Gilat Reports Significant Increase in Year-over-Year Profitability in Q1 2018

Petah Tikva, Israel, May 15, 2018 – Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ, TASE: GILT), a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, today reported its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018. Revenues for Q1 2018 totaled $67.4 million, up 5.4% from Q1 2017.  

 Key Financial Highlights: 

  • Revenues for Q1 2018 totaled US$ 67.4 million, up 5.4% from Q1 2017.  
  • Company's revised reporting segments: 
    • Q1 2018 Fixed Networks Segment revenues were up 40.0% year over year;
    • Mobility Solutions Segment revenues increased 39.3% from Q1 2017;
    • Terrestrial Infrastructure Projects Segment revenues decreased 59.4% from Q1 2017, as the construction phase of the Company's project for Fitel in Peru winds down and the project shifts to the operational phase later this year. 
  • Continued strong profitability: 
    • Q1 2018 GAAP operating income rose to $3.7 million from $0.02 million in Q1 2017.  
    • Q1 2018 Non-GAAP operating income rose to $5.1 million, or 108% year over year. 
    • Q1 2018 GAAP net income was $2.3 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, compared with a GAAP loss of $0.8 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, in Q1 2017. 
    • Q1 2018 non-GAAP net income increased year over year to $3.8 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, versus $1.7 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, in Q1 2017.  
    • Q1 2018 Adjusted EBITDA increased 78% year over year to $7.5 million, or 11.2 % of revenues.

Yona Ovadia, CEO of Gilat, commented: 
“I am pleased to report that the first quarter of 2018 was a very positive quarter for Gilat. The quarter was very positive from a business perspective, with significant wins and achievements.

“We won with Speedcast a substantial deal of tens of millions of dollars for NBN in Australia to meet the demand for broadband services for businesses and government customers.

“In addition, we made progress on the Telco backhaul front with additional Mobile Network Operators expanding several cellular backhaul networks, as well as securing a backhauling deal for critical communications with Altice in Portugal. “And we also launched Gilat’s complete dual-band aero terminal for commercial in-flight connectivity, which achieved noteworthy performance during a live customer demonstration in China, in both Ku and Ka, with unprecedented download speeds of 130Mbps with dozens of concurrent users.

“Our strong year-over-year financial performance in this quarter is the targeted outcome of the continued progress in our business and of our strategic growth engines of mobile cellular backhaul and mobility IFC, and is evident across all measures including the substantial increase in operating income, both GAAP and non-GAAP, and the continued growth in Adjusted EBITDA to $7.5 million, an increase of 78% from Q1 2017.  We also further delivered on our commitment to GAAP profitability with first quarter net income of $2.3 million compared with a loss of $0.8 million in the first quarter last year.”   

Ovadia concluded: “The strong first quarter with the closing of the substantial deal with NBN in Australia, gave us a good start to the year. We remain strongly confident with our strategy and achieving our targets for the year.”

Related Articles:

NBN Co and Speedcast Select Gilat for Business and Enterprise Satellite Service in Australia

Gilat Launches Complete Dual Band Aero Terminal for Commercial In-Flight Connectivity