Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, today reported its results for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31 December 2018.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Key Financial Highlights:
- Quarterly revenues were $69.7 million, compared with $82.7 million in Q4 2017. Full year 2018 revenues were $266.4 million versus $282.8 million in 2017.
- Continued strong profitability:
- Quarterly GAAP operating income increased to $7.5 million, up 33.1% from Q4 2017. Full year GAAP operating income increased 96.0% to $21.3 million.
- Quarterly Non-GAAP operating income rose to $7.9 million, an increase of 12.2% from Q4 2017. Full year Non-GAAP operating income was up 36.0% to $25.1 million from 2017.
- Quarterly GAAP net income was $5.3 million, or $0.09 per diluted share compared with $3.4 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, in Q4 2017. Full year GAAP net income was $18.4 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, compared with $6.8 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in 2017. Full year 2018 net income includes a deferred tax benefit of $4.1 million recognized in the third quarter of 2018.
- Quarterly Non-GAAP net income was $5.7 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, compared to $4.7 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, in Q4 2017. Full year Non-GAAP net income was $18.2 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, compared with $14.6 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, in 2017.
- Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 2018 increased 17.6% from Q4 2017 to $10.5 million. Full year 2018 Adjusted EBITDA rose 34.6% from 2017 to $35.2 million.
- Management objectives for 2019: revenue range between $275 million to $295 million, GAAP operating income of between $23 million and $27 million, and Adjusted EBITDA between $38 million and $42 million.
- The Gilat Board of Directors expects to declare a cash dividend estimated at $25 million (or approximately $0.45 per share), subject to final approval of our audited financial statements to be issued in March 2019. Under the Israeli Companies Law such a dividend will be based on the Company meeting the criteria set out in the Israeli Companies Law.
Yona Ovadia, CEO of Gilat, commented: “I am pleased to report that our strong fourth quarter concludes a year of important progress for Gilat as we advanced our business strategy and achieved substantial profitability growth.
“We were successful in achieving our objectives through our continued focus on our growth engines of Broadband, Mobile Cellular Backhaul and Mobility IFC, along with continued efforts to drive costs out of the business.
“We secured significant Broadband business around the globe over the past year including: NBN in Australia, Gazprom in Russia, ChinaSatcom in China, LASCOM in Japan, Hispasat in Latin America and ISRO in India. In the Mobile market, we continued as the front-runner in the LTE/4G satellite backhaul market with expansion of projects with existing customers and additional contract wins such as Telstra in Australia. In the Mobility market, we reached an important milestone with our dual-band aero terminal by passing the standard for the environmental testing of avionics hardware and receiving the DO-160 certification. Lastly, we continued investing in product leadership, as demonstrated by the successful trials for aero and maritime connectivity solutions over Telesat’s phase 1 LEO satellite, as well as the announcement of the 5G-ready powerful solution that provides new levels of speeds and capabilities, in support of the growing demand of data consumption.
“Further, we executed our plan to improve profitability, with the result that GAAP operating income for full-year 2018 increased 96.0% from 2017, while Adjusted EBITDA rose 34.6% and GAAP net income reached $18.4 million or $0.33 per diluted share.”
Mr. Ovadia concluded:
“Looking at 2019, we will continue our focus on improving profitability, by further developing and expanding our existing growth engines, as we see continued reception to our services and solutions. As the market constantly evolves and requires higher throughputs and greater efficiency, we will also continue to invest substantially in R&D and in our product roadmap, to maintain product leadership especially in the era of NGSO and 5G.
“I am pleased to say that we have a substantial pipeline going into 2019, which is reflected in our management objectives that include further revenue and profitability growth for the year, even with a significant investment in R&D.
“I am also pleased to say that with this continued and significant progress and the strength of the Gilat balance sheet, the Board is planning to award a cash dividend to shareholders while maintaining our ample liquidity to fund future growth.”
