OTTAWA – Telesat’s quarterly revenues rocketed up by 19%, thanks in large part to its Nimiq 4 satellite which launched last October and is fully leased to Bell TV.
For its second quarter ended June 30, 2009, Telesat reported consolidated revenues of $201 million, up approximately $32 million from the same period in 2008.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $142 million, an increase of $38 million (or 36%) compared to the same quarter last year. The company uses revenues and deducts certain operating expenses (such as adjustments to operating expenses for stock based compensation expense and unusual and non-recurring items like restructuring related expenses) to obtain operating loss/income before depreciation and amortization, which it refers to as "adjusted EBITDA”.
Net income for the three month period was $187 million, and the impact on net income of a non-cash foreign exchange gain related to Telesat’s U.S. dollar denominated debt, partially offset by non-cash losses on financial instruments, was $190 million.
"I’m very pleased with Telesat’s strong financial and operating performance in the second quarter and first half of this year”, said president and CEO Dan Goldberg, in the press release announcing the financial results. “We achieved meaningful growth in revenue, adjusted EBITDA and our adjusted EBITDA margin compared to the same periods last year as a result of the entry into service of Nimiq 4, higher utilization of our international satellite fleet and our continued focus on improving our cost structure and operating efficiency.”
For the six month period ended June 30, 2009, revenues, adjusted EBITDA, and net income increased by $73 million, $83 million, and $237 million respectively compared to the same period in 2008.
Glodberg said that Telesat remains “well positioned” for the second half of 2009 due in part to the company’s “significant” contractual backlog (valued at approximately $5.1 billion), the recent addition of Telstar 11N and planned launch of Nimiq 5 later this year.
