Americas Markets - Latest Developments


Dulles, Va., July 18, 2013

Orbital Sciences Corp. reported lower second quarter revenue by 10 percent, but better profit margins improved its bottom line. Second quarter revenue dropped to US$ 333.1 million, down 10 percent from the second quarter of 2012. Net income rose to US$16.3 million, or 27 cents per share, compared to US$ 14.6 million, or 25 cents per share, as the company benefited from lower interest expenses after refinancing debt last year.

Cambridge, UK, July 15, 2013

Amino Technologies reported on Monday flat revenue of GBP20.1 million pounds (US$30.36 million) for the half year that ended May 31, but said its pretax profit rose to GBP2.6 million (US$3.93 million) from £200,000 (US$302,140) as the company benefited from rebates totalling GBP1.7 million (US$2.57 million) on duties paid on international product sales.

New York, NY, July 12, 2013

In a sudden twist of events, 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Co. stopped the bidding of Hulu and jointly announced that they will maintain their respective ownership positions in the video company. In a statement, the owners said they agreed to provide cash infusion of $750 million to propel future growth.

“We believe the best path forward for Hulu is a meaningful recapitalization that will further accelerate its growth under the current ownership structure,” said Chase Carey, President and Chief Operating Officer of 21st Century Fox. 

New York, NY, July 10, 2013

The increase in digital distribution and the continued shift to mobile devices for the delivery of all communications and content, is helping drive revenues for media and telecom companies, according to a recent poll of industry
executives by KPMG.

New York, New York, July 9, 2013

Sirius XM Radio  today announced that it added 715,000 net new subscribers in the second quarter, bringing its total subscribers to more than 25 million.  Strong automotive sales helped drive 15% growth in net additions over the second quarter of 2012 and set a post-merger record for quarterly net subscriber additions. The company also announced that it was raising full-year guidance for total net subscriber additions to 1.5 million from its previous guidance of 1.4 million.

Ottawa, Canada, July 9, 2013

C-COM Satellite Systems Inc., a provider of mobile auto-deploying satellite antenna systems, today announced financial results for its second quarter ending May 31, 2013. The company is reporting a net profit of CDN $ 966,997 or 2.8 cents per share compared with results for the same period last year when there was a net profit of CDN $ 542,251, or 1.6 cent per share.

Redmond, Wash.,  July 9, 2013

Start-up company Kymeta Corporation announced today that it has successfully closed a US$ 50 million Series C financing to accelerate the company’s growth plans. Kymeta, a privately held technology company, designs and manufactures satellite communication antennas and systems. Existing Kymeta investors including Bill Gates, Lux Capital and Liberty Global were joined in the financing by Osage University Partners and The Kresge Foundation.

El Segundo, Calif., July 8, 2013

Three top pay-TV companies have emerged as the remaining serious contenders for online video service Hulu in a bidding completed on July 5 according to media reports.

The largest satellite company in the U.S., DirecTV, made a bid for the online video service, while Time Warner Cable offered to acquire a stake. AT&T, which operates the U-verse pay TV-service, also submitted a joint bid with Chernin Group, producer of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" film and TV's "New Girl" as well as an investor in startups such as Tumblr and Flipboard.

Ottawa, Canada, July 2, 2013

 Nav Canada has invested an additional US$40 million in Aireon LLC, a joint venture with Iridium Communications Inc., increasing its ownership of Aireon to 18.7 percent on a fully diluted basis.

Aireon will be using the hosted payload space on Iridium NEXT, Iridium's second-generation satellite constellation, to deliver global aircraft surveillance through Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receivers on the satellites.

Scottsdale, Ariz., June 28, 2013

Nearly one-third of US Telco TV households are expected to access multiscreen or TV Everywhere services by the end of 2013 – the vast majority of which already use advanced interactive features like remote programming a DVR, according to ABI Research. Cable is close behind due to its early lead, but the growth rate for these services is slower because of the greater diversity of cable households and services (not all service providers offer TVE).