VANCOUVER, Feb. 21, 2017 /CNW/ - UrtheCast Corp.
(TSX:UR) ("UrtheCast" or the "Company") is pleased to announce Sai
W. Chu will be appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Company in
late March 2017.
Mr. Chu will succeed Issa
Nakhleh, who will be resigning from the Company after nearly
five years to pursue other interests. Mr. Nakhleh will remain as
CFO until the Company has filed its annual financial results for
the year ended December 31, 2016,
after which point Mr. Chu will take over the role. Until such time,
Mr. Chu will participate in the transition process as a consultant
to the Company. After his resignation, Mr. Nakhleh will continue
with UrtheCast under a consulting arrangement to assist with the
transition and to bring certain projects to completion.
Mr. Chu brings extensive experience in financial management,
business development and capital markets to UrtheCast. Prior to
joining UrtheCast, Mr. Chu served as the Chief Financial Officer of
Vancouver-based Seaspan
Corporation (NYSE: SSW) where he played a key role in its growth
from a $500 million-enterprise value,
privately-held company to a New York Stock Exchange-listed company
with an enterprise value in excess of $7
billion. During Mr. Chu's twelve year tenure at Seaspan, it
became the largest container ship lessor in the world, raising over
$10 billion in capital through a
series of innovative transactions to support its growth. Prior to
joining Seaspan, Mr. Chu was the Corporate Controller at TSX-listed
Datawest Solutions Inc., which is now part of Fiserv Inc. Mr. Chu
qualified as a Certified Management Accountant in 1990 and as a
Chartered Accountant in 1992 having articled with KPMG's
Vancouver office.
"Sai brings to UrtheCast a wealth of experience in sourcing and
structuring complex financings and managing high-growth global
companies. We are extremely pleased to have him as the new CFO of
our Company," said Wade Larson,
President and Chief Executive Officer of UrtheCast. "With Sai's
experience and successful track record in leadership roles with
publicly-traded companies, we are confident that UrtheCast has
secured a highly-qualified CFO to complement our management team
and help us achieve our short and long-term objectives.
"On behalf of our Board of Directors and senior management, I
would like to thank Issa for his many contributions in helping us
grow the Company to this point, and as colleagues and friends, wish
him all the best in his future endeavors."
Mr. Chu commented: "I am excited to join UrtheCast during a
pivotal time, as the Company is poised to accelerate its growth. I
am impressed with UrtheCast's team, its technologies and its
growing customer base. I look forward to working with my new
colleagues to execute the Company's strategic plan and to create
long-term value for UrtheCast's shareholders."
UrtheCast also reports that its 2016 non-IFRS revenue is
expected to be approximately $50M
(2015 - $26M). The guidance
previously disclosed by UrtheCast for this figure was a range of
$55M to $60M. For its 2016 adjusted
EBITDA, UrtheCast expects to be near the top end of the previously
disclosed range of $4.2M to $6.2M.
During the fourth quarter of 2016, UrtheCast also wrote
down, as a non-cash asset impairment charge, its
International Space Station-based sensors by a further $3.1M, bringing the closing balance sheet amount
to $9.4M. Year-end cash balances
were approximately $8M. UrtheCast's
preliminary view for 2017 is for growing non-IFRS revenues and
expanding adjusted EBITDA margins over 2016 with similar
seasonality to that of 2016.
ABOUT URTHECAST CORP.
UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that serves
the rapidly evolving geospatial and geoanalytics markets with a
wide range of information-rich products and services. The Company
operates Earth Observation (EO) sensors in space, including two
satellites, Deimos-1 and Deimos-2, to produce imagery data that is
displayed on UrtheCast's cloud-based web platform and distributed
directly to partners and customers. Through its subsidiary Deimos
Imaging, UrtheCast processes and distributes imagery data and
value-added products on behalf of the PanGeo Alliance, a network of
eight satellite operators with a combined 15 medium- and
high-resolution EO sensors. UrtheCast is also developing and
anticipates launching the world's first fully-integrated
constellation of multispectral optical and SAR satellites, called
OptiSAR™, in addition to its planned UrtheDaily™ Constellation,
which the Company believes will together revolutionize monitoring
of our planet with medium- and high-resolution, high-coverage and
high-revisit imagery in all weather conditions, any time of day.
Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as
ticker 'UR'.
For more information, visit UrtheCast's website
at www.urthecast.com.
Non-IFRS Financial Measures
The Company prepares its financial statements in accordance
with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), as
issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. This
release includes certain non-IFRS financial measures, such as
non-IFRS revenues, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. Non-IFRS revenue
excludes the non-cash revenues associated with our arrangement with
our ISS partner, as it is a better indicator of cash inflows to the
Company. Adjusted EBITDA is calculated based on EBITDA, or
earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and
amortization, and further adjusted to exclude the non-cash revenues
and expenses associated with our arrangement with our ISS partner,
share based payments expense, foreign exchange gains and losses and
items of an unusual nature that do not reflect our ongoing
operations. The Company uses these non-IFRS financial measures as
supplemental indicators of its operating performance and financial
position. These measures do not have any standardized meanings
prescribed by IFRS and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to
the calculation of similar measures used by other companies, and
should not be viewed as alternatives to measures of financial
performance calculated in accordance with IFRS or considered in
isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared
in accordance with IFRS. These non-IFRS financial measures should
be read in conjunction with the Company's financial statements and
accompanying MD&A.
Forward Looking Information
This release contains certain information which, as
presented, constitutes "forward-looking information" or
"forward-oriented financial information" within the meaning of
applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information
involves statements that relate to future events and often
addresses expected future business and financial performance,
containing words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", and
"expect", statements that an action or event "may", "might",
"could" or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions
and includes, but is not limited to: UrtheCast's expectations with
respect its current sensors and proposed OptiSAR™ and
UrtheDailyTM constellations; updated financial guidance
for the 2016 financial year and outlook for the 2017 financial
year; its plans for and timing of expansion of its product offering
and value-added services; its future growth and operations plans;
and the acceptance by its customers and the marketplace of new
satellite imaging content, technologies and solutions. Such
statements reflect UrtheCast's current views with respect to future
events and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and
assumptions that, while considered reasonable by UrtheCast, are
inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies.
Many factors could cause UrtheCast's actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements, including, among others: any
delays or failures in the design, development, construction, launch
and operational commissioning of the proposed OptiSAR™ or
UrtheDaily™ constellations; the decline of key relationships in, or
termination of, the PanGeo Alliance of EO satellite operators; the
Company being unable to convert the remaining Memoranda of
Understanding in respect of funding of the
OptiSAR™ constellation into binding, definitive agreements;
interruptions to or failures of UrtheCast's infrastructure;
failures aboard the International Space Station or the Deimos-1 or
Deimos-2 satellites; legal and regulatory changes; uncertainties
and assumptions in UrtheCast's revenue and EBITDA forecasts, as
well as those factors and assumptions discussed in UrtheCast's
annual information form dated March 29,
2016, (the "AIF"), which is available under UrtheCast's
SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking
information is developed based on assumptions about such risks,
uncertainties and other factors set out herein, in the AIF, and as
disclosed from time to time on UrtheCast's SEDAR profile. UrtheCast
undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements
except as required by Canadian securities laws. Readers are
cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking
statements.
SOURCE UrtheCast Corp.