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MDA Space Ltd.
11/14/2025
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to MDA Space Limited conference call and webcast. This call is being recorded on November 14, 2025 at 8.30 a.m. Eastern Time. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. For those viewers listening via webcast, please note that the company will be using a presentation. Webcast viewers can advance the slides by using the arrows seen in the presentation window. If anyone has difficulties hearing the conference, please press star followed by zero for operator assistance at any time. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Shireen Zuhawi, Head of Investor Relations at MDA Space. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Operator. Good morning and welcome to MDA Space third quarter 2025 earnings call. Mike Greenlee, our CEO, and Guillaume Lebois, our CFO, will lead today's call and share some prepared remarks before taking your questions. A couple of housekeeping items before we begin. Today's call is accessible via webcast on our investor relations website. All our disclosures, including the press release, MD&A, and financial statements are available from our investor relations website and from CDAR+. I would also like to remind you that today's call will include estimates and other forward-looking information which may differ from actual results. Please review the cautionary language in today's press release and public filings regarding various factors, assumptions, and risks that could cause actual results to differ. In addition, during this call, we will refer to certain non-IFRS financial measures. Although we believe these measures provide useful supplemental information about our financial performance, these measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS, and our approach in calculating these measures may differ from that of other issuers and therefore may not be directly comparable. Please see the company's quarterly report and other public filings for more information about these measures, including reconciliations to their nearest IFRS measures. And with that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Mike.
Thank you, Shireen. Good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining us today to discuss our third quarter 2025 financial results. In Q3, the MDA space team delivered another quarter of strong financial performance with double digit growth in both revenue and profitability. Our revenues totaled $410 million, up 45% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $83 million, up 49% year-over-year. And adjusted EBITDA margin was a solid 20.2%. Operating cash flow was healthy at $33 million. And we ended the quarter with a strong balance sheet. Our backlog of $4.4 billion at quarter end provides revenue visibility for 2025 and 2026 and beyond. Q3 and the subsequent period was a busy one for MDA Space. In early July, we closed the previously announced acquisition of Satix 5 Communications, a leader in next-generation satellite communication solutions based on in-house design chipsets. Satix 5's operations and full technology portfolio is now part of the satellite systems business area of MDA Space, and integration activities are well underway. As you know, during the quarter, we also announced our selection by EcoStar to be the prime contractor on a new low Earth orbit directed device satellite constellation valued at approximately US $1.3 billion, whereby MDA Space was tasked with the design, manufacture, and testing over 100 software-defined MDA Aurora directed device satellites. EcoStar subsequently terminated the contract for convenience in September 2025, As per our contract, MDA Space is entitled to and expect to be compensated for all related termination costs and fees and is in discussions to finalize that contract termination agreement. While we are disappointed with the EcoStar development, as we have said previously, it is unrelated to MDA Space performance and our products and services. These remain in high demand. In events and forums around the world this fall, we continue to be encouraged by the high level of customer interest we are seeing in our space technology, which is uniquely positioned to serve the emerging and evolving needs of the space market. We are also pleased and honored to be named the 2025 Global Satellite Business of the Year by NovaSpace and presented with the award, which celebrates excellence in satellite business at the World Annual World Space Business Week in Paris this past September. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank our MDA space team for their commitment, expertise, and award-winning industry leadership. Subsequent to quarter-end, we announced a $10 million equity investment in Maritime Launch Services, a Canadian-owned commercial space company that is developing Spaceport Nova Scotia, Canada's first commercial orbital launch complex. The investment will help accelerate the Space Force's readiness for orbital launch operations providing reliable domestic launch capability for commercial, civil government, and defense clients in Canada. We are also reaffirming our previous 2025 full-year outlook, which we provided with our Q2 2025 earnings release, with full-year revenues expected to be between $1.57 and $1.63 billion, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 48%. at the midpoint of guidance, and full year adjusted EBITDA expected to be between $305 and $320 million, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 45% at midpoint of guidance. We look forward to delivering another year of solid financial performance in 2025. I want to take a moment to speak to what we see as an increasing market opportunity for MDA space related to the growing focus on defense investment. as NATO countries rapidly move to reinvest to build capabilities and infrastructure. With the space domain increasingly recognized as a critical domain for defense and security, we believe MDA Space is well positioned for this opportunity to extend our mission capabilities and support the strategic sovereignty and security requirements of Canada and its partners and allies. We're in the early days of a new and what is projected to be a prolonged investment cycle. We are noticing a change in pace and intensity of defense space conversations and are actively engaged in these discussions. I'll now give you an update on our three business areas and then pass it to Guillaume for a deep dive on the financials. In satellite systems, we continue to see good momentum in this market with our teams working to advance multiple requests for communication satellite solutions and a growing number of constellation projects from multiple markets and geographies. We are also seeing good activity levels from customers, and our opportunity funnel remains strong. In Q3, our teams were busy advancing work on our programs. On the Telesat Lightspeed program, our teams are currently working on the program's detailed engineering and manufacturing preparation phase, including the critical design review, which is taking place this year. The team is also advancing work on the Global Star Next Generation LEO constellation, where MDA Space was selected as the prime contractor to manufacture more than 50 MDA Aurora software-defined digital satellites. The team is making good progress on the engineering, development, and procurement activities for the program and is progressing work related to the critical designer view milestone. In July, our satellite systems team also achieved an industry first by demonstrating digital beamforming and steering multiple beams with KA band direct radiating arrays using direct sampling. These are among the key features of the MDA Aurora KA-BAN DRA, and the demonstration marks a key milestone in the development of the digital payload technology for the MDA Aurora software-defined product line. We also continue to advance work on the initial GlobalStar program, where MDA Space is the prime contractor to enhance GlobalStar's LEO constellation through the addition of 17 satellites, which support SOS features and direct-to-device communication on certain Apple products. In Q3, the team progressed flight hardware production. The team continues to advance final satellite integration and test work with nine spacecraft currently on the shop floor in our Montreal facility. Due to delays resulting from a number of factors, including the supply chain, the delivery of these satellites is now expected in early 2026. We are currently in discussions with Global Star to address any potential liquidated damages that might result from this delay. It's important to note that our contracts with our supply chain are structured in a manner that embeds liquidated damage clauses as well. So we have recourse in the event of supplier delays. We're also making solid progress on our facility expansion in Montreal, Quebec, which will add 185,000 square feet to our existing satellite production facility. A portion of the office space is now complete and a number of engineers have moved in with great excitement. And we continue to finalize interior elements of the production facility, which remains on track to be completed this year. Once complete, it will be the world's largest high volume manufacturing facility in its satellite class, with capacity to deliver two MDA Aurora digital satellites per day. Finally, in late October, 21 low-Earth orbit satellites for the Space Development Agency's Tranche 1 transport layer were successfully launched from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base, and MDA Space was part of this mission. We provided all KA band and L band antennas, as well as motor control electronics for the satellites. The SDA's Tranche 1 transport layer, a mesh network of 126 satellites, will deliver resilient, low-latency connectivity to support military operations in the United States. Our technology plays a key role in enabling secure and reliable communication across the constellation. Congratulations to everyone involved in making this achievement possible. Moving to our robotics and space operations business, we continue to see good traction and activity levels on both the government and commercial fronts. In Q3, we continued to ramp up work volumes on Phase C of the Canadarm3 program, which we were awarded together with Phase D in 2024. During the quarter, our teams were busy actively building and testing engineering models of the system elements. Phase C will see us completing the final design before we move on to Phase D, which will see the construction, system assembly, integration and tests of the full robotic system, as well as a ground segment for command and control. We also announced in July that an MDA space-led team was selected by the Canadian Space Agency to conduct an early phase study for Canada's proposed Lunar Utility Vehicle, or LUV. Recall that in 2023, CSA announced $1.2 billion in funding for a Canadian utility rover that would be contributed to the Artemis program and would support human exploration on the lunar surface. This initial phase study is a first critical step in defining the LUV mission concept and technology development plan. As part of this effort, the team will integrate MDA SkyMaker, our full suite of scalable and modular space robotics derived from Canadarm technology, paving the way for scalable, autonomous mobility solutions on the lunar surface. Moving to our geo-intelligence business, customer demand for our Earth observation offering remains robust, and we are seeing increased recognition of the role the commercial Earth observation satellites can play to provide near real-time data and analytics to governments, and private enterprise. Notable awards in Q3 include two contracts to equip the Royal Canadian Navy's Halifax-class ships and up to six new uncrewed aircraft systems. Part of the Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance Uncrewed Aircraft System, known as ISTAR UAS Project, these new systems will significantly enhance the Navy's ability to detect and monitor potential maritime threats, both at home and abroad. The award includes an acquisition contract valued at approximately $39 million for the initial procurement of two uncrewed aircraft systems with options to procure four additional systems. And an in-service support contract estimated at $27 million over an initial five-year period to sustain operations with opportunities for extension beyond the initial period. We were also selected to deliver enhanced space situation awareness to the Department of National Defense. The standing offer awarded to MDA Space in partnership with Canadian-based Thoth Group underscores the growing importance of space domain awareness in safeguarding Canada's critical space assets amid a rapidly evolving and increasingly congested orbital environment. Building on MDA Space's proven legacy as a space domain mission partner and leveraging Thoth Group's initiative earth fence radar capability The new service integrates high-fidelity sensor data with secure cloud-based infrastructure optimized for tracking and assessing satellite and space objects in the geosynchronous belt approximately 36,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface. We also continue to advance work on MDA Chorus. Our spacecraft electrical integration and testing activities continue, and we have all spacecraft units on hand. Solid progress was made in building and testing the SAR antenna panels, and we're building up the last of four panels in parallel with electrical and RF characterization and test activities of the second and third panels. On the ground segment side, the MDA space team continues to track the development and release plans. Construction works also continues for a new mission control center from where MDA chorus will be operated. And while we are overall pleased with the performance of our supply chain, we have encountered some delays with certain units, which are impacting the program timeline. As a result of those delays, we are now targeting the launch window for MDA Chorus in late 2026. We are looking forward to deliver the Constellation's enhanced functionality to our current and future customers with many active discussions of the future opportunities in our pipelines. I also want to provide an update with respect to a proposed class action claim that MDA Space was served subsequent to quarter end. The allegations are related to the announcement and subsequent cancellation of the EcoStar Constellation contract that was announced by MDA Space in the third quarter of 2025 and the sales by certain insiders of shares after the announcement of contract and before its termination. MDA Space believes the claims are without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself. With that, I'll hand it over to Guillaume to walk us through the financial details.
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