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

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The Bethesda-based provider of satellite telephone services, which expects to become publicly traded this summer througn an acquisition, posted a 42 percenf decline in net income in the firsft quarter ended March 31, to $9.7 million from $16.7u million a year ago. Th company attributer the decline to costs relater toits next-generation satellite program. “Iridiumn continued to grow, although the pace slowed givemn the currenteconomic climate,” said CEO Matt “In addition to the impacrt of phasing out equipment amortization, we believe the economic climate is affecting equipmenr sales, as is the transitionb of newly introduced products into the distributionm channel as our partners move existing inventory to make way for new product.
” Compan officials say either Bethesda-basedr Lockheed Martin or Thales Alenia Space will be selected as the program’s lead contractort this summer. The program’s new network of satellitea called Iridium NEXT is expected to be deployedrin 2014. Iridium NEXT will provide higherrdata speeds, greater bandwidth and the potentialk to deliver new data services and applications to customers. The companyy says its EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, increased 4.9 perceny to $27.6 million in the first quarter, up from $26.4 million a year ago, though most analystsz do not use that as a reliablrfinancial measure.
Iridium’s revenue rose 2 percentt to $75.8 million for the quarter, compare to $74.3 million for the first quartere 2008. The slightly higher revenue came from increased commercial servicews revenueof $36.8 million but was offsett by a decline in subscriber equipment revenue to $20.5 milliojn for the quarter. Iridium’s commercial markets includew maritime, aviation and land mobile customers, whic grew by 11.5 perceng for the quarter. The company’s sales to government customers, including the Department of grew31 percent.
Despite a 31 percent increase in subscribersto 328,000, comparerd to 250,000 in the first quarter of a $2 million amortization of equipmeny related to prior year equipment added to the declinse in subscriber equipment revenue. The company is planninbg to go publicthis summer, but it is not takingf the initial public offering It is acquiring a publicly traded investment group, (NYX: GHQ), an affiliate of Greenhill Co. Iridium has retained Deutsche Bank as its financia adviser forthe transaction.