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Globe Newswire 14-May-2019 4:17 PM
Gross Margin Increased 6 percentage points Sequentially Driven by Aviation Connectivity
Record First-Quarter Revenue and Major New Inflight Connectivity Award
Christian Mezger Appointed Chief Financial Officer
LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:ENT) ("Global Eagle," the "Company" or "we"), a leading provider of media, content, connectivity and data analytics to markets across air, sea and land, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. For the first quarter of 2019, Global Eagle recorded revenue of $167 million; incurred a net loss of $37.6 million and generated Adjusted EBITDA* of $18.5 million. The Company also announced that it is considering the sale of certain businesses and assets which may include elements of its Maritime, Enterprise, and Government business as well as equity interests in joint ventures.
Financial Results
During the first quarter, Global Eagle made significant financial progress with record revenue, substantial gross margin improvement and lower operating expenses. Revenue grew 6.5% year over year is driven by aircraft installations in our Connectivity segment and commencement of Media & Content contracts announced in previous quarters. We continue to win new business based on our technology, program execution and reliability. Gross margin recovered 6 percentage points sequentially versus the fourth quarter of 2018 trough, consistent with our guidance. Gross margin improvement was driven primarily by our Connectivity segment while our Media & Content segment maintained its gross margin performance. Operating expense improvement continues through the implementation of our Phase II cost initiatives which are expected to be fully implemented by the third quarter of 2019. The 2019 in-year benefit of our Phase II initiatives is expected to be approximately $25 million.
Connectivity
Global Eagle's Connectivity segment is a leading provider of satellite-based passenger connectivity for single-aisle airliners and broadcaster of live television to aviation and maritime markets. Connectivity segment revenue was up 6.2% year-over-year. Inflight connectivity installations and activations remain on track at Air France powered by Global Eagle's Ku high-throughput satellite (HTS) network. This is the first EMEA HTS inflight connectivity network to provide consistent coverage throughout Europe, Russia, the Nordics and Scandinavia, and North Africa, capable of delivering speeds up to 500 Mbps to each aircraft cabin. In the first quarter of 2019, Global Eagle was awarded a major new connectivity program by an existing Media & Content customer that will leverage our EMEA aviation network. This program is our largest inflight connectivity award in recent years. Connectivity revenue growth was also supported by sequential quarterly growth in our maritime business, reflecting the roll-out of television services across a new cruise customer.
The Company continues to implement its patented and patent-pending software-defined network resource management (NRM) technology. NRM optimizes passenger traffic flow, automates network configuration and increases the efficiency of satellite links. Our platform is now in live customer service across both airline and cruise ship applications. The platform optimizes the end-user experience, enables freemium business models, boosts traffic flow over legacy widebeam satellites, and seamlessly fuses satellite links to enable gigabit-class data throughput. In the second quarter, our technology will be deployed to our first yacht and government customers.
The Company ended the first quarter of 2019 with 26 737 MAX 8 aircraft in its fleet of connected aircraft. Due to regulatory actions beyond our control and unrelated to passenger connectivity systems, our MAX connected aircraft were grounded as of quarter-end. Our equipment deliveries to support new MAX installations continue and we forecast at least 40 additional MAX installations to occur during 2019. As the grounding continues, we now expect that our activation schedule for 2019 will be concentrated in the fourth quarter. We forecast that MAX program issues will impact second-quarter and third-quarter service revenue by approximately $3-4 million total, with about half of this impact dropping to the bottom line. We are working with our airline partners and with Boeing to mitigate and reduce this impact, and to be ready when the MAX returns to service.
Media & Content
During the first quarter, Global Eagle's market-leading Media & Content segment revenue was up 6.8% over the prior-year quarter. Revenue growth was driven by the startup of major new wins that were announced in 2018. The large new customer announced in March 2019 will begin service in the second half of this year. In addition to traditional seatback installations, our Media & Content segment is experiencing enhanced growth from new media libraries on wireless IFE servers and connectivity systems on single-aisle aircraft. Global Eagle now delivers movies and digital services to more than 2,300 single-aisle aircraft without seatback systems.
Operational and Strategic Initiatives
In late February, Global Eagle initiated Phase II of its Cost Realignment Plan. This phase focuses on improving gross margin and reducing operating expenses. Cost improvement is driven by repricing of expiring bandwidth contracts, consolidation of headcount and facilities, reduction in third-party professional services, and other cost initiatives. The Phase II initiatives are the second step towards an efficient cost structure, and we continue to pursue additional opportunities to operate more efficiently. We expect Phase II of our Cost Realignment Plan, in concert with revenue growth, to drive the Company's transition to sustainable positive free cash flow generation and a minimum of $25 million of Adjusted EBITDA by the fourth quarter of 2019.
In addition, the Company is considering the divestiture of various businesses and assets, including the potential sale of elements of our Maritime, Enterprise and Government business unit. Based on inbound interest, the Company retained Barclays Capital Inc. as financial advisor to evaluate offers for non-aviation components of our Connectivity business. We expect to conclude our evaluation during the second quarter. Separately, the Company is considering the sale of certain joint venture interests, consistent with our strategy to reduce leverage and focus our resources.
First Quarter Summary
"Our new inflight connectivity win confirms our best-in-class product offering of high-speed connectivity and connectivity-enabled content, and increases our robust pipeline of aircraft," commented Josh Marks, CEO of Global Eagle. "Our commercial success in winning new business along with gross margin improvement is a result of our ability to leverage our world class network and realize benefits from our 2018 investments. In addition, our Phase II cost savings initiatives are visible in our first quarter financials and in our significant EBITDA improvement, consistent with our goal of positive free cash flow by year-end."
"We delivered accelerating top-line growth, gross margin improvement and operating cost reduction in the first quarter," said Paul Rainey, CFO of Global Eagle. "Progress on our cost controls is partially visible now and will be increasingly visible in our second and third quarter results. While we have adequate liquidity on hand to support our growth and cost actions, the business and asset divestitures we are considering would allow us to reduce leverage and focus our business."
CFO Appointment
Global Eagle also announced that Christian Mezger has been appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective May 16, 2019. He succeeds Paul Rainey, who will remain with the Company through May 31, 2019 to facilitate the transition. Mr. Mezger is a global executive who brings significant leadership, financial planning, transformation, budgeting, corporate finance, and technology services experience, most recently at Ciber, Inc. and Hewlett Packard.
"It is an honor and privilege to join Global Eagle," said Mezger. "I am excited to work with the management team to build on its recent momentum, enhance the financial and operational discipline and drive toward our goal of positive free cash flow in the fourth quarter 2019 and beyond."
Mr. Mezger is a global technology executive who brings significant finance and operational leadership, as well as transformation and corporate finance experience, most recently from Ciber, Inc. and Hewlett Packard. Mr. Mezger joined Ciber in 2011, where he was Chief Financial Officer before becoming President & Chief Executive Officer. He led all aspects of finance including treasury, capital structuring, risk management, tax efficiency, global planning and budgeting, controllership, and investor relations. Prior to Ciber, Mr. Mezger led finance for Hewlett Packard's $11B Technology Services business unit across multiple regions. Mr. Mezger holds a degree in international management from The University of Vienna in Austria.
The Company and the Board of Directors thank Mr. Rainey for his many contributions over the past two years. Global Eagle's finance and accounting processes significantly improved under his leadership.
Webcast
We will host a live webcast on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. EDT (2:00 p.m. PDT). We will make the webcast and an accompanying slide presentation available on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://investors.geemedia.com/events-and-presentations. We will maintain an archive of the webcast on our website for 30 days following the event.
About Global Eagle
Global Eagle is a leading provider of media, content, connectivity and data analytics to markets across air, sea and land. Global Eagle offers a fully integrated suite of rich media content and seamless connectivity solutions to airlines, cruise lines, commercial ships, high-end yachts, ferries and land locations worldwide. With approximately 1,200 employees and 50 offices on six continents, the Company delivers exceptional service and rapid support to a diverse customer base. Find out more at: www.GlobalEagle.com.
Contact:
Peter A. Lopez
Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations
+1 310-740-8624
investor.relations@geemedia.com
pr@geemedia.com
* About Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP, we present Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, as a measure of our performance. The presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, or superior to, net income (loss) or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to net cash provided by operating activities or any other measures of our cash flows or liquidity. For a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to its most comparable measure under GAAP, please see the table entitled "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measure" at the end of this press release. Further, we note that Adjusted EBITDA as presented herein is defined and calculated differently than the "Consolidated EBITDA" definition in our senior secured credit agreement and in our second lien notes, which Consolidated EBITDA definition we use for financial-covenant-compliance purposes and as a measure of our liquidity.
Adjusted EBITDA is one of the primary measures used by our management and Board of Directors to understand and evaluate our financial performance and operating trends, including period to period comparisons, to prepare and approve our annual budget and to develop short and long term operational plans. Additionally, Adjusted EBITDA is one of the primary measures used by the Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors to establish the funding targets for (and subsequent funding of) our Annual Incentive Plan bonuses for our employees. We believe our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors both because it allows for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by our management in their financial and operational decision-making and because our management frequently uses it in discussions with investors, commercial bankers, securities analysts and other users of our financial statements.
We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before (a) interest expense (income), (b) income tax expense (benefit) and (c) depreciation and amortization (including relating to equity-method investments) and (gain) loss on disposal and impairment of fixed assets, and we then further adjust that result to exclude (when applicable in the period) (1) change in fair value of financial instruments, (2) other (income) expense, including (gains) losses from foreign-currency-transaction (gains) and from other investments, which include impairment charges relating to our joint ventures, (3) goodwill impairment expense, (4) stock-based compensation expense, (5) strategic-transaction, integration and realignment expenses (as described below), (6) auditor and third-party professional fees and expenses related to our internal-control deficiencies (and the remediation thereof) and complications in our audit process relating to our control environment, (7) excess content expenses (as described below), (8) non-ordinary-course legal expenses (as described below) and (9) losses related to significant customer bankruptcies or financial distress (as described below). Management does not consider these items to be indicative of our core operating results.
"Excess content expenses" includes the additional purchasing costs that we incurred in 2017 to procure movie content for our customers, notwithstanding that we could have procured equivalent content under our (preferential-pricing) output arrangements with major studios. We incurred these additional costs because we could not timely identify and measure our movie-content expenditures and procurement during the period due to weaknesses in our control environment.
"Losses related to significant customer bankruptcies or financial distress" includes (1) our provision for bad debt associated with the bankruptcies of Air Berlin and Alitalia (two of our Media & Content customers) in 2017 and Ocean Air (our Media & Content and Connectivity customer) in 2018, (2) the costs (e.g., content acquisition fees) that we incurred to maintain service to those customers during their bankruptcy proceedings in order to preserve the customer relationship and (3) costs relating to providing services to customers for whom we recognize revenue on a cash basis due to their financial distress.
"Non-ordinary-course legal expenses" includes third-party professional fees and expenses and estimated loss contingencies, provisions for legal settlements and other expenses associated with the securities class-action lawsuits filed against us in 2017, non-ordinary-course employment, corporate and intellectual-property-infringement disputes, and the initial setup of our General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) compliance programs.
"Strategic-transaction, integration and realignment expenses" includes (1) transaction and procurement-related expenses and costs (including third-party professional fees) attributable to acquisition, financing, investment and other strategic-transaction activities (including for new product and proof-of-concept testing), (2) integration and realignment expenses and allowances, (3) employee-severance, -retention and -relocation expenses, (4) purchase-accounting adjustments for deferred revenue, costs and credits associated with companies and businesses that we have acquired through our M&A activities, (5) service-level-agreement penalties incurred during our Eagle-1 migration and setup in its new orbital slot in 2017 and (6) estimated loss contingencies, provisions for legal settlements and other expenses related to claims at companies or businesses that we acquired through our M&A activities for underlying liabilities that pre-dated our acquisition of those companies or businesses.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements with respect to our expected Adjusted EBITDA, revenue and margin growth in future periods, our aviation-connectivity installations in future periods, the impact of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft grounding on our financial performance, our business and financial-performance outlook, industry, business strategy, plans, the potential sale of certain businesses and assets, business and M&A integration activities, operating-expense and cost-structure improvements and reductions and our ability to execute and realize the benefits of our cost-savings plans, international expansion, future technologies, future operations, financial covenant compliance, margins, profitability, future efficiencies, liquidity, ability to generate positive cash flow from operating activities, and other financial and operating information. The words "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "budget," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "future" and the negative of these or similar terms and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking statements in this press release.
Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations regarding future events, results or outcomes. These expectations may or may not be realized. Although we believe the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give you no assurance these expectations will prove to have been correct. Some of these expectations may be based upon assumptions, data or judgments that prove to be incorrect. Actual events, results and outcomes may differ materially from our expectations due to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Although it is not possible to identify all of these risks and factors, they include, among others, the following:
The forward-looking statements herein speak only as of the date the statements are made (which is the date of this press release). You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. If we do update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.
Financial Information
The table below presents financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018.
Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. | |||||
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations | |||||
(In thousands, except per share amounts) | |||||
(Unaudited) | |||||
Three Months Ended March 31, | |||||
2019 | 2018 | ||||
Revenue: | |||||
Licensing and services | 150,478 | 146,526 | |||
Equipment | 16,141 | 9,971 | |||
Total revenue | 166,619 | 156,497 | |||
Cost of sales: | |||||
Licensing and services | 123,269 | 112,414 | |||
Equipment | 10,925 | 6,082 | |||
Total cost of sales | 134,194 | 118,496 | |||
Gross margin | 32,425 | 38,001 | |||
Operating Expenses: | |||||
Sales and marketing | 8,249 | 9,654 | |||
Product development | 6,979 | 8,358 | |||
General and administrative | 27,980 | 38,285 | |||
Provision for legal settlements | 508 | 516 | |||
Amortization of intangible assets | 7,799 | 10,747 | |||
Total operating expenses | 51,515 | 67,560 | |||
Loss from operations | (19,090 | ) | (29,559 | ) | |
Other (expense) income: | |||||
Interest expense, net | (21,277 | ) | (15,597 | ) | |
Income from equity method investments | 2,129 | 1,161 | |||
Change in fair value of derivatives | 938 | 564 | |||
Other (expense) income, net | (179 | ) | 438 | ||
Loss before income taxes | (37,479 | ) | (42,993 | ) | |
Income tax expense (benefit) | 130 | (4,709 | ) | ||
Net loss | (37,609 | ) | (38,284 | ) | |
Net loss per share – basic and diluted | (0.41 | ) | (0.42 | ) | |
Weighted average shares outstanding – basic and diluted | 91,831 | 90,792 | |||
Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. | |||||||
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets | |||||||
(In thousands, except share per share amounts) | |||||||
(Unaudited) | |||||||
March 31, | December 31, | ||||||
2019 | 2018 | ||||||
Assets | |||||||
CURRENT ASSETS: | |||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 20,813 | $ | 39,154 | |||
Restricted cash | 1,019 | 801 | |||||
Accounts receivable, net | 106,797 | 97,623 | |||||
Inventories | 34,233 | 34,649 | |||||
Prepaid expenses | 7,164 | 9,104 | |||||
Other current assets | 13,882 | 10,498 | |||||
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS: | 183,908 | 191,829 | |||||
Content library | 5,232 | 6,966 | |||||
Property, plant and equipment, net | 180,555 | 176,577 | |||||
Right-of-use assets, net | 21,939 | - | |||||
Goodwill | 159,587 | 159,562 | |||||
Intangible assets, net | 76,335 | 84,136 | |||||
Equity method investments | 85,230 | 83,135 | |||||
Other non-current assets | 22,070 | 14,882 | |||||
Total Assets | $ | 734,856 | $ | 717,087 | |||
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity | |||||||
CURRENT LIABILITIES: | |||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | 183,205 | 177,056 | |||||
Deferred revenue | 9,018 | 7,430 | |||||
Current portion of long-term debt | 38,190 | 22,673 | |||||
Other current liabilities | 10,322 | 5,032 | |||||
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES: | 240,735 | 212,191 | |||||
Deferred revenue, non-current | 255 | 1,116 | |||||
Long-term debt | 692,328 | 686,938 | |||||
Deferred tax liabilities | 8,394 | 8,406 | |||||
Other non-current liabilities | 57,271 | 34,771 | |||||
Total Liabilities | 998,983 | 943,422 | |||||
Stockholders' Deficit | |||||||
Common stock | 10 | 10 | |||||
Treasury stock | (30,659 | ) | (30,659 | ) | |||
Additional paid-in capital | 814,072 | 814,488 | |||||
Subscriptions receivable | (597 | ) | (597 | ) | |||
Accumulated deficit | (1,047,067 | ) | (1,009,458 | ) | |||
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) | 114 | (119 | ) | ||||
Total Stockholder's Deficit | (264,127 | ) | (226,335 | ) | |||
Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Deficit | $ | 734,856 | $ | 717,087 | |||
Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. | ||||||
Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures | ||||||
(In thousands) | ||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||
Three Months Ended March 31, |
||||||
Net loss to Adjusted EBITDA reconciliation | 2019 | 2018 | ||||
Net loss | (37,609 | ) | (38,284 | ) | ||
Interest expense, net | 21,277 | 15,597 | ||||
Income tax expense (benefit) | 130 | (4,709 | ) | |||
Depreciation and amortization and loss on disposal and impairment of fixed assets |
22,116 | 25,253 | ||||
Change in fair value of financial instruments | (938 | ) | (564 | ) | ||
Other expense | 2,311 | (438 | ) | |||
Stock-based compensation expense | 1,289 | 3,644 | ||||
EBITDA | 8,576 | 499 | ||||
Strategic-transaction, integration and realignment expenses | 4,700 | 3,079 | ||||
Internal-control and delayed audit expenses | 3,453 | 13,706 | ||||
Excess content expenses | - | - | ||||
Non-ordinary-course legal expenses | 596 | - | ||||
Losses on significant customer bankruptcies | 1,164 | - | ||||
Adjusted EBITDA | 18,489 | 17,284 | ||||
See "About Non-GAAP Financial Measures" above, including our definition of Adjusted EBITDA described therein.