VANCOUVER, Dec. 29, 2017
/PRNewswire/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX: UR) ("UrtheCast" or the
"Company") today provided an update with respect to its ongoing
corporate initiatives.
Further to the update provided during its third quarter earnings
release on November 14, 2017, the Company has evaluated
multiple opportunities and selected an institutional investor with
which it has entered into an exclusivity agreement on December 15, 2017 for the previously announced
US$175 million financing for the
development of the UrtheDailyTM Constellation. The
Company is currently working closely with the investor to finalize
closing documentation as soon as practicable, with a target
completion date for the financing extended to the end of January
2018. Completion is subject to final definitive documentation
being completed and agreed, the lender's completion of confirmatory
due diligence and receiving approval of our Board of
Directors. Following funding, UrtheCast will have a path to
the launch and commercialization of the UrtheDailyTM
Constellation. With signed binding agreements for both data
subscriptions totaling in excess of C$100
million, and a contract to build the UrtheDailyTM
Constellation, the Company continues to target the commencement of
the UrtheDailyTM operations in the 2020 growing season
notwithstanding the extension of the financing closing date.
With recently announced partnerships with SI Imaging Services,
Beijing Space View Technology and e-GEOS, along with the expanded
assets available through the PanGeo Alliance, UrtheCast is now
better positioned for 2018 with an increased number of product
offerings, and the ability to provide customers with a more
diversified level of decision making data.
As announced in the third quarter earnings release, the
Company's EO revenues were impacted by a delay in the award of a
major contract and accordingly, annual revenue excluding non-cash
revenue, and Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of
C$40 million and negative
C$5 million,
respectively1. In addition, the Company obtained a
waiver from its lender Banco de Sabadell S.A. with respect to its
€25 million term loan in relation to certain financial covenants
for the year ended December 31, 2017,
and a six-month deferment of its required December 2017 principal payment
obligation.
The Company continues to focus its efforts on securing near term
contracts for the SAR Accelerator missions, including obtaining the
necessary export applications. The Company continues to await final
approval of the financing condition by the customer's government
agency for the previously announced SAR XL contract. As a result of
the focus on the SAR Accelerator missions, the Company's timeline
for the OptiSARTM Constellation has been pushed out to
2023 at the earliest. The Company also confirms that the conditions
precedent to the agreement with the confidential government
customer for the OptiSARTM Constellation (as disclosed
on January 17, 2017) have not been
satisfied and the contract will expire on December 31, 2017.
1 Revenue excluding non-cash revenue, and Adjusted
EBITDA are non-IFRS measures. Refer to the Non-IFRS Measures
section of the Company's third quarter MD&A for an explanation
of these measures and reconciliation to the Company's reported
financial results in accordance with IFRS.
About UrtheCast
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, through its
subsidiary Deimos Imaging, including two satellites, Deimos-1 and
Deimos-2, to produce imagery data for partners and customers in
multiple markets. UrtheCast processes and distributes imagery data
and value-added products on behalf of the PanGeo Alliance, a
network of seven satellite operators with a combined 13 medium- and
high-resolution EO sensors. Additionally, UrtheCast is developing
and expects to launch the world's first fully-integrated
constellation of sixteen multispectral optical and SAR satellites,
called OptiSAR™, and a satellite constellation designed to capture
high-quality, medium- resolution optical imagery of the Earth's
entire landmass (excluding Antarctica) every day, called UrtheDaily™.
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 revenue excluding non-cash revenue, and adjusted
EBITDA. 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", "target",
"estimate", "expect" and "guidance", 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, statements
relating to: UrtheCast's expected completion of the
UrtheDailyTM financing on the terms set forth in the
exclusivity agreement or at all; any potential transaction or other
strategic alternative being available to the Company as a result of
the Special Committee's review; UrtheCast's expectations with
respect to its current sensors and proposed OptiSAR™ and
UrtheDailyTM constellations and precursor SAR satellite;
the satisfaction of the financing and other conditions set out in
the agreement for the purchase of the precursor SAR
satellite; its plans for and timing of expansion of its
product offering and value-added services; its future growth and
operations plans; expectations regarding the award of major
contracts; expectations regarding government contributions and
reimbursement grants; and anticipated trends and challenges in its
business and the markets in which the Company operates. Such
statements reflect UrtheCast's current views with respect to future
events. Such statements 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: UrtheCast's inability to enter into definitive
documentation for the UrtheDailyTM financing;
UrtheCast's inability to close the UrtheDailyTM
financing on the terms set forth in the exclusivity agreement or at
all; UrtheCast's ability to satisfy the conditions precedent to
certain contracts signed and announced; any delays or failures in
the design, development, construction, launch and operational
commissioning of the proposed OptiSARTM or
UrtheDailyTM constellations or precursor SAR satellite;
the Company being unable to, adequately and on acceptable terms,
finance the development, building, launch and commissioning of the
UrtheDailyTM Constellation, to convert the
remaining MOUs and other customer discussions in respect of the
OptiSARTM constellation into binding, definitive
agreements in a timely manner or at all; any failure by any
customer of UrtheDailyTM, the Government of Canada or one of UrtheCast's third-party
lenders to comply with the terms of their respective contracts with
UrtheCast, and UrtheCast's ability to comply with any of its
covenants thereunder; the decline of key relationships in, or
termination of, the PanGeo Alliance of EO satellite operators;
failures aboard the ISS or the Deimos-1 or Deimos-2 satellites;
failure to obtain, or loss of, regulatory approvals; as well as
those factors and assumptions discussed in UrtheCast's annual
information form dated March 27,
2017, (the "AIF"), which is available under UrtheCast's
SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. 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.