what is the deal with orb and it's accounting? they just continue to struggle with how to handle their numbers.
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Announces Delay In Filing Final 1999 Financial Results
DULLES, Va., March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB - news) today announced that the issuance of its final audited financial statements for the quarter and year ended December 31, 1999 will be delayed.
The company's current and previous auditors have not yet agreed whether certain costs relating to the company's two principal space launch vehicles, Pegasus and Taurus, that were capitalized in 1995, 1996 and 1997, instead should have been expensed as incurred. The total amount capitalized in those periods was approximately $15 million.
Orbital is working with its current and previous auditors to promptly resolve this matter.
Preliminary Financial Results
At this time, without taking into consideration any effect of the final resolution of the above matter, but after considering the impacts of identified restatements to the company's financial statements as well as start-up losses from the company's satellite services affiliates, and subject to the completion of the 1999 audit, Orbital preliminarily expects that its net loss for the year will be between ($2.90) and ($3.25) per diluted share. The company preliminarily expects that its comparable net loss for the fourth quarter of 1999 will be between ($0.48) and ($0.55) per diluted share. The foregoing are preliminary financial results and the audit of the company's 1999 financial statements is not yet completed.
Strategic and Operational Highlights
During the fourth quarter of 1999, Orbital received new orders for its space and ground infrastructure systems worth about $520 million, bringing its total new bookings for the year to $1.53 billion. As a result, the company's firm and total contract backlog at year-end were approximately $2.05 billion and $4.76 billion, respectively, representing increases of 12% and 18% compared to year-end 1998 backlog figures.
In the final three months of 1999, Orbital delivered and deployed eight satellites, launched two rockets and carried out two major space payload operations, all with 100% success. For the year as a whole, the company conducted 19 space missions, extending its record to 81 consecutive successful rocket launches, satellite deployments and space payload operations during the three-year period from January 1997 to December 1999.
Earlier in 1999, Orbital acquired Spar Aerospace Ltd.'s space robotics business through the company's MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, Ltd. (MDA) subsidiary in Vancouver, Canada. This acquisition is expected to assist Orbital in pursuing new growth opportunities in the $6 billion per year human spaceflight market. In addition, MDA accelerated its business-to-business electronic commerce initiatives in land information services with several smaller acquisitions and joint ventures.
During the fourth quarter of 1999, the company's Magellan subsidiary built and shipped approximately 141,000 consumer and industrial satellite navigation and communications products, bringing its total product sales for 1999 to a record-setting 498,000 units. As previously announced, the company was unable to complete its planned acquisition of Lowrance Electronics, Inc.
In the final quarter of 1999, ORBCOMM increased its total subscriber units in service or on order by about 24%, from approximately 161,000 units in September to about 199,000 units in December 1999. Its installed subscriber base increased by about 40% in the quarter, from approximately 15,000 units in September 1999 to about 21,000 units in service at year end. In addition, in the fourth quarter ORBCOMM added seven new satellites to its in-orbit fleet, commissioned two new regional gateway stations and began construction on four additional gateways, and started offering data communications services in 10 additional countries.
ORBIMAGE received a new contract valued up to $15 million in the fourth quarter of 1999, bringing its new orders for the year to over $140 million and increasing its total backlog and imagery contract commitments to about $465 million. It also announced plans to expand its super-high-resolution aerial images program to over 150 cities in the year ahead, up from 20 cities at year-end 1999.
In the fourth quarter of 1999, ORBNAV, Orbital's emerging satellite-based automotive information services business, received about 25,000 additional in- car units for its joint venture with The Hertz Corporation. ORBNAV ended the year with approximately 40,000 in-car units delivered for the Hertz rental fleet in 50 cities in the U.S. and Canada, with plans to further expand this popular Hertz services in 2000.
Orbital is a space and information systems company that designs, manufactures, operates and markets a broad range of affordable space infrastructure systems, satellite access products and satellite services, including satellites and other space systems, launch vehicles, electronics and sensors, satellite ground systems and software, satellite-based navigation and communications products, and satellite-delivered communications, Earth imaging and other information services.
Note: ``Safe Harbor' Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Certain ``forward-looking statements' contained in this release involve unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In particular, statements containing objectives, goals, targets and expectations are not projections of future performance.
In addition, factors such as general economic and business conditions, product performance, market acceptance of products, services and technologies, consumer demand, dependence upon long-term contracts with commercial and government customers may impact the company's revenues, expenses and profit from period to period. These factors and others related to the company's business are described in further detail in the company's SEC filings, including its Form 10-K and Forms 10-Q.
Note: To learn more about Orbital, as well as to access our recent press releases, please visit Orbital's web site at orbital.com |
