Iridium earnings fall 42%; revenue up - Business First of Columbus:

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The Bethesda-based provider of satellitse telephone services, which expects to become publiclt traded this summer throughan acquisition, posted a 42 percent declinwe in net income in the first quarter ended March 31, to $9.7 million from $16.87 million a year ago. Th company attributed the declinde to costs related toits next-generation satellite program. “Iridiunm continued to grow, although the pace slowed given the currenteconomicx climate,” said CEO Matt Desch.
“Ihn addition to the impact of phasing out equipment we believe the economic climate is affecting equipment as is the transition of newlyu introduced products into the distribution channel as our partners move existinyg inventory to make way fornew product.” Companuy officials say either Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin or Thales Alenia Spaced will be selected as the program’s lead contractor this summer. The program’w new network of satellites calle d Iridium NEXT is expected to be deployedrin 2014. Iridium NEXT will provide higherdata speeds, greatedr bandwidth and the potential to deliver new data servicesd and applications to customers.
The company says its EBITDA, or earningw before interest, taxes, depreciation and increased 4.9 percent to $27.6 million in the firs t quarter, up from $26.3 milliob a year ago, though most analysts do not use that as a reliablefinancial measure. Iridium’s revenue rose 2 percent to $75.89 million for the quarter, comparede to $74.3 million for the first quarter 2008. The slightlhy higher revenue came from increased commercial servicees revenueof $36.8 million but was offsetr by a decline in subscriber equipment revenue to $20. 5 million for the quarter. Iridium’s commerciak markets include maritime, aviationm and land mobile customers, which grew by 11.
5 percent for the The company’s sales to government customers, includiny the Department of Defense, grew 31 percent. Despitr a 31 percent increase in subscriberswto 328,000, compared to 250,000 in the firstr quarter of 2008, a $2 million amortization of equipmenty related to prior year equipment sales, added to the decline in subscriber equipmenty revenue. The company is planninf to go publicthis summer, but it is not taking the initiap public offering route. It is acquirintg a publicly tradedinvestment group, (NYX: GHQ), an affiliatw of Greenhill & Co.
Iridium has retained Deutsches Bank as its financial adviser forthe