Full Press Release Details
| Astrotech Corporation | ||
| 907 Gemini Street | ||
| Houston, Texas 77058-2762 | ||
| 1.713.558.5000 | ||
| fax: 1.713.558.5960 | ||
| www.astrotechcorp.com |
ASTROTECH CORPORATION REPORTS FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THIRD QUARTER
Restructured Company Leads to Profitable Quarter
Houston, Texas, May 12, 2009 Astrotech Corporation (NASDAQ: ASTC), a leading provider of commercial space
services, today announced financial
results for the third quarter ended March 31, 2009 of its fiscal year
Third Quarter Results
The Company posted a third quarter fiscal year
2009 net income of $3.6 million, or $0.21 per diluted share on revenue of $11.8
million compared with a third quarter fiscal year 2008 net loss of $0.8
million, or $0.06 per diluted share, on revenue of $6.6 million.
Astrotech Corporation s net income for the nine
months ended March 31, 2009 was $2.1 million, or $0.12 per diluted share
on revenue of $21.6 million compared to a net loss of $34.5 million, or ($4.92)
per diluted share, on revenue of $19.5 million for first nine months of the
prior fiscal year. The Company s results for the nine months ended March 31,
2008 include $30.2 million of non-cash debt conversion expense upon
consummation of the exchange of its Convertible Subordinated Notes and Senior
Convertible Notes into shares of common stock in October 2007.
As of March 31, 2009 the Company had cash and restricted cash-on-hand of
$4.5 million and our working capital was approximately $3.3 million. Restricted
cash, which consists of advance payments on a government contract to modify
certain spacecraft processing facilities and restricted deposits relating to
bank covenants, totaled $3.2 million at March 31, 2009. The Company carries
a liability of $0.3 million for obligations under this construction contract.
On March 24, 2009, the Company repurchased
300,000 shares at a price of $0.40 per share pursuant to its previously
announced program to repurchase up to $6.0 million of the Company s common
stock and outstanding convertible notes due October 2010. As of March 31,
2009, including the shares repurchased on March 24, 2009, the Company had
repurchased 311,660 shares of common stock at a cost of $237,320 under the
program, which represents an average cost of $0.76 per share. In October 2008,
the Company purchased $1,750,000 principal amount of its outstanding
convertible notes at a price of $1,085,000 plus accrued interest.
The Company maintains a $6.0 million financing
facility with Green Bank, N.A., consisting of a $4.0 million term loan and a $2.0 million revolving credit facility.
On March 31, 2009, $3.6 million of the term loan, which was outstanding,
expires in February 2011. During fiscal Q3 2009, the Company renewed the
one-year revolving credit facility through February 2010
on terms substantially similar to the previous facility.
Update of Ongoing Operations
quarter, the Company changed its name from SPACEHAB, Incorporated to Astrotech
Corporation in order to better reflect its new vision and direction. In
conjunction with the name change, the Company changed its Nasdaq stock ticker
symbol from SPAB to ASTC, which went into effect on May 4, 2009. Astrotech
Corporation continues to maintain its Astrotech Space Operations business unit,
as well as new business initiatives, Astrogenetix, AirWard and 1st Detect.
the quarter, revenue more than doubled from $5.0 million to $11.6 million as
compared to the three month period the previous year. Additionally, the Company s
completed mission manifest for the same period increased more than threefold
from two missions to seven, as compared to the same period the previous year.
Company provided spacecraft processing support on numerous NASA missions
including $6.7 million in support of its Space Tracking and Surveillance System
Satellite (STSS); the Kepler spacecraft; the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Satellite (LRO), and its secondary payload the Lunar Crater Observation and
Sensing Satellite (LCROSS); the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite;
and, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-O (GOES-O),
cumulatively. Additionally, the Company received $2.6 million in government
contracts from the construction of payload processing equipment and facilities;
and, $2.3 million in contracts supporting several commercial space leaders
including ATK, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Of these, completed missions include
the LRO/LCROSS satellites, OCO, and Kepler. The remaining missions will realize
revenues in the coming quarter(s).
Announced in April 2009, the Company formalized
a $1.8 million contract with RSC Energia, Russia s largest manufacturer of
aerospace and space equipment. RSC Energia will utilize Astrotech Space
Operation s Cape Canaveral, Florida payload processing facilities and receive
support services from Astrotech Space Operations to prepare its Mini Research
Module (MRM1) for flight aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle during the STS-132 mission.
Space Shuttle mission STS-132 is currently scheduled for an April 2010
launch to ferry the MRM1 to the ISS, which will be permanently attached to the
bottom port of the ZARYA module, and ultimately
operate as a docking port extension for the Russian Soyuz and Progress
About Astrotech Corporation
Corporation is one of the first commercial space companies and remains a strong
entrepreneurial leader in the aerospace industry. The Company serves our government and
commercial satellite and spacecraft customers with our pre-launch services from
our Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary and incubates space technology
businesses, now having formed three companies; the 1st Detect
Corporation which is developing a breakthrough mini-mass spectrometer first
created for the International Space Station; Astrogenetix, Inc. is
producing biotech products in space and has recently developed a vaccine
candidate for Salmonella; and Airward Corporation is drawing on its space
heritage of sending cargo to space and is selling hazardous material containers
for the airline industry.
statements in this document may contain forward-looking statements that are
made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to
risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be
materially different from the forward-looking
These factors include, but are not limited to, continued government support and
funding for key space programs, product performance and market acceptance of
products and services, as well as other risk factors and business
considerations described in the company s Securities & Exchange
Commission filings including the annual report on Form 10-K. Any
forward-looking statements in this document should be evaluated in light of
these important risk factors. The Company assumes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements.
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