After closing the sale of its Satellite Networks division during the first quarter of 2006, EMS Technologies posted record revenues for the quarter, company executives said.
“EMS is moving forward in what I characterize as the ‘new look’ after the sale of Satellite Networks,” Al Hansen, chief executive officer of EMS, said during a May 10 conference call with investors.
The sale of the Montreal-based SatNet unit to Advantech Advanced Microwave Technologies Inc., also of Montreal, was finalized March 9 for $6 million.
Norcross, Ga.-based EMS brought in revenues of $74.7 million during the first quarter of 2006, which ended March 31, up from $60.2 million in the first quarter of 2005. The company’s net earnings were $200,000, a figure that reflects a $1.8 million loss attributable to the Satellite Networks division before it was sold, Don Scartz, the company’s chief financial officer, said in a telephone interview with Space News. The company’s net earnings were a loss of $300,000 in the first quarter of 2005.
Earnings from continuing operations were $2 million for the quarter, compared to a loss of $700,000 in first quarter 2005.
Sales in the satellite communications unit were one of the highlights of the quarter, Hansen said, coming in at $15.6 million, up from $9.9 million in first quarter 2005. He attributed the growth to strong sales of satellite communications services to military services in both the United States and foreign countries. The unit sells a variety of satellite communications equipment such as satellite-based ground terminals and antennas. According to EMS’s Web site, the division has experienced a growth in sales of 225 percent over the past four years.
“We’re pretty optimistic about the future of satcom,” Hansen said during the call. “If things continue on the way they are, and with the opportunities we see, we certainly may see higher growth.” About 60 percent of the satellite communications unit’s business is military, though all of its business is off-the-shelf, commercial technology, Hansen said.
The company’s defense and space systems unit, which sells components and subsystems for radar, space-based communications, electronic warfare systems, switches and anti-jamming components, and multi beam antennas earned $11.9 million in net sales, up from $11.3 million in first-quarter 2005. Hansen said that the company performed better than previously in military space programs such as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency program.
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