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spk05: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to AeroVironment's second quarter fiscal year 2021 earnings call. This is Stephen Gitlin, Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Investor Relations for AeroVironment. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will conduct a question and answer session after management's remarks. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. Before we begin, please note that on this call, certain information presented contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include without limitation any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate, or imply future results, performance, or achievements, and may contain words such as believe, anticipate, expect, estimate, intend, project, plan, or words or phrases with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions, that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors outside of our control that may cause our business strategy or actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. For further information on these risks, we encourage you to review the risk factors discussed in Air Environment's periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the SEC and the Form 8-K filed today with the SEC, along with the associated earnings release and the safe harbor statement contained therein. This afternoon, we also filed a slide presentation with our earnings release and posted the presentation on our website at avinc.com in the events and presentation section. The content of this conference call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of today, December 8th, 2020. The company undertakes no obligation to make any revision to any forward-looking statements contained in our remarks today or to update them to reflect the events or circumstances occurring after this conference call. Joining me today from our environment, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Waheed Nawabi, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Kevin McDonald. We will now begin with remarks from Waheed Nawabi. Waheed?
spk04: Thank you, Steve. Welcome to our second quarter fiscal year 2021 earnings conference call. Before we discuss our business achievements in the second quarter, I would like to address our acquisition of the German robotics company Telerob, which we announced a few moments ago and is summarized on slide number three of our earnings presentation. Telerob is a leader in advanced ground robotic systems with a strong global customer base and a best-in-class portfolio of unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, serving defense, first response, homeland security, and other markets. This is an outstanding, growing business in its own right that is poised for further success in the United States and globally, and we're excited for them to join our team to support our customers and expand our global footprint. At Air Environment, our goal is to drive superior shareholder value by developing and maintaining leadership positions in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems for defense, civil, and commercial customers. Our broad portfolio includes unmanned aircraft and tactical missile systems that are aerial robots with increasing levels of intelligence and autonomy that derive from our ongoing investments. Telerob's outstanding team, best-in-class product portfolio, long track record of success, and extensive customer base represent an ideal complementary set of capabilities that deliver the ground element of our multi-domain portfolio. Telerob was founded more than 25 years ago, and its management team has extensive robotics experience that dates back to the 1970s. The Telerob team has built an impressive list of customers around the world by applying their innovative robotics technologies to multiple growing applications and end markets. With Telerob as part of AeroVironment, we will offer a broader set of solutions and capabilities to our customers. Once the transaction closes, we plan to integrate our technology roadmaps to develop aerial and ground system solutions that deliver more capability and more complex operating environments to customers in defense and other applications. With this powerful multi-domain solution offering, we will introduce Air Environment to Telerob's existing customer base, which spans 45 nations and introduced Telerob's unique portfolio to AeroVironment customers in the U.S. and 50 nations. To this point, in November, we submitted a joint proposal with Telerob to the U.S. Air Force for a large new multi-year explosive ordnance disposal robotics program where AeroVironment will be the prime contractor. The Air Force has not disclosed the potential value of this program, but it is significant. We will also pursue additional significant domestic UGV opportunities with the United States Navy, Marine Corps, Air National Guard, and various police forces. Specific international opportunities include UGVs for airport security in the Middle Eastern Allied Nation, and multiple UAS programs with the German Federal Ministry of Defense, which a local presence would support. As you can see, the opportunities between our two teams are numerous and have the potential to produce significant value for AeroVironment shareholders in the near and long term. Upon German government clearance of the transaction, which we expect by spring 2021, Telerob will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of AeroVironment. We plan to retain the entire Telerob team, We expect this acquisition to be GAAP EPS accretive in two years and non-GAAP EPS accretive in fiscal year 2022, excluding intangible amortization and integration costs. Under the terms of the agreement, we are investing approximately $45.4 million in cash plus a three-year milestone-based earn-out of up to $7.3 million. We will also pay off $9.4 million in debt from Telerob at closing. Our acquisition of Telerob supports our objectives of deploying our strong balance sheet to grow our business, expanding the value proposition of our offerings, and creating long-term shareholder value. I look forward to sharing more with you as we proceed toward closing. Now I will summarize our second quarter results. On today's call, I will emphasize three key messages included on slide number four of our earnings presentation. First, our team continues to deliver strong results during the unprecedented and challenging COVID-19 pandemic, keeping us on track to achieve our fiscal year 2021 objectives. Second, we achieved significant milestones during the quarter in our key growth initiatives within tactical UAS, tactical missile systems, and HAPs. And third, we are successfully executing our long-term growth strategy supported by our strong balance sheet while delivering significant value to our shareholders. Now let's review our financial performance in the quarter, which is outlined on slide number five of our earnings presentation. We delivered second quarter revenue of $92.7 million, an increase of 11% year-over-year, and consistent with our expectations. Earnings for diluted share of $0.09 declined from $0.31 in the prior year, primarily due to an accounting impairment related to our portion of a write-down in HAPS Mobile's Inks Equity Investment and Loon LLC. Kevin will provide more information on this item in his prepared comments. Non-GAAP earnings for diluted chair for the second quarter was 48 cents, an increase of 14 cents or 41% year over year. Now I will review our business achievements in the second quarter. First, our small unmanned aircraft systems product line represented 63% of total revenue in the second quarter. and we remain the leader in the global market for small UAS. We continue to partner with industry leaders to deliver more valuable solutions to our customers. In October, we announced a contract with Viasat to develop an on-demand type 1 encrypted communications network delivered by small UAS for the U.S. Army. This is another example of our applied innovation creating greater value for our customers and shareholders. Next, our tactical missile systems product line represented about 20% of second quarter revenue. We continue to execute against the large Army LMAMS contract with our Switchblade 300 during the quarter. In recent years, DoD procurement budgets have provided strong funding for Army LMAMS procurement. This funding has driven programmatic adoption of Switchblade 300 via the U.S. Army. In its fiscal year 2021 procurement request, the U.S. Department of Defense budget proposed about $85 million of funding to support the Army LMAMS program. Senate and House of Representatives appropriations committees recently proposed reducing or eliminating LMAMS funding in government fiscal year 2021. partly because significant funding remains from prior budgets for LMAMS procurement. We expect the entire $85 million to be removed by the time the budget is enacted into law, but will not know for certain until then. It is important to note that a new multi-year competitive LMAMS program is planned to begin after fiscal year 2021. We believe we are well positioned to compete for and secure that award. In October, we unveiled our Switchblade family of loitering missile systems, including our new Switchblade 600, which is the larger variant we have previously discussed. Switchblade 600 weighs 50 pounds, carries a much larger warhead than Switchblade 300, is capable of more than 40 minutes of endurance, and delivers precision effects against armored vehicles and other hardened targets over greater distance, all while maintaining its portability and patented wave-off and recommit capabilities. As part of the Switchblade 600 system, we also introduced a new tablet touch control that improves the user experience and makes training even faster and easier. With Switchblade 600, we are targeting a tactical missile market segment valued at more than $1 billion annually, based on current U.S. DOD procurement of Hellfire, Javelin, and Troll missiles. Developed in part with customer funding, we believe that Switchblade 600 is well-positioned for the U.S. Marine Corps Organic Precision Fires Mounted, or OPFM, program. Supporting our competition for OPFM, we received a $5 million award late last fiscal year and another $1 million award in the second quarter. Importantly, these funds are separate and in addition to customer funding we have received for Switchblade 600 development. We are now one of four suppliers who will compete as soon as this February for a down select award. That award would fund continued development that could lead to low-rate production and then volume procurement over a multi-year period. Moving now to HAPS, which represented 12% of second quarter revenue, we achieved a significant project milestone in September when the SunGlider Solar HAPS UAS soared in the stratosphere for hours during a 20-hour mission at Spaceport America in New Mexico. During this successful test flight, we also demonstrated broadband connectivity via an LTE payload carried on board the SunGlider. In fact, we conducted video calls from New Mexico that connected us to Tokyo, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C. using a standard Android smartphone. The quality of the video call was as good, if not better, than most video meetings I have participated in from my office. This milestone offers a glimpse into the exciting possibilities HAPS represents for connecting the billions of people around the world who lack basic broadband access. We remain confident that this partnership would deliver strong returns for our shareholders. We expect the HAPS program to transition to a testing and certification phase toward the end of our current fiscal year 2021. We expect this testing and certification phase to continue for multiple years until we transition to production and commercial business launch. Now I will turn to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. We continue to experience some delays in customer contracting decisions as our domestic and international customers operate in unprecedented remote work situations. We're also experiencing some delays in limited areas of our supply chain resulting from the impact of the pandemic. However, our team's accomplishments in the important milestones they achieved during the quarter are particularly noteworthy given the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of our team members continue to work remotely, and I am incredibly proud of the way they have continued to support each other and our customers. All of us at Air Environment are united in our commitment to delivering strong operating and financial results while maintaining a safe work environment. This was a solid quarter of achievements. We're very excited about our acquisition of Telerob, and the progress toward our multi-domain intelligent robotic portfolio it will drive. And as you can see, we're not standing still. We continue to invest in the future-defining technologies that will derive higher levels of autonomy and capability for our customers and greater returns for our shareholders. Now I will turn the call over to Kevin MacDonald for a summary of second quarter financials. Kevin?
spk02: Thank you, Waheed. Today I will be reviewing the highlights of our second quarter and year-to-date financial performance. I'll be referring to both our press release and earnings presentation available on our website. Similar to last quarter, I will only be addressing the key financial metrics in my remarks and leaving some of the details to the press release and earnings presentation. Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 was $92.7 million, an increase of 11% from the second quarter of fiscal 2020 revenue of $83.3 million. The breakdown of revenue by product area is contained on slide six of the quarterly earnings presentation. During the quarter, we showed strong performance in our TMS product line, which was up 139% from the same period last year. This was partially offset by lower half mobile service revenue and lower small UIS product revenue. Revenue for the first half of fiscal 2021 was $180.1 million. an increase of 6% from the first half of fiscal 2020 revenue of $170.2 million. Again, the increase in revenue was largely due to an increase in TMS revenue, partially offset by reduced small UAS product revenue. Turning to gross margin, slide seven of the quarterly earnings presentation shows our product service mix and overall gross margin trends over the past five quarters. Gross margin for the second quarter was $40.9 million, or 44% of revenue compared to $35.2 million or 42% of revenue for the second quarter last fiscal year. Gross margin for the first half of fiscal 2021 was $76.3 million or 42% of revenue compared to $76.4 million or 45% of revenue for the first half of fiscal 2020. As we indicated last quarter, we do expect second half margins to be lower than the first half margins due to a less favorable product mix. Now I will turn to operating expense. SG&A expense for the second quarter was $15 million or 16% of revenue compared to SG&A expense of $16.3 million or 20% of revenue for the second quarter of FY20. SG&A expense for the first half of fiscal 2021 was $27 million or 15% of revenue compared to $29.9 million, or 18% of revenue for the first half of fiscal 2020. The lower spend in current quarter and year-to-date SQ&A is in large part related to the reduction in travel and trade show expenses resulting from COVID-related restrictions. R&D expense for the second quarter was $12 million, or 13% of revenue, compared to R&D expense of $10.9 million, or 13% of revenue for the second quarter FY20. R&D expense for the first half of fiscal 2021 was $23.1 million or 13% of revenue compared to $19.6 million or 11% of revenue for the first half of fiscal 2020. We continue to make significant R&D investments. These investments include enhancements to current products, new variants within our product lines, and product additions. We believe these investments will enable our continued leadership in the small UAS space and drive growth in both small UAS and TMS product lines in the near future and longer term. Before I talk about the bottom line, I'd like to discuss the impact of the HAPS Mobile JV on our income statement. As a reminder, we own approximately 7% of the HAPS Mobile joint venture. In the second quarter of fiscal 2021, we recorded a loss of $9.5 million related to our investment in the HAPS Mobile JV. This includes an $8.4 million impairment loss, which represents our proportionate share of the HAPS mobile write-down of its investment in Alphabet Loons subsidiary. In the first half, we recognized a total of $10.8 million loss on our income statement related to our HAPS mobile investment, compared to a loss of $2.2 million for the first half of fiscal 20. Finally, I should note that our accumulated losses in the JV have resulted in the carrying amount of our investment on the balance sheet to be zero as at the end of the second quarter, and therefore we will not recognize any further losses related to our investment to date in the HAPS Mobile JV in future periods. Looking at the bottom line, net income attributable to Arrow Environment for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 was $2.1 million, or $0.09 for diluted share compared to $7.5 million, or 31 cents per diluted share for the second quarter of fiscal 2020. The $5.4 million reduction in net income was largely a result of our proportionate portion of the HAPS mobile impairment of its investment in Loon of $8.4 million, higher tax revision of $1.4 million, increased R&D investments of $1.1 million, and reduced interest income of $1.2 million. These reductions were partially offset by higher gross margins of $5.7 million and lower SG&A spending of $1.3 million. For the first half of fiscal 2021, net income attributable to Arrow Environment was $12.2 million, or 50 cents per diluted share, compared to $24.6 million, or $1.2 per diluted share, for the first half of fiscal 2020. The $12.4 million reduction in net income is, again, primarily due to the $8.4 million loss from our portion of the HAPS mobile impairment of its investment in Loon, together with higher R&D spending of $3.5 million and lower interest income of $2.3 million, partially offset by lower SG&A spending of $2.9 million. In terms of adjusted EPS, slide 12 shows the reconciliation of GAAP and adjusted or non-GAAP diluted earnings per share. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 was $0.48 per diluted share and excludes $0.35 for diluted share for our portion of the HAPS mobile impairment of its investment in Loon, and $0.02 for diluted share of intangible amortization expense associated with our Pulse aerospace acquisition, and an additional $0.02 for diluted share for acquisition-related expenses. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 was $0.34 for diluted share, and excludes $0.03 per diluted share of deal integration costs and intangible amortization expenses associated associated with our Pulse Aerospace acquisition. For the first half of fiscal 2021, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.91 for diluted share and excludes the $0.35 related to our portion of the HAFSA mobile impairment of its investment in Loon, as well as $0.06 for diluted share of acquisition-related and amortization expenses. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the first half of fiscal 2020 was was $1.08 per diluted share and excludes $0.06 per diluted share related to deal integration costs and intangible amortization expense associated with our acquisition of Pulse Aerospace. Turning to the balance sheet, we continue to maintain a strong cash position. Cash, cash equivalents, and investments at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2021 totaled $368.2 million, an increase of $50.5 million from the end of fiscal 2020. Total cash flow from operating activities during the first half of the year was $58.6 million, of which $25.3 million was a result of working capital improvements and the remainder from operating activities. The working capital improvement came primarily from lower accounts receivables and unbillables, partially offset by lower accounts payable accrued liabilities and higher inventories. In terms of capital expenditures, we spent $6.1 million during the first half of fiscal 2021. Next, I'd like to highlight some of our backlog metrics. Our funded backlog at the end of Q2 was $130.6 million, a decrease of $16.1 million from the second quarter of fiscal 2020, and a decrease of $77.5 million from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 backlog of $208.1 million. The backlog decline is in part due to delays in orders as a result of the COVID impacts. In terms of fiscal 2021 visibility, which is highlighted on slide eight of the earnings presentation. As of today, we have year-to-date revenue in fiscal 2021 of $180 million. Second quarter ending backlog that we anticipate to execute in fiscal 2021 of $120 million. Q3 quarter date bookings that we anticipate to execute in fiscal 2021 of $4 million. Unfunded backlog from internally funded contracts that we anticipate to recognize revenue during the balance of the year. of $26 million. This adds up to $330 million, or 83% of our fiscal 2021 midpoint revenue guidance range. Now I'd like to turn it back to Waheed.
spk04: Waheed Khan Thanks, Kevin. As we noted, we're strengthening our leading market positions, achieving critical milestones in the development and introduction of potentially valuable new capabilities, expanding our offering, deploying our balance sheet to grow our business strategically, and delivering on our commitments to our customers. We're developing the solutions and capabilities our defense customers need to confront insurgencies as well as peer and near peer adversaries in both permissive and contested environments. And we continue to execute our strategy to offer a multi-domain portfolio of intelligent unmanned solutions and capabilities integrating robotics, sensors, software analytics, and connectivity technologies to equip our defense and other customers with the tools to win. By doing so, we believe we will continue to deliver even greater value to our shareholders and our customers. Supported by 83% visibility to the midpoint of our guidance range, we are reaffirming our full fiscal year 2021 guidance of revenue of between $390 million and $410 million, as summarized on slide number 10 of our earnings presentation. We expect to deliver operating margin of between 12% and 12.5%. and now expect revised earnings per diluted share of $1.28 to $1.48 as a result of HAPS Mobile Inc.' 's impairment of its equity investment in Loon LLC. We continue to expect non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, which excludes acquisition-related expenses, amortization of acquired intangible assets, and the HAPS Mobile investment impairment of between $1.74 and $1.94. Similar to last year, we expect about one-third of second-half revenue in our third quarter, based on the midpoint of our revenue guidance range, and we expect an EPS loss similar to the third quarter of our fiscal year 2020. As Kevin mentioned earlier, revenue mix will result in a lower gross margin percentage in fiscal year 2021 as compared to the prior year. We also expect research and development investments to range between 11% and 12% of revenue this fiscal year. In summary, to reiterate our main points for today's call. First, our team continues to deliver strong results during the unprecedented and challenging COVID-19 pandemic, keeping us on track to achieve our fiscal year 2021 objectives. Second, We achieved significant milestones during the quarter and our key growth initiatives within tactical UAS, tactical missile systems, and HAPs. And third, we're successfully executing our long-term growth strategy, including deploying our strong balance sheet, as we did with the Telerob acquisition, while delivering significant value to our shareholders. Before we open the call to Q&A, I want to say thank you to our customers, our team members, and our shareholders for your ongoing engagement and for challenging us always to deliver excellence. We continue to focus on delivering on our promise to help you proceed with certainty. Kevin, Steve, and I will now take your questions.
spk05: Thank you, Waheed. We will now begin the question and answer session of today's call. If you have a question, please press star and then the number one on your touchtone phone. If you wish to be removed from the queue, press the pound or hash key. If you are using a speakerphone, you may need to pick up your handset first before pressing the numbers. We respectfully request that you limit your questions to two and please reenter the queue if you'd like to ask any further questions. Once again, to ask a question, please press star and then the number one on your touchtone phone. Our first question this afternoon comes from Ken Herbert at Canaccord Genuity. Ken?
spk08: Hi, Steve. Good afternoon, everybody.
spk04: Good afternoon, Ken.
spk08: Waheed, I just wanted to first ask on LMAMS, if in fact the fiscal 21 budget has zeroed out the funding, can you just remind us how much of the appropriated money has not yet been spent and what that contribution, you think, for your full year 21, what the guidance implies from the LMAN's contract for the year?
spk04: Sure, Ken. So, as I mentioned in my remark, the original budget line item request was roughly about $85 million. The House of Representatives recommended $69 million, roughly. And then the Senate has actually put a zero on that line item as a recommendation. Now, none of this is final. So the actual authorization still is around the $69 million, but what gets appropriated is what's going to matter. No one really knows exactly what will be appropriated. We're in very close contact with our customer. We're planning on it being zeroed out, essentially. However, the reason why I said on my remarks that there's still significant funds remaining is Because we've had significant dollars of funding on fiscal 19, fiscal 20, even beyond before that, there's a significant amount of dollars that are not still awarded to us as part of the existing Juans contract that we have. That's number one. Number two, we do have the details in terms of how much revenue we recognize. I believe, Steve, you have the specific details of that that you can share. just iterate for this year. But we are still expecting to achieve our full fiscal year expectation on the Switchblade 300 based on the contract that we have today. So there's not going to be, in our view, no change on that as of today. We believe that we're going to be able to execute on that, and we're currently executing that as we speak anyway.
spk08: Okay, great. And if I could, just to follow up really quickly on Telerob, It looks like a nice acquisition. Can you provide any more details in terms of has the business been growing sort of in line with the 15% that you called out for the UGV industry or anything we can think about in terms of the potential revenue contribution of this business once the deal is closed? Thank you.
spk04: Sure, Ken. I'm personally extremely excited and bullish about this acquisition. It makes a whole lot of sense in terms of long-term shareholder value creation. It's the right move for us strategically. There's a tremendous amount of synergies on the revenue side and on the top line. In terms of the business itself, first and foremost, it's a very well-established business that has been around for decades. They have made a very strong name for themselves. They're known for very best-in-class technology. They've got some very unique technology and IP related to their design of their systems, number one. Number two, 40-plus countries they do business with already. The business is growing, has been growing in the past few years. Obviously, the company is private right now, and we cannot get into the details of that until the deal closes, which we expect that to happen sometimes this spring, early next calendar year. but we believe that it's going to be accretive gap-wise in two years, and it will be non-gap EPS accretive at our fiscal year 2022, really depending on when the close actually takes place. The number one criteria for the close is really the approval of the German government for the acquisition to go through. We have worked it for a while. We are very familiar with the company. We've been working with these guys for years, a significant amount of time. We assess the market. We believe they're very well positioned to compete in both the domestic opportunities as well as international ones. And a great example of that is just recently, not more than a few weeks ago, two or three weeks ago, we submitted a joint proposal for a U.S. Air Force robotics RFP, which Air Environment is acting as the prime contractor. So we could not announce the details of that at that time due to its disclosure issues, but we believe that long-term, this is a very, very good acquisition for both our short-term as well as long-term strategy and value creation. Thank you.
spk05: You're welcome, Ken. Thank you, Ken. And before we go on, in response to your question, Wahid, as we said in our first quarter earnings call a quarter ago, we expect about $42 million of revenue this year from the Army LMS contract that was announced on April 30th of this year. So hopefully that fills in the answer to that question. We'll now turn to Pete Skibitsky from Alembic Global for our next questions. Pete?
spk01: Yeah, nice, guys. Nice quarter. Just to follow up on Switchblade on this appropriations issue, is it reasonable for us to expect that, you know, fiscal 22 switchblade revenue for you, you know, the 300, the LMAMs will decline? Or, you know, how should we think about that?
spk04: Thanks, Pete. This is Waheed. So in terms of fiscal 22, we are going to provide guidance on that on our fourth quarter earnings. However, this is not something that we believe is going to affect us in terms of our revenue and our relationship and the adoption of switchblade 300. As you know, We've been very successful over the last decade to continue to grow that business. We have been by far almost the sole source provider of this capability to the U.S. military on a number of competitions which we have won those hands down across the board in the last several years. There's a significant amount of dollars already in the budget process from government fiscal year 18, 19, and 20, as I mentioned. a significant portion of that is still not contracted and awarded to us, and we expect to get those awards sometimes this fiscal year or the beginning of the next fiscal year, depending really on how the government proceeds and the COVID situation continues. So I personally do not consider this to be a major issue. I just wanted to communicate to all of you what we have learned so far and what's out there so you're aware of it. Additionally, last point I want to make on this, The U.S. Army already has a potential competition planned for the phase beyond this Juans that we have a three-year contract on. So we're working with our customer to make sure that we compete for that, and we believe that we're positioned very well for that. So when that award takes place, sometimes probably next calendar year, then it will be a smooth transition from the existing contract and the revenue stream that we have and the awards that we've received to continue beyond that. So our position is that A, we've had significant revenue, strong growth, and B, we believe that there's still significant dollars unawarded yet, which we are expecting to receive that, which will sort of bridge the gap between our fiscal year 21 and the government fiscal year 21, which will then get to the next competition and next award, hopefully.
spk01: Okay, got it. I guess just one follow-up for me on a different topic um there's some chatter out there i think on the navy submarine launch uab program that there's you know been a lot of exercises and progress has been made and i think there was an rfi out there um can you maybe update us on are you expecting maybe in calendar 2021 to see maybe a competition uh you know for that for that missionary as well sure so that
spk04: specific Navy submarine launch UAV that you're referring to is very much geared towards our Blackwing platform and variant of Switchblade. As you know, in the past couple of years, I have been providing updates on our success and our progress with the Navy on piloting this and actually doing field trials in the sea with various submarines. So we continue to make progress there. We've had a lot of really good success in terms of trials and real demonstrations and field deployments. Obviously, it's a very critical growth opportunity for us, but the adoption rate within this Navy submarine is quite slow. So we expect in that Navy submarine launch RFI that you see that we will be able to compete. We're positioned really well. and we continue to make progress on that front with our customers. So expect us to obviously compete on that again, and we're very well aware of it and engaged with it, and we've already delivered a certain number of units to our customers throughout the last year and a half or two.
spk05: Thank you, Pete. Our next question comes from Peter Armand at Baird. Peter?
spk07: Good afternoon, Waheed, Kevin, Stephen. Hey, Waheed. Question, I guess, on the Switchblade 600. You mentioned the February kind of timeframe for a potential decision there. Can you maybe just describe what you're expecting there in terms of a competition?
spk04: Sure. So I think, Peter, you're referring to the Marine Corps' OPFM, Organic Precision Fire Mounted, potential program in competition. As I mentioned in my remarks, We have already received about $5 million worth of funding as part of a selection process last fiscal year. And this past quarter, this year, we've also received an additional $1 million to keep improving the capability, which involves our Switchblade 600 with our customer, being the Marine Corps. We think that we're positioned very well, but there are other competitors that are also competing in this competition. However, as you know, Switchblade 600's capability is very unique and very, very compelling. We also have a tremendous, I would call it a leg up, or sort of advanced progress because of our track record with our original Switchblade in this field. So, the customer intends to have the competition and fly off sometimes in February of this year, which obviously, because of COVID, it's not guaranteed, but that's what we expect that to happen in as of now, and once they do that, they expect to down select to the most mature solution and the best solution to go proceed further. There is approximately $20 million-ish or so in the government fiscal year 21 budget for the OPFM program, and it continues after that to become into a low initial rate of production. And then beyond that, the U.S. Marine Corps has publicly stated that they would like to get into a full production eventually as a result of this competition and down select. So the short of it is, Peter, that we believe, A, we're positioned really well. B, our progress and our success so far gives us a unique advantage, in my view, to be able to compete just like we've always done in this space. And three, it is a long-term program that we're really keeping an eye on that we think it's a good starting point for Switchblade 600, amongst other opportunities. And we'll keep you updated as we make progress.
spk07: That's really helpful, Collin. Thanks for that. Just as a follow-up, Kevin, you mentioned, I'm sorry if I missed this, you said that there were some delays tied to COVID on orders. Did you quantify that? Or if you can give us a little color, that would be helpful. Thanks.
spk02: No, we don't have an exact quantification of that. But, you know, we're maintaining our guidance for the year. But obviously with COVID restrictions, there's been delays. situations where demos and things like this get delayed.
spk04: Just to add to Kevin's point, Peter, as we said on our remarks, we expected some of these delays during our fourth quarter earnings call, which was the beginning of our fiscal year 21. And we provided that and we actually planned for that as part of our objectives and guidance that we provided. Obviously, this COVID-19 pandemic has been beyond belief more difficult and also has extended further longer. None of it's actually been outside of our scope and perspective in forecast that we expected. However, given that the pandemic still continues, we still expect some delays. I am so proud of our team, the job they've done in terms of addressing both the contracting obstacles and delays that we have been experiencing with customers, as well as the supply chain issues that we've experienced with some suppliers, not all, just very select some of them. So overall, we're making great progress. We're on track, and as you can see from our results, that supports it. And then also for the second half of the year, we're positioned well, although we just want to give you all the color as to what the landscape looked like going into the second half of this year. And we'll keep you updated.
spk05: Thank you, Peter. Once again, to ask a question, please press star and then number one on your touchtone phone. Our next question comes from Joe DiNardi at Stiefel. Joe?
spk06: Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Hi, Joe.
spk05: Waheed.
spk06: You mentioned that you're not expecting, I guess, the LMAM's funding issue to impact, I guess, revenue for next year. But as it relates to some of the order delays that you're seeing now, should we take that into account as we think about next year's revenue? Is that a potential risk? Or are you assuming that that does kind of negatively impact the business next year?
spk04: So, Joe, I mean, we are very, very – focused on executing our fiscal year 21 right now. We will provide specific color to fiscal 22 on our fourth quarter earnings call. I do, however, underline or emphasize that our three consecutive years of, you know, top-line growth and profitability shows the diversification and the resiliency of our portfolio now versus many years ago. Not only do we have a diversified customer base, but also in terms of countries, geography, product line, portfolio, and opportunities. We feel very good about our chances of long-term value creation and growth. I believe that there are several factors that we're looking forward to updating you as we progress in terms of opportunities that we have. But I think the long-term picture for us right now, as of today, looks quite good. I mean, I really like our cards. given what's going on in the world and what our customers need and what opportunities we've got in front of us, irrespective of the LMAMs. I think that that's going to be, it's just one element of many, many other growth opportunities that we have. And even in that growth opportunity, we've been growing. We've been growing our LMAMs business for several years. There's significant dollars in the pipeline. We're talking to our customers very regularly, obviously remotely, And we think that we're going to overcome this issue, especially now that the vaccines are becoming available quite soon.
spk06: Okay. And then, Waheed, is there any update on international switchblade opportunities, timing, and is that becoming a reality for you all?
spk04: Nothing really has changed materially since last quarter because we're still engaged with customers. Obviously, this COVID situation has made it difficult. engaging with international customers and having them to work with our Department of State as well as the Pentagon. But we still see potential, you know, multiple countries that are interested, engaged. And as we have more updates, we'll let you know. It's just a matter of when versus if, if you ask me still. Nothing materially has changed from that. We'll continue to make progress, but at a slower rate due to COVID.
spk05: Thank you for your questions, Joe. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question or a follow-up question, please press star, then one on your touchtone phone. We'll now take the next question from Louis DePalma from William Blair. Louis?
spk03: Waheed, Kevin, and Steve, good afternoon.
spk04: Good afternoon, Louis.
spk03: Regarding the Switchblade 600 bake-off for the organic precision fires mounted program, I was wondering how strongly our AeroVironment patents for the SwitchBlade's wave-off capability?
spk04: Very good question and great insight, Louis. Our wave-off is, A, one of the most important patents on our SwitchBlade portfolio, but it's not the only one. We believe that that patent is very critical. It's very defensible. We have multiple patents, both in terms of specific narrow technology patents that address a specific, very deep, narrow technology area, but also quite broad ones like the wave-off. When we make these investments in R&D to develop these capabilities, we always think about how to make sure how we defend that. We also have a track record of defending our technology and our IP, as you've seen from previous gains that we've had in litigations of similar type of matters. So, again, I think that our technology is strong. I think our position and our progress so far gives us also an advantage. But we're not relying just on that. We believe that we want to make sure, irrespective of technology, that our solution is the best solution for our customers when it comes to their selection. And we feel good about it. So when we look forward to the competition, as we always do, that's a business that we're very familiar with, competing and having a high win rate in our competitions.
spk03: Sounds good. And you guys made great progress with the SunGlider, and you spoke about the video call and the high-quality resolution. And, Kevin, you indicated that HAPS Mobile had a write-down associated with its investment in Loon. And I was wondering, what are the implications of Google potentially no longer looking to fund Loon? And is there an opportunity for Aero Environment to potentially acquire Loon's technology assets in order to have that intellectual property for the telecom that's involved in the radio access layer and provide connectivity? Thanks.
spk04: So, Louie, this is Waheed. Great question again. In terms of the impairment, it was really just an accounting exercise on our side. It was related to an investment that HAPS Mobile made into Loon NLC that based on Alphabet and Loon NLC's own decision and process, accounting process, triggered a devaluation of that investment, which then triggered an impairment in our side at one time, of course, and it sort of expedited the impairment, the losses of our investments into HAPS Mobile. So it has nothing to do with our business operations, particularly, and it has almost literally nothing to do with the HAPS Mobile's relationship with us, their environment. In terms of Loon, that's really a question related to Alphabet and Loon themselves. I'm not in a position to have insight into that. Obviously, we are not involved in their business. We feel very good about our relationship in general as they're sort of like a supplier to us on the payload of the HAPS mobile. We flew that payload. We demonstrated the capability. We continue to talk and work together. And all of us Both South Bank and Air Environment is quite bullish about our beliefs and Sun Glider's prospects for success in the long run. We've always believed in that. I think that our track record of success so far substantiates and supports and proves the fact that this is a very viable platform for the connectivity of the global population of human beings on this globe. So we look forward to that.
spk05: Thank you, Louie. We'll now turn back to Joe DiNardi from Stifel with a follow-up question. Joe?
spk06: Thanks. Just two for Kevin, I think. Can you give us what international sales were in the quarter, just total international, including apps?
spk02: Total international is actually split 50-50. It was just around $46 million, a little over $46 million. Okay.
spk06: Great. And you talked about kind of lower G&A, I guess, as a result of travel and trade shows. How much of that is structural? I mean, how material could that be on the other side of this? Do you expect it to be, for most of it, to come back or to be reinvested elsewhere? Thank you.
spk02: It's difficult to say when comeback will happen, but obviously there would be some reinvestment at that time, and we're not really putting a number on it right now.
spk05: Thanks for the follow-up question, Joe. Yeah, we appreciate it. And at this point, we have no further questions today. We thank you for your attention and for your interest in our environment. An archived version of this call, all SEC filings and relevant company and industry news can be found on our website, avinc.com. We wish you a joyous and a healthy holiday season and new year, and we look forward to speaking with you again following next quarter's results. Good day.
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