This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to GILAT's second quarter 2023 results conference call. All participants are present in listen-only mode. Following management's formal presentation, instructions will be given for the question and answer session. For operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded August 8, 2023. By now, you should have all received the company's press release. If you have not received it, please contact Gilat's investor relations team at EK Global Investor Relations at 1-646-688-3559 or view it in the news section of the company's website, www.gilat.com. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Ehud Helft of EK Global Investor Relations. Mr. Helft, would you like to begin, please?
Ehud Helft
Thank you, operator. Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Gilad's second quarter 2023 results conference call and webcast. A recording of this call will be available beginning at approximately noon Eastern time today, August 8th, as a webcast on Gilad's website for a period of 30 days. Also, please note that investors are urged to read the forward-looking statements in Gilad's earnings releases. with the reminder that statements made on this earning call that are not historical facts may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Integration Reform Act of 1995. All such forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future financial operating results, involve risk uncertainties and contingency, many of which are beyond the control of Gilad and which may cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Gilad is under no obligation to update or alter these forward-looking statements, whether a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, and the company expressly disclaimed any obligation to do so. More detailed information about risk factors can be found in Gilad's report filed with the Security and Exchange Commission. With that said, let me turn to introductions. On the call today are Mr. Adis Fadia, Gilad's CEO, and Mr. Gil Benyamini, Gilad's CFO. I would now like to turn over the call to Hadith Fadiadi. We're ready to begin.
Gilad
Thank you, Yirudh. I want to thank you for joining us today for our second quarter of 2023 earning call. The second quarter of 2023 was another strong quarter in which we showed strong year-over-year revenue growth. Our growth was broad across multiple business areas and totaled 22% above the same quarter last year. Adding to that, we significantly improved our profitability. We more than tripled our GAAP operating income year-over-year and had an adjusted EBITDA of $9.2 million, which is 74% higher than the adjusted EBITDA of the second quarter last year. As you can imagine, I am very pleased with the results of the second quarter and the first half of 2023. Looking ahead, we are increasing our revenues and profitability expectations for the full year 2020. We expect revenues of between $265 to $285 million, GAAP operating income of between $18 to $22 million, and adjusted EBITDA of between $33 to $37 million. 2023 continues to demonstrate a strong and profitable year for Gilad. I will now focus on our business achievements and opportunities in the quarter. The massive industry activity in the new era of satellite communications continues to fuel Gilad's growth engines, which revolve around very high-throughput satellites and non-geostationary satellite constellations. Like in the last several quarters, also this quarter, we received millions of dollars of orders from our strategic partners, the satellite operators. Network expansions and delivery of SkyH4 and Aquarius VSATs are taking place globally in support of multiple applications such as in-flight connectivity, cellular backhaul, and enterprise. In our SSPA product line, I am pleased to report on continued successful engagement in a major project with significant potential for large NGSO constellation. We are on track and moving to production in the third quarter of this year. I am excited to report that in our important growth engines, of in-flight connectivity, we are making significant progress with two important new strategic partnerships. First, as we recently announced, we signed an agreement with a new strategic partner, Satcom Direct, to develop and supply new ultra-low profile electronically steered antennas to operate over OneWeb's LEO constellation. Satcom Direct is a leading provider of fully integrated end-to-end global satellite communication solutions. Their solutions are in use today in over 7,000 aircraft. They are dedicated to delivering SATCOM connectivity to business and government aviation worldwide. During the quarter, we received the first orders valued at tens of millions of dollars. This agreement has additional potential of several tens of millions of dollars over the next few years. The development of an ultra-low-profile ESA terminal will enable Gilad to increase its presence by entering new market segments such as IFC for business jets, as well as connectivity for government and military aviation. This first ESA project is an important turning point and an important future growth engine as we enter the new promising and growing ESA market. Second, we are expanding our IFC business with another strategic partnership, receiving this quarter the first multi-million dollar orders from Tier 1 Aerospace System Integrator. We will support next-generation IFC equipment to reinforce our industry-leading position as the premier supplier of SSPAs for the IFC marketplace. Following the signature of the agreement to acquire DataPass Inc. at the end of the previous quarter, we are progressing in obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. Together with DataPass, we submitted the required notices with CFIUS and other U.S. agencies and we already received an answer of several sets of questions. Conditioned upon the process satisfactory conclusion, we anticipate that the closing of the transaction will occur during Q4. During the second quarter, we booked multi-million dollars of orders in defense market. This includes an additional order of our antennas demonstrating confidence in our strategic partnership with the leading UAV customers. Furthermore, we received initial orders for our SkyH4 Aquarius modems from two leading defense system integrators in the U.S. These are the first steps in establishing a significant channel for Gilad next-generation modems based on the U.S. government demand. In cellular backhaul and other strategic growth engines, we continue expanding our global presence with multi-million-dollar orders. I am pleased to say that the SkyH4, our next-generation platform, is continually chosen by the satellite operators to provide cellular backhaul services. This is in addition to receiving orders from new and existing mobile network operators that are expanding their network based on SkyH2C, our current leading cellular backhaul platform of a satellite. An important example is in Mexico, where Gilad was awarded millions of dollars to connect hundreds of 4G sites in the CFE telecommunication and Internet for All initiative led by a Mexican federal agency. Within this framework, global satellite operators are working with Gilad to provide the best available solution. Gilad's leading technology and local presence are instrumental in addressing the special deployment requirements of the federal agency. In Peru, we made progress this quarter in the Amazonas region, where we concluded the construction of about 75% of the access network nodes. We are moving towards finishing the construction of the networks this year in line with the recent extension that we received from Pronatel for the implementation of this project. In the ICA region, we passed the acceptance and moved to the operational phase. This is the fifth region in operation out of six awarded to Gilad. To conclude, we had a strong quarter in which we showed strong revenue growth and significantly improved profitability, demonstrating the leverage in our business model. In addition, we had a strong booking with some very important strategic deals, especially with our IFC business, which is one of our key growth areas. The recent significant achievements are not only important achievements for this quarter, but are a huge stepping stone for further expansion in the existing exciting IFC market as we embark on future growth engines and enter into the new promising ISA market. I am optimistic about our ability to continue our growth and improved profitability path in the coming quarters, as reflected in our increased revenues and profitability guidance. And with that, I hand over to Gil Binyamini, our CFO.
Gilad
Gil, please. Thank you, Adi. Good morning and good afternoon to everyone. I would like to remind everyone that our financial results are presented on both GAAP and non-GAAP basis. We regularly use supplemental non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage, and evaluate our business and to make operating decisions. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide consistent and comparable measures to help investors understand our current and future operating performance. Non-GAAP financial measures mainly exclude the effect of stock-based compensation, amortization of purchased intangibles, lease incentive amortization, litigation income or expenses, income related to trade secrets claims, restructuring and reorganization costs, merger, acquisition, and related litigation income or expenses, impairment of held for sale assets, other expenses, income tax effect on adjustments, one-time changes of deferred tax assets, and one-time tax expense related to the release of historical tax-strapped earnings. The reconciliation table in our press release highlights this data, and our non-GAAP information presented excludes these items. I will now move to our financial highlights for the second quarter of 2023. Overall, as Adi mentioned earlier, we are very pleased with a strong second quarter of 2023. We reported a 22% year-over-year growth in revenue and an improvement in profitability. Non-GAAP growth margin was 38%, and our adjusted EBITDA reached $9.2 million, higher by 74% compared to Q2 last year. Given the strong performance in H123, and the robust pipeline we see ahead of us, we decided to increase our revenue targets for the year as well as our GAAP operating profit and adjusted EBITDA guidance, which I will cover later. In terms of our financial results, revenues for the second quarter were $67.6 million, 22% higher than those of the second quarter of last year. The improvement was driven by growth in the satellite network segment mainly from the in-flight connectivity, solar backhaul, and enterprise vertical. In terms of revenue breakdown by segments, Q2 23 revenues of the satellite network segment were $40.7 million, compared to $26.9 million in the same quarter last year. The significant increase mainly resulted from large deals delivered this quarter to our strategic customers in the in-flight connectivity market, as well as a high volume with our enterprise Acela Bacol customer base. Q2 23 revenues of the integrated solution segment were $12.7 million compared to $15.7 million in the same quarter last year. Q2 23 revenues of the network infrastructure and services segment were $14.2 million compared to $12.9 million in the same quarter last year. I would now like to summarize our second quarter both gap and non-gap results. Our GAAP gross margin in Q2-23 improved to 37.8% compared to 35.6% in the same quarter last year. The improvement in our gross margin was mainly due to a particularly favorable product and services revenue mix recognized this quarter, the high level of revenues. Please be aware that the revenue margins and profitability may fluctuate between quarters as an outcome of the actual revenues, volume, and deal mix. Gap operating expenses in Q2-23 were $20.1 million in the quarter, or 30% of revenue, compared with $18.3 million, or 33% of revenue, in the same quarter last year. Gap operating income for the quarter improved to $5.5 million compared to $1.5 million in the same quarter last year. Gap net income in the second quarter was $4.3 million or diluted earning per share of $0.08. This is compared to a gap net income of $0.5 million or diluted earning per share of $0.01 in the same quarter last year. Moving to the non-gap results. Our non-GAAP gross margin in Q2-23 improved to 37.9% compared to 35.6% in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP operating expenses in Q2-23 were $19.6 million compared with $17.4 million in the same quarter last year. And non-GAAP operating income for the quarter improved to $6.1 million compared to $2.4 million in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP net income in the second quarter was $4.9 million or diluted earning per share of $0.09. This is compared with a non-GAAP net income of $1.4 million or diluted earning per share of $0.03 in the same quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $9.2 million, an improvement of 74% compared with an adjusted EBITDA of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year. Moving to our balance sheet. As of June 30, 2023, our total cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, were $87.8 million, compared with $89.7 million on March 31, 2023, and compared to $71.5 million as of June 30, 2022. We do not hold any debt. The decline in cash compared to the previous quarter was due to a voluntary payment of $10.3 million for the release of historical tax-strapped earnings, which completed a total one-time payment of approximately $12.5 million for that purpose. The company chose to take advantage of the temporary Israeli tax relief that expired in November 22 and to pay significantly reduced tax rate to allow in the future certain actions, such as distribution of dividends, shares buyback or acquisition of foreign companies, without paying an additional substantial corporate tax. In terms of cash flow, we generated $2 million from operating activities during the second quarter of 23. Excluding the mentioned $10.3 million one-time tax payment, we generated about $12.3 million from operating activities this quarter. DSOs, which exclude receivable and revenues of our terrestrial network construction projects in Peru, were 63 days, lower than previous quarter DSO, which were of 77 days. The decrease was impacted by an increase in revenues alongside a decrease in receivables due to a higher collection in the quarter. Our shareholders' equity as of June 30, 23, totalled about $255 million, compared with $250 million at the end of March 23. Looking ahead, As I already mentioned, we've increased our revenue guidance, gap operating income, and EBITDA guidance for the year. Our expectations are even stronger than previously anticipated and show a strong 23, with revenue of between $265 to $285 million, representing a year-over-year growth of 15% at the midpoint, gap operating income of between $18 to $22 million, representing year-over-year growth of 101% at the midpoint, and adjustment EBITDA of between $33 to $37 million, representing year-over-year growth of 39% at the midpoint. That concludes my financial review. I would now like to open the call and would be happy to take your questions. Operator, please.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star 1. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star 2. If you are using speaker equipment, kindly lift the handset before pressing the numbers. Your questions will be polled in the order they are received. Please stand by while we poll for your questions. The first question is from Ryan Coons of Needham and Company. Please go ahead.
Ryan
Hi, congrats on the nice quarter. It's nice to be on the call. I wanted to ask you about the strength in the satellite networks segment. Obviously, really great results there. And thanks for the color on the prepared marks. Sounds like IFC was a big contributor there. But can you help us understand maybe what's going on inside that IFC segment there? Is this primarily driven by the ESAs or the amplifier business? and what sort of customers are driving the strength here in the second quarter?
Gilad
Hi, Ryan. It's Adi. The strength in the IFC is mainly related to the baseband and modems that goes to Intelsat commercial aviation. The ESA agreement, it's a very strategic and important agreement, but it's a I would say future growth engine, it's require give or take a year and a half, 18 months of development and then certification, so I won't expect significant revenues before 2025. We also have decent revenues from SSPA, this is mainly goes to companies like Honeywell, But this quarter, it was mainly the basement equipment.
Ryan
Got it. And as far as your comment – that's really helpful. Thank you. And as far as your commentary around kind of moving down into the smaller plane market, is that – again, is that a near-term driver that's driving this year's results, or is that also more of an opportunity for – I guess that your small form factor ESAs sound like maybe that's a 2025 opportunity?
Gilad
It's mainly 2025 revenue. The opportunity is already fruitful. We just need to develop and then start to deliver, but it's a 2025 revenue stream. But this is the first step into the business jet. We have other solutions that we expect to sell, but it will take time.
Ryan
That's great. I'm sure that's a market that's lightly penetrated with high-performance systems, so it sounds like a great opportunity.
Gilad
Indeed. Based on NSR, there is a potential of more than 15,000 aircraft for broadband connectivity on the business jets. And from our perspective, it's a huge opportunity. SATCOM Direct has more than 7,000 aircraft connected, not only to broadband, but in general. So I think the opportunity with SATCOM Direct is very high. And also the overall market opportunity is very big.
Ryan
That's great. Thanks for that. Sounds like backhaul is also pretty strong in the quarter, and you had some new agreements signed, some new orders coming in. Is this primarily a systems business that you're selling there with SkyEdge that's driving that strength?
Gilad
Correct. Cellular backhaul is an important growth engine for us. We are the partner of choice for both SCS, Intelsat, and other large satellite operators that are using our equipment. both on SkyH2C and soon also over SkyH4. And we are working with the largest MNOs worldwide. Today, we have about 40% market share on the overall cellular back-end market. And if you exclude 2G and 3G and focus on 4G and above, we have more than 75% market share. Great.
Ryan
And specifically, going back to your comment, just circling back from the previous topic around IFC and what you're doing with SATCOM there, can you remind us where OneWeb is in their rollout of IFC today?
Gilad
I think OneWeb is starting to provide global service. On the IFC, they are not a service provider. Rather, provide the capacity and some... services to service providers. I know that several service providers bought capacity from OneWeb. So Satcom Direct is engaged with them. Intelsat is engaged with them, and also HNS is engaged with them. So it seems like that their IFC capacity cell is going to increase in the next few quarters.
Ryan
That's great to hear. And lastly, just on the gross margin, great progress year over year and a step down sequentially. Can you remind us of maybe some of the product mix that's driving the gross margin change there, both year over year and sequentially?
Gilad
Yeah. So first, hi, Ryan. You have to remember that our gross margin fluctuates according to the product mix and volume. Naturally, IFC-related products have a higher gross margin, and then we have the solar backhaul. Downer in the list, we have the enterprise-related products. We almost don't sell any consumer-related products, and they have lower gross margins associated with them. If you look at the gross margin trends over time, you can see an overall increase in the last few years in the gross margin of the company. On top of that, we have the Peru business, where we are shifting from construction to to operation, and the operation revenues are associated with higher gross margins than the construction that we're expecting to end sometime in the next few quarters.
Gilad
Ryan, I would add that the SkyEdge for the next generation platform is more software-based than hardware-based. and we expect that it will drive our margins higher in the next few quarters once we will see more and more deployment of SkyH4. So we provide the initial hardware, and later on most of the operator expansions will be done by software only without the need of additional expensive hardware.
Ryan
Got it. Really helpful. Thanks, Adi. Thanks, Gil. And next quarter.
Gilad
Thank you, Ryan. See you soon.
Operator
The next question is from Chris Quilty of Quilty Analytics. Please go ahead.
Chris Quilty
Hey, Adi. Just to follow up on that question, can you remind me, is Intelsat rolling forward with the 2C or the 4? Both.
Gilad
Intercept, when they acquired GoGo, they got the largest global network of SkyH2C. And for IS4E, they acquired our SkyH4 system. In addition, we are providing them our Taurus modem that can reach to 400 megabit per second that can... serve both platforms. So it's a backward compatible with SkyH2C and they can move it between the systems. So from their perspective, it's a one management system and one model that can shift between the systems. We hope that the SkyH4 will be active very soon over North America.
Chris Quilty
Gotcha. So they've got four software-defined satellites on order. Do you feel good about your position on there? Are they still making a decision about what they're doing with the new satellites?
Gilad
I feel confidence in our relationship with Intelsat. Today, we are probably the largest network that they own. It's not the largest Together with ST Engineering, we have the two largest networks. ST is mainly the flex solution, and us is the cellular backhaul and enterprise. I feel comfortable that in the next satellite, Gilad is a very strong candidate. Nothing is guaranteed. but I feel very comfortable with our relationship and the solutions that we are providing for Intelsat. The fact that they have our solution deployed globally, it's in a way show a high stickiness to Intelsat.
Chris Quilty
And are you at this point, is all the baseband equipment deployed and you're simply doing a per aircraft deployment or is there still more... baseband to roll?
Gilad
So almost every quarter there is more baseband to roll. Every time they buy more capacity, new transponder, new satellite, new gateway, they need to increase their baseband. Every airline that offers free Wi-Fi, they need to acquire more capacity and need to increase the ground equipment. In parallel, they are rolling our Taurus modems and replacing our Capricorn Aero modems from 200 megabits per second to 400 megabits per second. And we expect that every few years there will be a new rollout of modems.
Chris Quilty
Great. And where are you in the process? I mean, I think SkyEdge 2C is going to be around for a while, but in terms of, you know, new orders and existing sales, you know, where is that trending? I think the SkyEdge 4 has only been on the market for, what, a year, year and a half? I mean, are you still kind of like at, you know, 90%, 10% with old versus new, or are you seeing a much quicker shift?
Gilad
No, the shift is not that fast. The large satellite operators are shifting to SkyH4, although in some cases continue to buy SkyH2C. But we see a lot of interest in the market and a lot of regional satellites that are going to be launched. And we are talking with the satellite operators and all they care is about the SkyH4. Although SkyH2C is here and kicking and, you know, we have... continue to develop features and provide service. So it will take several years until SkyH2C will disappear. I remind you that Empower is based on SkyH4, and this is a new rollout. We expect them to start providing service towards the end of the year during Q4. So we are seeing a very large deployment of SkyH4, but still the majority of the business today is SkyH2C. Usually it takes three to four years to shift between the new platform, from the old platform to the new one.
Chris Quilty
Great. I know SES has come out and publicly said they're still planning deployment for the launch of Empower by the end of the year, but given the problems you're having with the first four satellites. Have you guys sort of backed off, you know, your assumptions? I mean, in this industry, these problems don't tend to get solved as quickly as companies would like.
Gilad
To be honest, currently, business as usual, we have a list of gateways to deploy together with SCS, so it doesn't affect our plans. When making forecasts, we factor a lot of the upsides and downsides. So at the end, at this point, everything is factored to our updated guidelines.
Chris Quilty
Okay. Gil, question for you, and you may just say it's the normal ups and downs of a quarter, but there was a lot of moving pieces on the balance sheet that were a little bit unusual. You're just kind of looking through the, you know, contract assets are continuing to bleed down. The trade payables were down significantly sequentially. You got a nice bump up in advance from customers. Your other current liabilities were cut in half. Is there a single simple explanation or is this just sort of the normal, you know, comings and goings of a quarter?
Gilad
So the one thing... Hi, Chris. The one thing that we had this quarter which was a bit, I would say, unique was the payment of the tax that I mentioned, the $10.3 million that completed our $12 million tax payment for trapped profits. And this affected our other short-term... I would say that all other changes are in the normal course of business. We had a very, very strong collection this quarter, and this affected the AR and DSO in a positive way. And other than that, everything is in the normal course. Got you.
Chris Quilty
Maybe just continuing that thought in terms of working capital trends through the balance of the year and the impact on cash flow, do you expect any kind of a significant drawdown or buildup of working capital for contracts and customer rollouts or relatively unchanged from current levels?
Gilad
I think that in general, looking at the results this year, you can see a quite good correlation between the EBITDA and the cash flows from operating activities. Sometimes in Peru, we have milestones of payments which are not... 100% correlated to revenues, which are recognized according to percentage of completion. So there might be some, you know, bumps either way. But other than that, it should be pretty much correlated.
Chris Quilty
Great. I forgot to – I think you did state in the announcement around the ESA and the SATCOM direct relationship. Is that initial antenna KU or KA? Okay. and are there plans for both flavors?
Gilad
This specific flavor is a KU for OneWeb. We also have a demo unit of our KA solution. And for the future, we can offer any flavor that the customer wants. As a reminder, I said several times in the past, there is so much you can... progress with the development of an ISC ISA antenna without a customer, because at the end, it really depends if it's commercial or business jet, if it's what is the band you want, what is the base that you already have with the existing install base. So you need the customer in order to tailor the solution.
Chris Quilty
Gotcha. That was a dumb question because you did say one web, so it was KU. But the form factor, like the original ESA you guys were developing was more of a commercial aviation aperture. How much of that original development is just being parlayed into this, which I'm assuming is a smaller form factor for regional jets?
Gilad
It's a significantly smaller form factor than commercial aviation. And the know-how and the experience that we have for years will help us to accelerate the development, and we have a very tight schedule. Everyone wants the terminal yesterday.
Chris Quilty
Gotcha. And who pays for and handles all the SPCs for the different aircraft types? Is that you or SATCOM Direct?
Gilad
This is SATCOM Direct. We provide the antennas, and they are responsible for all the relevant certifications.
Chris Quilty
Great. Two final questions. One is, am I correct that I think you were originally hoping to get data path done in Q3 and it looks like it's slipping a little bit. Are there any major issues you're seeing there or just normal questions and answers coming back from the government?
Gilad
I think it's normal answers and questions. It took us some time to file all the relevant documents to CFIUS because we had to gather a lot of information from shareholders that hold more than 5% and it's not an easy exercise for private investors to provide such information about themselves and their executive and director. So it took us a bit more time than initially expected. And because we are a public company, we couldn't start the process before we announced. But once we submitted the files, we are getting a timely response from the CFIUS and other US agencies. And we are answering almost in a matter of 48 hours. So it seems like progress as expected, and we want to close as soon as we can.
Chris Quilty
Great. Final question in integrated networks. I think you said in your script that you expect initial delivery, I think, in Q3 for your NGSO customer to start shipping them power amplifiers. Is that correct? Yes. Can we get some sort of, well, I guess it's reflected in the guidance, but, you know, order of magnitude of where we expect integrated networks to move, maybe not for this year, but as we look out to next year, as that starts to scale?
Gilad
Yeah, I think it will start to scale mainly toward the second half of next year. We are moving to production, so up until now, we delivered some units, but it's mainly, I would call it handmade units and not... for a real production unit so we are moving to production and real scale depends on the customer deployment and I would expect it to be second half of next year with much larger deliveries over 2025 onwards. Great.
Chris Quilty
Thanks, guys, and I forgot to say, great quarter.
Gilad
Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris.
Operator
The next question is from Gunther Karger of Discovery Group. Please go ahead.
Gunther Karger
Yes, thank you for taking the call. A couple of questions and a comment. Question one is, excuse me, regarding the database path acquisition, any comment on how this is going to be paid for, stock, cash, or accommodations?
Gilad
The data path acquisition is paid mainly in stock. We are taking on upon ourselves about $15 million of debt to banks and shareholders, and we are paying upon closing about, $3 million in Gilad shares. And then there is an earn-out mechanism of up to additional $27 million that will be paid mostly with Gilad shares. About 10% or 20% can be paid in cash. It depends on some tax requirements of Datapath shareholders in the U.S., But I would say that it's mainly going to pay with Gilad shares.
Gunther Karger
Thank you. Second question. Any comment on the defense and military sector?
Gilad
Yes. This is very... It's becoming more and more strategic. We are waiting for... for the closing of the acquisition, but we are making progress. We have several very large RFPs that we are bidding and we expect to get awards during the year. We increased our business with one of the UAV strategic partners. We ordered additional units and we have an agreement with two US local integrators who orders our Aquarius modems to start integration. And this is one of our channels into the DoD. We had a decent quarter. Still, the numbers are relatively low, and we expect that once the acquisition of Datapath will close, we will increase significantly our defense presence.
Gunther Karger
Thank you. And my comment is we followed Gelatsen's days of I'm Iran Levinson, and I've got to tell you, you should be congratulated on growing the company and leading it to the right direction. And thank you very much, Amir.
Gilad
Thank you for the compliment, Dante. I'm looking to talk to you soon.
Gunther Karger
Thank you.
Operator
If there are any additional questions, please press star 1. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star 2. Please stand by while we poll for more questions. There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Binyamini, would you like to make your concluding statement?
Gilad
Yes, thank you. I want to thank you all for joining us on this call and for your time and attention. We hope to see you soon or speak to you in our next call. Thank you very much and have a great day.
Operator
Thank you. This concludes Gilat's second quarter 2023 results conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may go ahead and disconnect.
Disclaimer