recent report indicated that the United States Department of Defense spends approximately $13.7 billion annually on training and simulation and also predicted that a significant up tick and the need for operational training to keep soldiers battle ready as troops are redeployed from Iraq and Afghanistan. Training and sim is an important element of Kratos’ business and we are looking to making some very specific tactical investments in this area in the future, especially where we can develop or obtain specialized proprietary products or products or systems are proven, deployed, and designed in to existing customer requirements and where there is limited competition.
Directly related to the importance of this market area to Kratos, an example of focus business development investments we are making. Several weeks ago, we were awarded an $86 million prime contract to provide technology-based training solutions for the Navy’s Education and Training Command. This is a new contract award for Kratos and it will enable us to expand our training business to a new customer set across new programs, platforms and systems.
Kratos' unmanned systems business was solid in the first quarter and performed as expected including in the avionics, electronics, ground flight control station and related support equipment areas. Unmanned systems, is an area where Kratos is very well embedded on a number of programs with our specialized products. This is another area, where Kratos is looking to invest as we believe that this to be solidly funded area in the future and I will talk more about some of the success of our investments here later on in my remarks.
Kratos' weapon system sustainment business, where we provide specialized product services and solutions for a number of weapon systems performed well in the first quarter in a very tough budgetary environment. This business was down somewhat from last year and we are currently forecasting this business to continue to contract slightly this year as compared to last year, primarily due to the current budgetary environment and budgetary flows. In our existing bid and proposal pipeline, there are a number of bids that we are preparing to submit, which we are currently expected to be awarded later this year, early next year specifically related to this business unit.
Finally, Kratos' traditional federal government services type business, which is currently approximately $80 million in the annual revenues to our company as expected continued to contract as compared to last year due to extremely having pricing competition, commoditization of this space, and in-sourcing by the government customers. We expect in our forecast for this trend to continue for the foreseeable future.
I’ll now turn the call over to Deanna.