To: RMiethe who wrote (3426 ) 3/16/1999 9:51:00 AM From: Valueman Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29987
Roger: You are right that the November 97 business plan was a work of fantasy. The only division even close to projections is SatMex. That may be a bigger factor than getting the sats in orbit. The delays are common in the industry, and stem from an increased quality control, rocket delays, etc. I do not fault Loral in that sense. If taking a few extra months assures us that Telstar 6 will work flawlessly, so be it--that is smart management. If you work on Telstar 6, that delays work on Telstar 7. If Delta III blows up, launch of Orion 3 is delayed. That probably worked in our favor, by the way, since Asia had a chance to pull out of the chasm before Orion 3 gets in orbit. So, I think the biggest drag on the price has been results that in no way resemble projections. Can we expect that to change? I think so, and that's why I am still here(along with the inevitable buyout). Orion has been gutted and brought under Terry Hart's able control. Capacity utilization is way up. Orion 3 is launching into a horrible market with a decent business already on tap. After a slow start, Skynet is really firing now. You can't improve much on 100% utilization, and Telstar 6&7 are pre-booked at an excellent rate. PanAmSat's troubles(with more to come---batteries, batteries, batteries) will only contribute further to Skynet's advantage. SatMex has had its expense base whittled down to nothing and is also benefitting from SPOT's trevails. SS/L is at full capacity with an increase in margins(finally) expected for 1999. G* is back on track and executing flawlessly so far. Schwartz is saying all the right things about its transformation into a telecom company from a sat company. A question at the ING conference induced him to say that indeed they were looking to hire an experienced telecom person to take over for Doug Dwyre at G*. The delay in launching the other GEOs, Telstar 8,9,10, and C* is fine by me. Let's see those financials improve before we pile on more sats. Besides, it may be cheaper to buy used than put up new! Greg Clark mentioned that the Loral Global Alliance would have 1200 transponders by 2002. Loral will have 679--that means partnerships, acquisitions, joint ventures, etc. will bring the rest on board. Plenty of action to come. That mega-wad of cash at Loral can be unleashed as soon as G* is fully financed. There are assets to be had out there. No time like the present. Since I don't like to post very much without alluding to consolidation, let me share some more "fuel". Schwartz was asked if he saw any chance of the fiber and sat companies consolidating(a guy from Teleglobe, a sat and fiber company, asked this). Schwartz's reply, and I quote, "Definitely. I would love to own a fiber company. I would love to own a cable company. The digital signal does not care how it is delivered." The questioner added, "Like Alcatel is doing." Scwartz replied, "Exactly." My comment would be this--what is more likely--Loral buys a fiber company, or a cable company, or one/all of the above buys them? Another comment he made was that he thought communication companies of old should have dominated this satcom market. There should be no reason for Loral to even exist if they had done things correctly. Can they correct their mistakes now by acquiring Loral?