Globalstar, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2017 September (Form 10-Q)
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
(Mark One)
☒ | QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2017
or
☐ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
Commission file number 001-33117
GLOBALSTAR, INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
Delaware | 41-2116508 | |
(State or Other Jurisdiction of | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
Incorporation or Organization) |
300 Holiday Square Blvd.
Covington, Louisiana 70433
(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)
Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code: (985) 335-1500
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☒ | Accelerated filer ☐ | |
Non-accelerated filer ☐ | Smaller reporting company ☐ | |
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company) | Emerging growth company ☐ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
As of October 25, 2017, 1,259,146,064 shares of voting common stock and no shares of nonvoting common stock were outstanding. Unless the context otherwise requires, references to common stock in this Report mean the Registrant’s voting common stock.
FORM 10-Q
GLOBALSTAR, INC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page | ||
PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION | ||
Item 1. | ||
Item 2. | ||
Item 3. | ||
Item 4. | ||
PART II - OTHER INFORMATION | ||
Item 1. | ||
Item 1A. | ||
Item 2. | ||
Item 3. | ||
Item 4. | ||
Item 5. | ||
Item 6. | ||
PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1. Financial Statements.
GLOBALSTAR, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
September 30, 2017 | September 30, 2016 | September 30, 2017 | September 30, 2016 | ||||||||||||
Revenue: | |||||||||||||||
Service revenues | $ | 26,069 | $ | 21,952 | $ | 71,851 | $ | 61,671 | |||||||
Subscriber equipment sales | 4,389 | 3,592 | 11,382 | 10,795 | |||||||||||
Total revenue | 30,458 | 25,544 | 83,233 | 72,466 | |||||||||||
Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||
Cost of services (exclusive of depreciation, amortization, and accretion shown separately below) | 9,315 | 8,373 | 27,325 | 23,901 | |||||||||||
Cost of subscriber equipment sales | 2,905 | 2,411 | 7,779 | 7,475 | |||||||||||
Marketing, general and administrative | 9,616 | 10,077 | 28,650 | 30,137 | |||||||||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 19,415 | 19,446 | 57,984 | 57,825 | |||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 41,251 | 40,307 | 121,738 | 119,338 | |||||||||||
Loss from operations | (10,793 | ) | (14,763 | ) | (38,505 | ) | (46,872 | ) | |||||||
Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||||
Loss on extinguishment of debt | (6,306 | ) | — | (6,306 | ) | — | |||||||||
Gain on equity issuance | — | 4,272 | 2,670 | 2,349 | |||||||||||
Interest income and expense, net of amounts capitalized | (8,954 | ) | (8,866 | ) | (26,632 | ) | (27,020 | ) | |||||||
Derivative gain | 78,840 | 10,982 | 4,933 | 50,137 | |||||||||||
Other | (314 | ) | (505 | ) | (2,440 | ) | (581 | ) | |||||||
Total other income (expense) | 63,266 | 5,883 | (27,775 | ) | 24,885 | ||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes | 52,473 | (8,880 | ) | (66,280 | ) | (21,987 | ) | ||||||||
Income tax expense (benefit) | 67 | (6,303 | ) | 209 | (6,562 | ) | |||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 52,406 | $ | (2,577 | ) | $ | (66,489 | ) | $ | (15,425 | ) | ||||
Other comprehensive income (loss): | |||||||||||||||
Foreign currency translation adjustments | (902 | ) | 84 | (1,767 | ) | (1,492 | ) | ||||||||
Total comprehensive income (loss) | $ | 51,504 | $ | (2,493 | ) | $ | (68,256 | ) | $ | (16,917 | ) | ||||
Net income (loss) per common share: | |||||||||||||||
Basic | $ | 0.04 | $ | 0.00 | $ | (0.06 | ) | $ | (0.01 | ) | |||||
Diluted | 0.04 | 0.00 | (0.06 | ) | (0.01 | ) | |||||||||
Weighted-average shares outstanding: | |||||||||||||||
Basic | 1,169,993 | 1,080,313 | 1,137,854 | 1,056,993 | |||||||||||
Diluted | 1,345,905 | 1,080,313 | 1,137,854 | 1,056,993 |
See accompanying notes to unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements.
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GLOBALSTAR, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands, except par value and share data)
(Unaudited)
September 30, 2017 | December 31, 2016 | ||||||
ASSETS | |||||||
Current assets: | |||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 16,243 | $ | 10,230 | |||
Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $3,604 and $3,966, respectively | 17,613 | 15,219 | |||||
Inventory | 8,504 | 8,093 | |||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 5,685 | 4,588 | |||||
Total current assets | 48,045 | 38,130 | |||||
Property and equipment, net | 1,000,991 | 1,039,719 | |||||
Restricted cash | 37,984 | 37,983 | |||||
Intangible and other assets, net of accumulated amortization of $7,195 and $7,021, respectively | 20,788 | 16,782 | |||||
Total assets | $ | 1,107,808 | $ | 1,132,614 | |||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY | |||||||
Current liabilities: | |||||||
Current portion of long-term debt | $ | 94,327 | $ | 75,755 | |||
Debt restructuring fees | — | 20,795 | |||||
Accounts payable | 6,282 | 7,499 | |||||
Accrued contract termination charge | 20,714 | 18,451 | |||||
Accrued expenses | 27,889 | 23,162 | |||||
Derivative liabilities | 1,911 | — | |||||
Payables to affiliates | 382 | 309 | |||||
Deferred revenue | 33,130 | 26,479 | |||||
Total current liabilities | 184,635 | 172,450 | |||||
Long-term debt, less current portion | 466,669 | 500,524 | |||||
Employee benefit obligations | 4,709 | 4,883 | |||||
Derivative liabilities | 242,324 | 281,171 | |||||
Deferred revenue | 6,111 | 5,877 | |||||
Other non-current liabilities | 6,318 | 5,890 | |||||
Total non-current liabilities | 726,131 | 798,345 | |||||
Commitments and contingencies (Note 6) | |||||||
Stockholders’ equity: | |||||||
Preferred Stock of $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized and none issued and outstanding at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively | — | — | |||||
Series A Preferred Convertible Stock of $0.0001 par value; one share authorized and none issued and outstanding at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively | — | — | |||||
Voting Common Stock of $0.0001 par value; 1,500,000,000 and 1,200,000,000 shares authorized; 1,051,765,834 and 972,602,824 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively | 105 | 97 | |||||
Nonvoting Common Stock of $0.0001 par value; 400,000,000 shares authorized; 134,008,656 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively | 13 | 13 | |||||
Additional paid-in capital | 1,752,786 | 1,649,315 | |||||
Accumulated other comprehensive loss | (7,145 | ) | (5,378 | ) | |||
Retained deficit | (1,548,717 | ) | (1,482,228 | ) | |||
Total stockholders’ equity | 197,042 | 161,819 | |||||
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | 1,107,808 | $ | 1,132,614 |
See accompanying notes to unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements.
2
GLOBALSTAR, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)
Nine Months Ended | |||||||
September 30, 2017 | September 30, 2016 | ||||||
Cash flows provided by (used in) operating activities: | |||||||
Net loss | $ | (66,489 | ) | $ | (15,425 | ) | |
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities: | |||||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 57,984 | 57,825 | |||||
Change in fair value of derivative assets and liabilities | (4,933 | ) | (50,137 | ) | |||
Stock-based compensation expense | 3,592 | 2,963 | |||||
Amortization of deferred financing costs | 6,147 | 6,932 | |||||
Provision for bad debts | 707 | 860 | |||||
Noncash interest and accretion expense | 8,497 | 8,320 | |||||
Loss on extinguishment of debt | 6,306 | — | |||||
Change in fair value related to equity issuance | (2,670 | ) | (2,349 | ) | |||
Noncash expense related to legal settlement | — | 1,094 | |||||
Reversal of uncertain tax position | — | (6,317 | ) | ||||
Unrealized foreign currency loss | 1,762 | 357 | |||||
Other, net | 680 | 114 | |||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | |||||||
Accounts receivable | (2,876 | ) | (3,066 | ) | |||
Inventory | (282 | ) | 2,972 | ||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | (1,501 | ) | (1,276 | ) | |||
Other assets | (691 | ) | (476 | ) | |||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses | 3,993 | 2,714 | |||||
Payables to affiliates | 73 | (374 | ) | ||||
Other non-current liabilities | (26 | ) | 82 | ||||
Deferred revenue | 6,355 | 2,891 | |||||
Net cash provided by operating activities | 16,628 | 7,704 | |||||
Cash flows used in investing activities: | |||||||
Second-generation network costs (including interest) | (6,862 | ) | (8,472 | ) | |||
Property and equipment additions | (4,033 | ) | (7,646 | ) | |||
Purchase of intangible assets | (2,674 | ) | (1,327 | ) | |||
Net cash used in investing activities | (13,569 | ) | (17,445 | ) | |||
Cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities: | |||||||
Principal payments of the Facility Agreement | (21,695 | ) | (16,418 | ) | |||
Proceeds from Thermo Common Stock Purchase Agreement | 33,000 | — | |||||
Payment of debt restructuring fee | (20,795 | ) | — | ||||
Payments for debt and equity issuance costs | (413 | ) | — | ||||
Proceeds from issuance of stock to Terrapin | 12,000 | 28,500 | |||||
Proceeds from issuance of common stock and exercise of options and warrants | 642 | 3,001 | |||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 2,739 | 15,083 | |||||
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash | 216 | 133 | |||||
Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | 6,014 | 5,475 | |||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period | 48,213 | 45,394 | |||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period | $ | 54,227 | $ | 50,869 | |||
As of: | |||||||
September 30, 2017 | December 31, 2016 | ||||||
Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | |||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 16,243 | $ | 10,230 | |||
Restricted cash (See Note 3 for further discussion on restrictions) | 37,984 | 37,983 | |||||
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash shown in the statement of cash flows | $ | 54,227 | $ | 48,213 | |||
Nine Months Ended | |||||||
September 30, 2017 | September 30, 2016 | ||||||
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information: | |||||||
Cash paid for interest | $ | 11,697 | $ | 11,409 | |||
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash financing and investing activities: | |||||||
Increase in capitalized accrued interest for second-generation network costs | $ | 3,134 | $ | 2,340 | |||
Capitalized accretion of debt discount and amortization of prepaid financing costs | 3,844 | 3,225 | |||||
Issuance of common stock for legal settlement | 453 | — |
See accompanying notes to unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements.
3
GLOBALSTAR, INC.
NOTES TO UNAUDITED INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION
Globalstar, Inc. (“Globalstar” or the “Company”) provides Mobile Satellite Services (“MSS”) including voice and data communications services through its global satellite network. Thermo Capital Partners LLC, through its affiliates (collectively, “Thermo”), is the principal owner and largest stockholder of Globalstar. The Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer controls Thermo. Two other members of the Company's Board of Directors are also directors, officers or minority equity owners of various Thermo entities.
The Company has prepared the accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally in financial statements have been condensed or omitted pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"); however, management believes the disclosures made are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. These financial statements and notes should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Globalstar Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, as filed with the SEC on February 23, 2017 (the "2016 Annual Report"), and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations herein.
The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from estimates. The Company evaluates estimates on an ongoing basis. Significant estimates include the value of derivative instruments, the allowance for doubtful accounts, the net realizable value of inventory, the useful life and value of property and equipment, the value of stock-based compensation and income taxes. The Company has made certain reclassifications to prior period condensed consolidated financial statements to conform to current period presentation.
These unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Globalstar and all its subsidiaries. All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in the consolidation. In the opinion of management, the information included herein includes all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, that are necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations, condensed consolidated balance sheets, and condensed consolidated statements of cash flows for the periods presented. The results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year or any future period.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Updates ("ASU") No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. ASU 2014-09 has been modified multiple times since its initial release. This ASU outlines a single comprehensive model for entities to use in accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers and will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in U.S. GAAP when it becomes effective. ASU 2014-09, as amended, becomes effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted; however, the Company plans on adopting this standard when it becomes effective on January 1, 2018. The Company has an internal project team that is evaluating the impact this standard will have on its financial statements, accounting systems and related disclosures. Currently, the Company expects that the most significant changes to the Company's revenue recognition accounting policies will be related to the following: 1) the allocation and timing of revenue recognized between service revenue and subscriber equipment sales, 2) the timing of service revenue recognized for breakage during certain customer's prepaid contracts and 3) the deferment of certain contract acquisition costs and the recognition of these costs over the expected life of a customer's contract. The standard permits the use of either the retrospective or cumulative effect transition method. The Company expects to follow the cumulative effect method of adoption.
In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases. The main difference between the provisions of ASU No. 2016-02 and previous U.S. GAAP is the recognition of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities by lessees for those leases classified as operating leases under previous U.S. GAAP. ASU No. 2016-02 retains a distinction between finance leases and operating leases, and the recognition, measurement, and presentation of expenses and cash flows arising from a lease by a lessee have not significantly changed from previous U.S. GAAP. For leases with a term of 12 months or less, a lessee is permitted to make an accounting policy election by class of underlying asset not to recognize right-of-use assets and lease liabilities. The accounting applied by a lessor is largely unchanged from that applied under previous U.S. GAAP. In transition, lessees and lessors are required to recognize and
4
measure leases at the beginning of the earliest period presented using a modified retrospective approach. This ASU is effective for public business entities in fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this standard will have on its financial statements and related disclosures.
In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Credit Losses, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. ASU No. 2016-13 significantly changes how entities will measure credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value through net income. The standard will replace today’s incurred loss approach with an expected loss model for instruments measured at amortized cost. Entities will apply the standard’s provisions as a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the first reporting period in which the guidance is effective. This ASU is effective for public entities for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted for all entities for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods therein. The Company has not yet determined the impact this standard will have on its financial statements and related disclosures.
In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-01, Business Combinations: Clarifying the Definition of a Business. ASU 2017-01 most significantly revises guidance specific to the definition of a business related to accounting for acquisitions. Additionally, ASU 2017-01 also affects other areas of US GAAP, such as the definition of a business related to the consolidation of variable interest entities, the consolidation of a subsidiary or group of assets, components of an operating segment, and disposals of reporting units and the impact on goodwill. This ASU is effective for public entities for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company does not expect it to have a material effect on the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In February 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-05, Other Income—Gains and Losses from the Derecognition of Nonfinancial Assets: Clarifying the Scope of Asset Derecognition Guidance and Accounting for Partial Sales of Nonfinancial Assets. ASU 2017-06 was issued to provide clarity on the scope and application for recognizing gains and losses from the sale or transfer of nonfinancial assets, and should be adopted concurrently with ASU 2014-09: Revenue from Contracts with Customers. This ASU is effective for public entities for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this standard will have on its financial statements and related disclosures.
In February 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-07: Compensation—Retirement Benefits: Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost. ASU 2017-07 requires sponsors of benefit plans to present the service cost component of net periodic benefit cost in the same income statement line or items as other employee costs and present the remaining components of net periodic benefit cost in one or more separate line items outside of income from operations. This ASU also limits the capitalization of benefit costs to only the service cost component. This ASU is effective for public entities for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company does not expect it to have a material effect on the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-08: Receivables—Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs: Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities. This ASU amends current US GAAP to shorten the amortization period for certain purchased callable debt securities held at a premium to the earliest call date. This ASU is effective for public entities for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company does not expect it to have a material effect on the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In May 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-09: Compensation—Stock Compensation: Scope of Modification Accounting. This ASU clarifies when changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award must be accounted for as modifications. Under the new guidance, a company will apply modification accounting only if the fair value, vesting conditions or classification of the award change due to a modification in the terms or conditions of the share-based payment award. This ASU is effective for public entities for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company does not expect it to have a material effect on the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In July 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-11: I. Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments With Down Round Features and II. Replacement of the Indefinite Deferral for Mandatorily Redeemable Financial Instruments of Certain Nonpublic Entities and Certain Mandatorily Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests With a Scope Exception. Part I of this ASU reduces the complexity associated with accounting for certain financial instruments with down round features. Part II of this ASU recharacterizes the indefinite deferral provisions described in Topic 480: Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity. It does not have an accounting effect.
5
This ASU is effective for public entities for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company does not expect it to have a material effect on the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flows - Restricted Cash. ASU 2016-18 requires entities to show the changes in the total of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents in the statement of cash flows. When cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents are presented in more than one line item on the balance sheet, a reconciliation of the totals in the statement of cash flows to the related captions in the balance sheet is required. This ASU is effective for public entities for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company adopted this standard effective with reporting periods beginning on January 1, 2017 and reflected the impact of this standard using a retrospective transition method for each period presented. Additionally, the Company added required disclosures pursuant to ASC 2016-18 to its condensed consolidated statements of cash flows.
2. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT
Property and equipment consists of the following (in thousands):
September 30, 2017 | December 31, 2016 | ||||||
Globalstar System: | |||||||
Space component | |||||||
First and second-generation satellites in service | $ | 1,195,426 | $ | 1,211,090 | |||
Prepaid long-lead items | 17,040 | 17,040 | |||||
Second-generation satellite, on-ground spare | 32,481 | 32,481 | |||||
Ground component | 48,796 | 48,400 | |||||
Construction in progress: | |||||||
Space component | 3 | 81 | |||||
Ground component | 221,925 | 207,127 | |||||
Next-generation software upgrades | 12,019 | 10,223 | |||||
Other | 2,706 | 2,299 | |||||
Total Globalstar System | 1,530,396 | 1,528,741 | |||||
Internally developed and purchased software | 15,858 | 15,005 | |||||
Equipment | 9,371 | 9,875 | |||||
Land and buildings | 3,369 | 3,330 | |||||
Leasehold improvements | 1,926 | 1,893 | |||||
Total property and equipment | 1,560,920 | 1,558,844 | |||||
Accumulated depreciation | (559,929 | ) | (519,125 | ) | |||
Total property and equipment, net | $ | 1,000,991 | $ | 1,039,719 |
Amounts in the above table consist primarily of costs incurred related to the construction of the Company’s second-generation constellation and ground upgrades. The ground component of construction in progress represents costs (including capitalized interest) associated with the Company's contracts with Hughes Network Systems, LLC ("Hughes") and Ericsson Inc. (“Ericsson”) related to the second-generation upgrades to the Company's ground infrastructure. The Company will begin depreciating this asset when the second-generation gateways are placed into commercial service. See Note 6: Commitments and Contingencies for further discussion of these contracts.
Amounts included in the Company’s second-generation satellite, on-ground spare balance as of September 30, 2017 consist primarily of costs related to a spare second-generation satellite that has not been placed in orbit, but is capable of being included in a future launch. As of September 30, 2017, this satellite and the prepaid long-lead items ("LLI") have not been placed into service; therefore, the Company has not started to record depreciation expense for these items.
6
Pursuant to the Amended and Restated Contract for the construction of Globalstar Satellites for the Second Generation Constellation between the Company and Thales Alenia Space France ("Thales"), dated and executed in June 2009 (the "2009 Contract"), the Company paid €12 million in purchase price plus an additional €3.1 million in procurement costs for the LLI to be procured by Thales on the Company's behalf. The LLI were to be used in the construction of the Phase 3 satellites for the Company. As reflected on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheets and in the above table, the Company believes that it owns the LLI and that title to the LLI transferred to the Company upon payment. The Company has asked Thales to turn over the LLI. Despite historical statements to the contrary, Thales currently disputes the Company's ownership of the LLI and has asserted that the Company released its title to the LLI pursuant to that certain Release Agreement, dated as of June 24, 2012, which is described more fully in Note 6: Commitments and Contingencies. Thales further asserts that the LLI belong to Thales and that Thales has no obligation to turn over possession of the LLI to the Company. The Company disputes Thales' assertions and is considering its rights and remedies to recover the LLI. At this time, the Company cannot predict the outcome related to this dispute, including, without limitation, the likelihood of any settlement or the probability of success with respect to any litigation that the Company may determine to commence with respect to the LLI.
3. LONG-TERM DEBT AND OTHER FINANCING ARRANGEMENTS
Long-term debt consists of the following (in thousands):
September 30, 2017 | December 31, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Principal Amount | Unamortized Discount and Deferred Financing Costs | Carrying Value | Principal Amount | Unamortized Discount and Deferred Financing Costs | Carrying Value | ||||||||||||||||||
Facility Agreement | $ | 521,317 | $ | 37,325 | $ | 483,992 | $ | 543,011 | $ | 45,651 | $ | 497,360 | |||||||||||
Thermo Loan Agreement | 102,867 | 27,196 | 75,671 | 93,962 | 29,615 | 64,347 | |||||||||||||||||
8.00% Convertible Senior Notes Issued in 2013 | 1,333 | — | 1,333 | 17,126 | 2,554 | 14,572 | |||||||||||||||||
Total Debt | 625,517 | 64,521 | 560,996 | 654,099 | 77,820 | 576,279 | |||||||||||||||||
Less: Current Portion | 94,327 | — | 94,327 | 75,755 | — | 75,755 | |||||||||||||||||
Long-Term Debt | $ | 531,190 | $ | 64,521 | $ | 466,669 | $ | 578,344 | $ | 77,820 | $ | 500,524 |
The principal amounts shown above include payment of in-kind interest, as applicable. The carrying value is net of deferred financing costs and any discounts to the loan amounts at issuance, including accretion, as further described below. The current portion of long-term debt represents the scheduled principal repayments under the Facility Agreement due within one year of the balance sheet date and the total outstanding balance of the Company's 2013 8.00% Notes (as defined below) as the first put date of the notes is April 1, 2018.
Facility Agreement
In 2009, the Company entered into the Facility Agreement with a syndicate of bank lenders, including BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Natixis, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (formerly Calyon) and Crédit Industriel et Commercial, as arrangers, and BNP Paribas, as the security agent. The Facility Agreement was amended and restated in July 2013, August 2015 and June 2017.
The Facility Agreement is scheduled to mature in December 2022. As of September 30, 2017, the Facility Agreement was fully drawn. Semi-annual principal repayments began in December 2014. Indebtedness under the facility bears interest at a floating rate of LIBOR plus 3.25% through June 2018, increasing by an additional 0.5% each year thereafter to a maximum rate of LIBOR plus 5.75%. Interest on the Facility Agreement is payable semi-annually in arrears on June 30 and December 31 of each calendar year. Ninety-five percent of the Company’s obligations under the Facility Agreement are guaranteed by Bpifrance Assurance Export S.A.S. ("BPIFAE") (formerly COFACE), the French export credit agency. The Company’s obligations under the Facility Agreement are guaranteed on a senior secured basis by all of its domestic subsidiaries and are secured by a first priority lien on substantially all of the assets of the Company and its domestic subsidiaries (other than their FCC licenses), including patents and trademarks, 100% of the equity of the Company’s domestic subsidiaries and 65% of the equity of certain foreign subsidiaries.
The Facility Agreement contains customary events of default and requires that the Company satisfy various financial and non-financial covenants. The covenants in the Facility Agreement limit the Company's ability to, among other things, incur or guarantee
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additional indebtedness; make certain investments, acquisitions or capital expenditures above certain agreed levels; pay dividends or repurchase or redeem capital stock or subordinated indebtedness; grant liens on its assets; incur restrictions on the ability of its subsidiaries to pay dividends or to make other payments to the Company; enter into transactions with its affiliates; merge or consolidate with other entities or transfer all or substantially all of its assets; and transfer or sell assets.
In calculating compliance with the financial covenants of the Facility Agreement, the Company may include certain cash funds contributed to the Company from the issuance of the Company's common stock and/or subordinated indebtedness. These funds are referred to as "Equity Cure Contributions" and may be used to achieve compliance with financial covenants through December 2019. If the Company violates any covenants and is unable to obtain a sufficient Equity Cure Contribution or obtain a waiver, or is unable to make payments to satisfy its debt obligations under the Facility Agreement when due and is unable to obtain a waiver, it would be in default under the Facility Agreement and payment of the indebtedness could be accelerated. The acceleration of the Company's indebtedness under one agreement may permit acceleration of indebtedness under other agreements that contain cross-acceleration provisions. As of September 30, 2017, the Company was in compliance with respect to the covenants of the Facility Agreement.
The Facility Agreement also requires the Company to maintain a debt service reserve account, which is pledged to secure all of the Company's obligations under the Facility Agreement. The use of these funds is restricted to making principal and interest payments under the Facility Agreement. Prior to October 30, 2017, the Company was required to maintain a total of $37.9 million in a debt service reserve account. Beginning on October 30, 2017, the balance in the debt service reserve account must equal the total amount of principal and interest payable by the Company on the next payment date. As of September 30, 2017, the balance in the debt service reserve account was $38.0 million and classified as restricted cash on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheets.
On June 30, 2017, the Company, Thermo, the lenders and the BPIFAE and Security Agent entered into a Third Global Amendment and Restatement Agreement (the “2017 GARA”). Pursuant to the 2017 GARA, the Facility Agreement was amended and restated and the Company, Thermo and the lenders agreed to the following:
• | The amendments to the Facility Agreement defer most financial covenants until the measurement period ending December 31, 2018; extend to the measurement period ending December 31, 2019 the date through which Equity Cure Contributions can be made; eliminate the requirement of the Company to redeem in full the 2013 8.00% Notes (as defined below); defer mandatory prepayments from qualifying equity raises until January 1, 2020; and revise the definition of the debt service reserve account required balance after October 30, 2017 to mean an amount equal to the Debt Service (as defined in the 2017 GARA) amount due on the next payment date. |
• | The Company agreed to raise at least $159.0 million in equity, which includes $12.0 million previously raised from its common stock purchase agreement with Terrapin Opportunity, L.P. ("Terrapin") in January 2017. The Company was required to raise a portion of the total $159.0 million by June 30, 2017 and the remaining amount no later than October 30, 2017. The Company was required to raise approximately $33.0 million as of June 30, 2017, which included amounts for the Company's outstanding restructuring fees, insurance premiums to BPIFAE and principal and interest due under the Facility Agreement as of June 30, 2017. This amount was raised pursuant to the Common Stock Purchase Agreement entered into between the Company and Thermo on June 30, 2017, as discussed in Note 7: Related Party Transactions. In October 2017, the Company satisfied the remaining equity requirement by completing a common stock offering that generated net proceeds of approximately $114.8 million (after deducting underwriter commissions and estimated offering expenses), as discussed further below. The Company is required to deposit 80% of any equity proceeds raised through December 31, 2019 (including those funds required to be raised in 2017) into a restricted account, separate from the debt service reserve account discussed above, that may only be used to pay obligations under the Facility Agreement. |
• | The 2017 GARA required Thermo to fund or backstop the amounts required to be raised as of June 30, 2017. The total $33.0 million was raised pursuant to the Common Stock Purchase Agreement with Thermo, discussed in Note 7: Related Party Transactions. |
• | The Company agreed to limit expenditures in connection with its spectrum rights to be the lesser of (1) $20.0 million and (2) 20% of the proceeds of the aggregate of any equity the Company raises from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2019. |
• | The Company agreed to pay an amendment fee to the agent and lenders in the aggregate amount of $0.3 million and accelerated the payment of the restructuring fee and insurance premium of approximately $20.8 million, which was previously due December 31, 2017 and accrued as a current liability on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheet. |
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The amendment and restatement of the Facility Agreement was considered a debt modification pursuant to applicable accounting guidance. As such, fees paid to the creditors were capitalized on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheet as deferred financing costs and fees paid to the Company's advisors and other third parties were expensed in the Company's statement of operations for the period ended June 30, 2017.
Thermo Loan Agreement
In connection with the amendment and restatement of the Facility Agreement in July 2013, the Company amended and restated its loan agreement with Thermo (the “Loan Agreement”). All obligations of the Company to Thermo under the Loan Agreement are subordinated to the Company’s obligations under the Facility Agreement.
The Loan Agreement accrues interest at 12% per annum, which is capitalized and added to the outstanding principal in lieu of cash payments. The Company will make payments to Thermo only when permitted by the Facility Agreement. Principal and interest under the Loan Agreement become due and payable six months after the obligations under the Facility Agreement have been paid in full, or earlier if the Company has a change in control or if any acceleration of the maturity of the loans under the Facility Agreement occurs. As of September 30, 2017, $59.4 million of interest had accrued since 2009 with respect to the Loan Agreement; the Loan Agreement is included in long-term debt on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets.
The Company evaluated the various embedded derivatives within the Loan Agreement (See Note 5: Fair Value Measurements for additional information about the embedded derivative in the Loan Agreement). The Company determined that the conversion option and the contingent put feature upon a fundamental change required bifurcation from the Loan Agreement. The conversion option and the contingent put feature were not deemed clearly and closely related to the Loan Agreement and were separately accounted for as a standalone derivative. The Company recorded this compound embedded derivative liability as a non-current liability on its condensed consolidated balance sheets with a corresponding debt discount, which is netted against the face value of the Loan Agreement.
The Company is accreting the debt discount associated with the compound embedded derivative liability to interest expense through the maturity of the Loan Agreement using an effective interest rate method. The fair value of the compound embedded derivative liability is marked-to-market at the end of each reporting period, with any changes in value reported in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. The Company determines the fair value of the compound embedded derivative using a blend of a Monte Carlo simulation model and market prices.
The amount by which the if-converted value of the Thermo Loan Agreement exceeds the principal amount at September 30, 2017, assuming conversion at the closing price of the Company's common stock on that date of $1.63 per share, is approximately $126.8 million.
8.00% Convertible Senior Notes Issued in 2013
The 8.00% Convertible Senior Notes Issued in 2013 (the "2013 8.00% Notes") are convertible into shares of common stock at a conversion price of $0.73 (as adjusted) per share of common stock. The conversion price of the 2013 8.00% Notes is adjusted in the event of certain stock splits or extraordinary share distributions, or as a reset of the base conversion and exercise price pursuant to the terms of the Fourth Supplemental Indenture between the Company and U.S. Bank National Association, as Trustee, dated May 20, 2013 (the "Indenture").
The 2013 8.00% Notes are senior unsecured debt obligations of the Company with no sinking fund. The 2013 8.00% Notes will mature on April 1, 2028, subject to various call and put features, and bear interest at a rate of 8.00% per annum. Interest on the 2013 8.00% Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on April 1 and October 1 of each year. Interest is paid in cash at a rate of 5.75% per annum and in additional notes at a rate of 2.25% per annum. The Indenture for the 2013 8.00% Notes provides for customary events of default. As of September 30, 2017, the Company was in compliance with respect to the terms of the 2013 8.00% Notes and the Indenture.
Subject to certain conditions set forth in the Indenture, the Company may redeem the 2013 8.00% Notes, with the prior approval of the majority lenders under the Facility Agreement, in whole or in part, at any time on or after April 1, 2018, at a price equal to the principal amount of the 2013 8.00% Notes to be redeemed plus all accrued and unpaid interest thereon.
A holder of the 2013 8.00% Notes has the right, at the holder’s option, to require the Company to purchase some or all of the 2013 8.00% Notes held by it on each of April 1, 2018 and April 1, 2023 at a price equal to the principal amount of the 2013 8.00% Notes to be purchased plus accrued and unpaid interest.
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Subject to the procedures for conversion and other terms and conditions of the Indenture, a holder may convert its 2013 8.00% Notes at its option at any time prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding April 1, 2028, into shares of common stock (or, at the option of the Company, cash in lieu of all or a portion thereof, provided that, under the Facility Agreement, the Company may pay cash only with the consent of the majority lenders).
As of September 30, 2017, holders had converted a total of $55.4 million principal amount of the 2013 8.00% Notes, resulting in the issuance of approximately 98.5 million shares of voting common stock. On August 24, 2017, the Company entered into an agreement to issue an aggregate of 26.4 million shares of its voting common stock in exchange for approximately $16.0 million principal amount of its 2013 8.00% Notes. As a result of this conversion, the Company recorded a loss on extinguishment of debt of $6.3 million during the third quarter of 2017 calculated as the difference between the fair value of the shares issued to the holder and the carrying value of the debt and derivative liabilities written off due to the conversion. There were no other conversions during the three and nine-month periods ending September 30, 2017.
Holders who convert 2013 8.00% Notes may receive conversion shares over a 40-consecutive trading day settlement period. Accordingly, the portion of converted debt is extinguished on an incremental basis over the 40-day settlement period, reducing the Company's outstanding debt balance. As of September 30, 2017, no conversions had been initiated but not yet fully settled.
The Company evaluated the various embedded derivatives within the Indenture for the 2013 8.00% Notes. The Company determined that the conversion option and the contingent put feature within the Indenture required bifurcation from the 2013 8.00% Notes. The Company did not deem the conversion option and the contingent put feature to be clearly and closely related to the 2013 8.00% Notes and separately accounted for them as a standalone derivative. The Company recorded this compound embedded derivative liability as a liability on its condensed consolidated balance sheets with a corresponding debt discount which is netted against the face value of the 2013 8.00% Notes.
The Company was accreting the debt discount associated with the compound embedded derivative liability to interest expense through the first put date of the 2013 8.00% Notes (April 1, 2018) using an effective interest rate method. However, following the conversion in August 2017 (as discussed above), the remaining debt discount balance was recorded to interest expense during the third quarter 2017, resulting in no balance as of September 30, 2017. The Company is marking to market the fair value of the compound embedded derivative liability at the end of each reporting period, or more frequently as deemed necessary, and as of the date of a significant conversion (such as the one discussed above), with any changes in value reported in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. The Company determines the fair value of the compound embedded derivative using a blend of a Monte Carlo simulation model and market prices.
The amount by which the if-converted value of the 2013 8.00% Notes exceeded the principal amount at September 30, 2017, assuming conversion at the closing price of the Company's common stock on that date of $1.63 per share, is approximately $1.6 million.
Warrants Outstanding
Pursuant to the terms of the Contingent Equity Agreement with Thermo (See Note 9: Related Party Transactions in the Consolidated Financial Statements in the 2016 Annual Report for a description of the Contingent Equity Agreement), the Company issued to Thermo 41.5 million warrants at a strike price of $0.01 to purchase shares of common stock pursuant to the annual availability fee and subsequent reset provisions in the Contingent Equity Agreement. These warrants were issued between June 2009 and June 2012 and have a five-year exercise period from issuance. In May 2017, Thermo exercised the remaining 24.6 million of the total 41.5 million warrants issued, resulting in the issuance of 24.6 million shares of the Company's common stock. As of September 30, 2017, no warrants remain outstanding under this agreement.
Terrapin Opportunity, L.P. Common Stock Purchase Agreement
In August 2015, the Company entered into a common stock purchase agreement with Terrapin pursuant to which the Company could require Terrapin to purchase up to $75.0 million of shares of the Company’s voting common stock over the 24-month term following the date of the agreement. Through the term of this agreement, Terrapin purchased a total of 67.3 million shares of voting common stock for a total purchase price of $75.0 million. In January 2017, the Company drew $12.0 million and issued to Terrapin 8.9 million shares of voting common stock. No funds remain available under this agreement.
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Public Offering of Common Stock
On October 5, 2017, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, as manager for several underwriters (collectively, the “Underwriters”), relating to the sale of 73.4 million shares of common stock, at a public offering price of $1.65 per share. Under the terms of the Underwriting Agreement, the Company granted the Underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 11.0 million shares of the Company's common stock. As of November 1, 2017, this option has not been exercised.
The Underwriting Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and conditions to closing. The Company received approximately $114.8 million in net proceeds from the sale of the common stock. The Company used the net proceeds from the offering to meet its obligation to raise $114.0 million by October 30, 2017 pursuant to the 2017 GARA (as discussed above). Eighty percent of the net proceeds of the offering were deposited in a restricted account and are expected to be drawn primarily to pay principal and interest due under the Facility Agreement in December 2017 and June 2018. The remainder of the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
4. DERIVATIVES
In connection with certain existing borrowing arrangements, the Company was required to record derivative instruments on its condensed consolidated balance sheets. None of these derivative instruments is designated as a hedge. The following table discloses the fair values of the derivative instruments on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets (in thousands):
September 30, 2017 | December 31, 2016 | ||||||
Derivative assets: | |||||||
Interest rate cap | $ | 1 | $ | 4 | |||
Total derivative assets | $ | 1 | $ | 4 | |||
Derivative liabilities: | |||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the 2013 8.00% Notes | $ | (1,911 | ) | $ | (26,664 | ) | |
Compound embedded derivative with the Thermo Loan Agreement | (242,324 | ) | (254,507 | ) | |||
Total derivative liabilities | $ | (244,235 | ) | $ | (281,171 | ) |
The following table discloses the changes in value recorded as derivative gain (loss) in the Company’s condensed consolidated statement of operations (in thousands):
Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
September 30, 2017 | September 30, 2016 | September 30, 2017 | September 30, 2016 | ||||||||||||
Interest rate cap | $ | — | $ | — | $ | (3 | ) | $ | (5 | ) | |||||
Compound embedded derivative with the 2013 8.00% Notes | 2,949 | 1,641 | (7,247 | ) | 7,424 | ||||||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the Thermo Loan Agreement | 75,891 | 9,341 | 12,183 | 42,718 | |||||||||||
Total derivative gain (loss) | $ | 78,840 | $ | 10,982 | $ | 4,933 | $ | 50,137 |
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Intangible and Other Assets
Interest Rate Cap
In June 2009, in connection with entering into the Facility Agreement, under which interest accrues at a variable rate, the Company entered into five ten-year interest rate cap agreements. The interest rate cap agreements reflect a variable notional amount at interest rates that provide coverage to the Company for exposure resulting from escalating interest rates over the term of the Facility Agreement. The interest rate cap provides limits on the six-month Libor rate (“Base Rate”) used to calculate the coupon interest on outstanding amounts on the Facility Agreement and is capped at 5.50% should the Base Rate not exceed 6.5%. Should the Base Rate exceed 6.5%, the Company’s Base Rate will be 1% less than the then six-month Libor rate. The Company paid an approximately $12.4 million upfront fee for the interest rate cap agreements. The interest rate cap did not qualify for hedge accounting treatment, and changes in the fair value of the agreements are included in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Derivative Liabilities
The Company has identified various embedded derivatives resulting from certain features in the Company’s debt instruments, including the conversion option and the contingent put feature within both the 2013 8.00% Notes and the Thermo Loan Agreement. These embedded derivatives required bifurcation from the debt host agreement and are recorded as a derivative liability on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets with a corresponding debt discount netted against the principal amount of the related debt instrument. The Company accretes the debt discount associated with each derivative liability to interest expense over the term of the related debt instrument using an effective interest rate method. The fair value of each embedded derivative liability is marked-to-market at the end of each reporting period, or more frequently as deemed necessary, with any changes in value reported in its condensed consolidated statements of operations. The Company determined the fair value of its compound embedded derivative liabilities using a blend of a Monte Carlo simulation model and market prices. See Note 5: Fair Value Measurements for further discussion. As the first put date for the 2013 8.00% Notes is on April 1, 2018, the Company has classified this derivative liability as current on its condensed consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2017.
5. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
The Company follows the authoritative guidance for fair value measurements relating to financial and non-financial assets and liabilities, including presentation of required disclosures herein. This guidance establishes a fair value framework requiring the categorization of assets and liabilities into three levels based upon the assumptions (inputs) used to price the assets and liabilities. Level 1 provides the most reliable measure of fair value, whereas Level 3 generally requires significant management judgment. The three levels are defined as follows:
Level 1: Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets that are accessible at the measurement date for identical assets or liabilities.
Level 2: Quoted prices in markets that are not active or inputs which are observable, either directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the asset or liability.
Level 3: Prices or valuation techniques that require inputs that are both significant to the fair value measurement and unobservable (i.e., supported by little or no market activity).
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Recurring Fair Value Measurements
The following tables provide a summary of the financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis (in thousands):
September 30, 2017 | |||||||||||||||
(Level 1) | (Level 2) | (Level 3) | Total Balance | ||||||||||||
Assets: | |||||||||||||||
Interest rate cap | $ | — | $ | 1 | $ | — | $ | 1 | |||||||
Total assets measured at fair value | $ | — | $ | 1 | $ | — | $ | 1 | |||||||
Liabilities: | |||||||||||||||
Compound embedded derivative with 2013 8.00% Notes | — | — | (1,911 | ) | (1,911 | ) | |||||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the Thermo Loan Agreement | — | — | (242,324 | ) | (242,324 | ) | |||||||||
Total liabilities measured at fair value | $ | — | $ | — | $ | (244,235 | ) | $ | (244,235 | ) |
December 31, 2016 | |||||||||||||||
(Level 1) | (Level 2) | (Level 3) | Total Balance | ||||||||||||
Assets: | |||||||||||||||
Interest rate cap | $ | — | $ | 4 | $ | — | $ | 4 | |||||||
Total assets measured at fair value | $ | — | $ | 4 | $ | — | $ | 4 | |||||||
Liabilities: | |||||||||||||||
Liability for potential stock issuance to Hughes | $ | — | $ | (2,706 | ) | $ | — | $ | (2,706 | ) | |||||
Liability for stock issuance due to legal settlement | — | (389 | ) | — | (389 | ) | |||||||||
Compound embedded derivative with 2013 8.00% Notes | — | — | (26,664 | ) | (26,664 | ) | |||||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the Thermo Loan Agreement | — | — | (254,507 | ) | (254,507 | ) | |||||||||
Total liabilities measured at fair value | $ | — | $ | (3,095 | ) | $ | (281,171 | ) | $ | (284,266 | ) |
Assets
Interest Rate Cap
The fair value of the interest rate cap is determined using observable pricing inputs including benchmark yields, reported trades, and broker/dealer quotes at the reporting date. See Note 4: Derivatives for further discussion.
Liabilities
Liability for potential stock issuance to Hughes
As described in Note 6: Commitments and Contingencies, the Company agreed to provide downside protection after the issuance of shares of common stock to Hughes in lieu of cash for contract payments in June 2015. This feature required the Company to issue to Hughes additional shares of common stock equal to the difference, if any, between the initial consideration of $15.5 million and the total amount of gross proceeds Hughes received from the sale of any shares plus the market value of any shares still held by Hughes as of the close of trading on June 30, 2017. In April 2017, Hughes sold all remaining shares of Globalstar common stock and the Company was not required to issue additional shares. Prior to settlement, this liability was recorded on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheet in accrued expenses and was marked-to-market at each balance sheet date. The value of this option was calculated using a Black-Scholes pricing model. The Company recorded gains and losses resulting from changes in the value of this liability in its condensed consolidated statement of operations. This liability is no longer outstanding.
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Liability for future stock issuance due to legal settlement
As described in Note 6: Commitments and Contingencies, the Company settled litigation related to its Brazilian subsidiary in October 2016 through the payment of Globalstar common stock. In connection with this settlement, the Company agreed to provide downside protection for the difference between the total settlement amount and the total amount of gross proceeds the counterparty receives from the sale of these shares. An estimate of $0.4 million for this liability was recorded in accrued expenses in the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2016. In March 2017, the Company settled this liability through the final payment of approximately 0.3 million shares of Globalstar common stock.
Derivative Liabilities
The Company has two derivative liabilities classified as Level 3. The Company marks-to-market these liabilities at each reporting date, or more frequently as deemed necessary, with the changes in fair value recognized in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations. See Note 4: Derivatives for further discussion.
The significant quantitative Level 3 inputs utilized in the valuation models are shown in the tables below:
September 30, 2017 | |||||||||||||||
Stock Price Volatility | Risk-Free Interest Rate | Note Conversion Price | Discount Rate | Market Price of Common Stock | |||||||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the 2013 8.00% Notes | 70% | 1.2 | % | $ | 0.73 | 26 | % | $ | 1.63 | ||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the Thermo Loan Agreement | 40% - 85% | 2.0 | % | $ | 0.73 | 26 | % | $ | 1.63 |
December 31, 2016 | |||||||||||||||
Stock Price Volatility | Risk-Free Interest Rate | Note Conversion Price | Discount Rate | Market Price of Common Stock | |||||||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the 2013 8.00% Notes | 100% - 110% | 1.0 | % | $ | 0.73 | 25 | % | $ | 1.58 | ||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the Thermo Loan Agreement | 40% - 110% | 2.2 | % | $ | 0.73 | 25 | % | $ | 1.58 |
Fluctuation in the Company’s stock price is the primary driver for the changes in the derivative valuations during each reporting period. As the stock price increases away from the current conversion price for each of the related derivative instruments, the value to the holder of the instrument generally increases, thereby increasing the liability on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets. These valuations are sensitive to the weighting applied to each of the simulated values. Additionally, stock price volatility is one of the significant unobservable inputs used in the fair value measurement of each of the Company’s derivative instruments. The simulated fair value of these liabilities is sensitive to changes in the expected volatility of the Company's stock price. Decreases in expected volatility would generally result in a lower fair value measurement.
Probability of a change of control is another significant unobservable input used in the fair value measurement of the Company’s derivative instruments. Subject to certain restrictions in each indenture, the Company’s debt instruments contain certain provisions whereby holders may require the Company to purchase all or any portion of the convertible debt instrument upon a change of control. A change of control will occur upon certain changes in the ownership of the Company or certain events relating to the trading of the Company’s common stock. The simulated fair value of the derivative liabilities above is sensitive to changes in the assumed probabilities of a change of control. Decreases in the assumed probability of a change of control would generally result in a lower fair value measurement.
In addition to the inputs described above, the valuation model used to calculate the fair value measurement of the compound embedded derivatives within the Company’s 2013 8.00% Notes and Thermo Loan Agreement included the following inputs and features: payment in kind interest payments, make whole premiums, a 40-day stock issuance settlement period upon conversion, estimated maturity date, and the principal balance of each loan at the balance sheet date. There are also certain put and call features within the 2013 8.00% Notes that impact the valuation model. The trading activity in the market provides the Company with additional valuation support. The Company uses a weight factor to calculate the fair value of the embedded derivatives to align
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the fair value produced from the Monte Carlo simulation model with the market value of the 2013 8.00% Notes. Due to the similarities of the debt instruments, the Company applies a similar weight to the embedded derivative in the Thermo Loan Agreement. These valuations are sensitive to the weighting applied to each of the simulated values.
The following table presents a rollforward for all liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) (in thousands):
Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine months ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||
2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||||||
Balance at beginning of period | $ | (355,075 | ) | $ | (200,482 | ) | $ | (281,171 | ) | $ | (239,642 | ) | |||
Derivative adjustment related to conversions | 32,000 | — | 32,000 | — | |||||||||||
Unrealized gain (loss), included in derivative gain (loss) | 78,840 | 10,982 | 4,936 | 50,142 | |||||||||||
Balance at end of period | $ | (244,235 | ) | $ | (189,500 | ) | $ | (244,235 | ) | $ | (189,500 | ) |
Nonrecurring Fair Value Measurements
The Company follows the authoritative guidance regarding non-financial assets and liabilities that are remeasured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis. On August 24, 2017, a holder of $16.0 million principal amount of its 2013 8.00% Notes converted the notes into shares of the Company's common stock. See further discussion in Note 3: Long-Term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements. As a result of this conversion, the Company wrote off a portion of the compound embedded derivative with the 2013 8.00% Notes based on the value of the derivative on the conversion date. As of the date of conversion, the fair value of the compound embedded derivative with the 2013 8.00% Notes was $34.7 million. The significant quantitative Level 3 inputs utilized in the valuation models as of the conversion date are shown in the table below:
August 24, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||
Stock Price Volatility | Risk-Free Interest Rate | Note Conversion Price | Discount Rate | Market Price of Common Stock | ||||||||||||
Compound embedded derivative with the 2013 8.00% Notes | 65 | % | 1.1 | % | $ | 0.73 | 26 | % | $ | 2.03 |
See further discussion above and in Note 4: Derivatives for other valuation inputs used in the valuation model of the 2013 8.00% Notes and the impact these inputs have on the fair value measurement.
Fair Value of Debt Instruments
The Company believes it is not practicable to determine the fair value of the Facility Agreement without incurring significant additional costs. Unlike typical long-term debt, interest rates and other terms for the Facility Agreement are not readily available and generally involve a variety of factors, including due diligence by the debt holders. The following table sets forth the carrying values and estimated fair values of the Company's other debt instruments, which are classified as Level 3 financial instruments (in thousands):
September 30, 2017 | December 31, 2016 | ||||||||||||||
Carrying Value | Estimated Fair Value | Carrying Value | Estimated Fair Value | ||||||||||||
Thermo Loan Agreement | $ | 75,671 | $ | 54,118 | $ | 64,347 | $ | 47,874 | |||||||
2013 8.00% Notes | 1,333 | 1,234 | 14,572 | 14,350 |
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6. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Contractual Obligations - Next-Generation Gateways and Other Ground Facilities
As of September 30, 2017, the Company had purchase commitments with Thales, Hughes and Ericsson related to the procurement, deployment and maintenance of the second-generation network. The Company is obligated to make payments under these purchase commitments totaling approximately $0.6 million, which were accrued on its condensed consolidated balance sheet in accrued expenses as of September 30, 2017.
Hughes designed, supplied and implemented the Radio Access Network ("RAN") ground network equipment and software upgrades for installation at a number of the Company’s gateways. Hughes also provided the satellite interface chips to be used in various second-generation Globalstar devices. Ericsson developed, implemented and installed the Company's ground interface, or core network system, at certain of the Company's gateways. The second-generation Ericsson core links the Hughes RANs to the public-switched telephone network (“PSTN”), cellular networks and Internet. In December 2016, the Company formally accepted all contract deliverables under the core contracts for both Hughes and Ericsson necessary to deploy its second-generation ground infrastructure. The Company intends to complete certain add-ons outside of the scope of the core contracts, which include certain punch list items with Ericsson and the installation of second-generation RANs at certain additional gateways.
In April 2015, Hughes exercised an option to be paid in shares of the Company's common stock (at a price 7% below market) in lieu of cash for certain of its remaining contract payments, totaling approximately $15.5 million. In June 2015, the Company issued 7.4 million shares of freely tradable common stock at the 7% discount pursuant to this option. In the April 2015 agreement (as amended), the Company agreed to provide downside protection through June 30, 2017. This feature required that the Company issue additional shares of common stock equal to the difference, if any, between the initial consideration of $15.5 million and the total amount of gross proceeds Hughes received from the sale of any shares plus the market value of any shares still held by Hughes as of the close of trading on June 30, 2017. In April 2017, Hughes sold all remaining shares of Globalstar common stock. The Company was not required to issue additional shares. See Note 5: Fair Value Measurements for further discussion of the fair value of this liability.
Arbitration
On June 3, 2011, Globalstar filed a demand for arbitration against Thales before the American Arbitration Association to enforce certain rights to order additional satellites under the 2009 Contract. The Company did not include within its demand any claims that it had against Thales for work previously performed under the contract to design, manufacture and timely deliver the first 25 second-generation satellites. On May 10, 2012, the arbitration tribunal issued its award in which it determined that the Company had terminated the 2009 Contract "for convenience" and had materially breached the contract by failing to pay to Thales the €51.3 million in termination charges required under the contract. The tribunal additionally determined that absent further agreement between the parties, Thales had no further obligation to manufacture or deliver satellites under Phase 3 of the 2009 Contract. Based on these determinations, the tribunal directed the Company to pay Thales approximately €53 million in termination charges, plus interest by June 9, 2012. On May 23, 2012, Thales commenced an action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by filing a petition to confirm the arbitration award (the “New York Proceeding”). Thales and the Company entered into a tolling agreement as of June 13, 2013, under which Thales dismissed the New York Proceeding without prejudice. The tolling agreement has expired. Thales may refile the petition at a later date and pursue the confirmation of the arbitration award, which the Company would oppose. Should Thales be successful in confirming the arbitration award, this would have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.
On June 24, 2012, the Company and Thales agreed to settle their prior commercial disputes, including those disputes that were the subject of the arbitration award. In order to effectuate this settlement, the Company and Thales entered into a Release Agreement, a Settlement Agreement and a Submission Agreement. Under the terms of the Release Agreement, Thales agreed unconditionally and irrevocably to release and forever discharge the Company from any and all claims and obligations (with the exception of those items payable under the Settlement Agreement or in connection with a new contract for the purchase of any additional second-generation satellites), including, without limitation, a full release from paying €35.6 million of the termination charges awarded in the arbitration together with all interest on the award amount effective upon the earlier of December 31, 2012, and the effective date of the financing for the purchase of any additional second-generation satellites. Under the terms of the Release Agreement, the Company agreed unconditionally and irrevocably to release and forever discharge Thales from any and all claims (with limited exceptions), including, without limitation, claims related to Thales’ work under the 2009 satellite construction contract, including any obligation to pay liquidated damages, effective upon the earlier of December 31, 2012, and the effective date of the financing for the purchase of any additional second-generation satellites. In connection with the Release Agreement and the Settlement Agreement, the Company recorded a contract termination charge of approximately €17.5 million which is recorded in the
16
Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016. The releases became effective on December 31, 2012.
Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the Company agreed to pay €17.5 million to Thales, representing one-third of the termination charges awarded to Thales in the arbitration, subject to certain conditions, on the later of the effective date of the new contract for the purchase of any additional second-generation satellites and the effective date of the financing for the purchase of these satellites. As of September 30, 2017, this condition had not been satisfied. Because the effective date of the new contract for the purchase of additional second-generation satellites did not occur on or prior to February 28, 2013, any party may terminate the Settlement Agreement. If any party terminates the Settlement Agreement, all parties’ rights and obligations under the Settlement Agreement shall terminate. The Release Agreement is a separate and independent agreement from the Settlement Agreement and provides that it supersedes all prior understandings, commitments and representations between the parties with respect to the subject matter thereof; therefore it would survive any termination of the Settlement Agreement. As of September 30, 2017, no party had terminated the Settlement Agreement.
Litigation
Due to the nature of the Company's business, the Company is involved, from time to time, in various litigation matters or subject to disputes or routine claims regarding its business activities. Legal costs related to these matters are expensed as incurred. In 2016, the Company settled litigation incurred on behalf of the Company's Brazilian subsidiary. The Company paid the total settlement of 4.5 million reais, or $1.4 million, by issuing approximately 1.3 million shares of Globalstar common stock in October 2016. The Company agreed to provide downside protection for the difference between the total settlement amount of 4.5 million reais and the total gross proceeds received by the third party upon sale of these shares. In March 2017, the Company paid 0.3 million shares of Globalstar common stock related to this downside protection, valued at 1.4 million reais, or $0.5 million.
In management's opinion, there is no pending litigation, dispute or claim, other than those described in this report, which could be expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.
7. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Payables to Thermo and other affiliates related to normal purchase transactions were $0.4 million and $0.3 million as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively.
Transactions with Thermo
General and administrative expenses are related to non-cash expenses and those expenses incurred by Thermo on behalf of the Company which are charged to the Company. Non-cash expenses, which the Company accounts for as a contribution to capital, relate to services provided by two executive officers of Thermo (who are also directors of the Company) and receive no cash compensation from the Company. The Thermo expense charges are based on actual amounts (with no mark-up) incurred or upon allocated employee time. Those expenses charged to the Company were $0.2 million during each of the three months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 and $0.6 million and $0.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively.
As of September 30, 2017, the principal amount outstanding under the Loan Agreement with Thermo was $102.9 million, and the fair value of the compound embedded derivative liability associated with the Loan Agreement was $242.3 million. During the three months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, interest accrued on the Loan Agreement was approximately $3.1 million and $2.7 million, respectively. During the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, interest accrued on the Loan Agreement was approximately and $8.9 million and $7.9 million, respectively.
In May 2017, Thermo exercised all remaining warrants to purchase approximately 24.6 million shares issued under the Contingent Equity Agreement for a purchase price of $0.2 million.
In June 2017, the Company and Thermo entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement in connection with the amendment and restatement of the Company's Facility Agreement. Thermo purchased 17.8 million shares of common stock for $33.0 million at a purchase price of $1.85, which represented a 10% discount to the closing price of the Company's common stock on June 29, 2017.
In October 2017, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement relating to the sale of its common stock at a public offering. Thermo participated in the stock offering and purchased a total of 27.6 million shares of common stock at a purchase price of $43.3 million.
17
The Facility Agreement requires Thermo to maintain minimum and maximum ownership levels in the Company's common stock. Thermo may convert shares of nonvoting common stock into shares of voting common stock as needed to comply with these ownership limitations. In October 2017, Thermo converted 134.0 million shares of the Company's nonvoting common stock into 134.0 million shares of voting common stock.
In 2013, the Company's Board of Directors formed a special committee consisting solely of independent directors of the Company, represented by independent legal counsel. This special committee serves as an independent board to review and approve certain transactions between the Company and Thermo.
See Note 3: Long-Term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements for further discussion of the Company's debt and financing transactions with Thermo.
8. EARNINGS (LOSS) PER SHARE
Basic earnings (loss) per share are computed based on the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. Common stock equivalents are included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share only when the effect of their inclusion would be dilutive.
The following table sets forth the calculation of basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share for the periods indicated (in thousands):
Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||
2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 52,406 | $ | (2,577 | ) | $ | (66,489 | ) | $ | (15,425 | ) | ||||
Effect of dilutive securities: | |||||||||||||||
2013 8.00% Notes | 388 | 550 | 1,470 | 1,625 | |||||||||||
Thermo Loan Agreement | 2,520 | 2,453 | 7,450 | 7,211 | |||||||||||
Income (loss) to common stockholders plus assumed conversions | $ | 55,314 | $ | 426 | $ | (57,569 | ) | $ | (6,589 | ) | |||||
Weighted average common shares outstanding: | |||||||||||||||
Basic shares outstanding | 1,169,993 | 1,080,313 | 1,137,854 | 1,056,993 | |||||||||||
Incremental shares from assumed exercises, conversions and other issuances: | |||||||||||||||
Stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units and ESPP | 7,364 | — | — | — | |||||||||||
2013 8.00% Notes | 2,157 | — | — | — | |||||||||||
Thermo Loan Agreement | 166,391 | — | — | — | |||||||||||
Diluted shares outstanding | 1,345,905 | 1,080,313 | 1,137,854 | 1,056,993 | |||||||||||
Net income (loss) per common share: | |||||||||||||||
Basic | $ | 0.04 | $ | 0.00 | $ | (0.06 | ) | $ | (0.01 | ) | |||||
Diluted | 0.04 | 0.00 | (0.06 | ) | (0.01 | ) |
For the three months ended September 30, 2016, 195.8 million shares of potential common stock were excluded from diluted shares outstanding because the effects of assuming issuance of these potentially dilutive securities would be anti-dilutive. For the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, 171.5 million and 199.7 million shares, respectively, of potential common stock were excluded from diluted shares outstanding because the effects of assuming issuance of these potentially dilutive securities would be anti-dilutive.
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9. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING FINANCIAL INFORMATION
In connection with the Company’s issuance of the 2013 8.00% Notes, certain of the Company’s 100% owned domestic subsidiaries (the “Guarantor Subsidiaries”), fully, unconditionally, jointly, and severally guaranteed the payment obligations under the 2013 8.00% Notes. The following financial information sets forth, on a consolidating basis, the balance sheets, statements of operations and statements of cash flows for Globalstar, Inc. (the “Parent Company”), for the Guarantor Subsidiaries and for the Parent Company’s other subsidiaries (the “Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries”).
The condensed consolidating financial information has been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations for condensed financial information and does not include disclosures included in annual financial statements. The principal eliminating entries eliminate investments in subsidiaries, intercompany balances and intercompany revenues and expenses.
Globalstar, Inc.
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Operations
Three Months Ended September 30, 2017
(Unaudited)
Parent Company | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Non- Guarantor Subsidiaries | Eliminations | Consolidated | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
Revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||
Service revenues | $ | 20,018 | $ | 10,163 | $ | 14,678 | $ | (18,790 | ) | $ | 26,069 | ||||||||
Subscriber equipment sales | 55 | 3,524 | 1,762 | (952 | ) | 4,389 | |||||||||||||
Total revenue | 20,073 | 13,687 | 16,440 | (19,742 | ) | 30,458 | |||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||
Cost of services (exclusive of depreciation, amortization, and accretion shown separately below) | 6,460 | 1,523 | 2,819 | (1,487 | ) | 9,315 | |||||||||||||
Cost of subscriber equipment sales | 8 | 2,494 | 1,354 | (951 | ) | 2,905 | |||||||||||||
Marketing, general and administrative | 5,756 | 1,268 | 19,911 | (17,319 | ) | 9,616 | |||||||||||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 19,250 | 116 | 49 | — | 19,415 | ||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 31,474 | 5,401 | 24,133 | (19,757 | ) | 41,251 | |||||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations | (11,401 | ) | 8,286 | (7,693 | ) | 15 | (10,793 | ) | |||||||||||
Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||||||||
Loss on extinguishment of debt | (6,306 | ) | — | — | — | (6,306 | ) | ||||||||||||
Interest income and expense, net of amounts capitalized | (8,895 | ) | (5 | ) | (51 | ) | (3 | ) | (8,954 | ) | |||||||||
Derivative gain | 78,840 | — | — | — | 78,840 | ||||||||||||||
Equity in subsidiary earnings (loss) | 754 | (3,202 | ) | — | 2,448 | — | |||||||||||||
Other | (586 | ) | (182 | ) | 471 | (17 | ) | (314 | ) | ||||||||||
Total other income (expense) | 63,807 | (3,389 | ) | 420 | 2,428 | 63,266 | |||||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes | 52,406 | 4,897 | (7,273 | ) | 2,443 | 52,473 | |||||||||||||
Income tax expense | — | 5 | 62 | — | 67 | ||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 52,406 | $ | 4,892 | $ | (7,335 | ) | $ | 2,443 | $ | 52,406 | ||||||||
Comprehensive income (loss) | $ | 52,406 | $ | 4,892 | $ | (8,243 | ) | $ | 2,449 | $ | 51,504 |
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Globalstar, Inc.
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Operations
Three Months Ended September 30, 2016
(Unaudited)
Parent Company | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Non- Guarantor Subsidiaries | Eliminations | Consolidated | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
Revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||
Service revenues | $ | 23,996 | $ | 7,529 | $ | 11,501 | $ | (21,074 | ) | $ | 21,952 | ||||||||
Subscriber equipment sales | 84 | 2,833 | 1,559 | (884 | ) | 3,592 | |||||||||||||
Total revenue | 24,080 | 10,362 | 13,060 | (21,958 | ) | 25,544 | |||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||
Cost of services (exclusive of depreciation, amortization, and accretion shown separately below) | 5,178 | 2,538 | 8,442 | (7,785 | ) | 8,373 | |||||||||||||
Cost of subscriber equipment sales | (18 | ) | 2,108 | 1,203 | (882 | ) | 2,411 | ||||||||||||
Marketing, general and administrative | 5,229 | 1,504 | 15,497 | (12,153 | ) | 10,077 | |||||||||||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 19,083 | 194 | 291 | (122 | ) | 19,446 | |||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 29,472 | 6,344 | 25,433 | (20,942 | ) | 40,307 | |||||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations | (5,392 | ) | 4,018 | (12,373 | ) | (1,016 | ) | (14,763 | ) | ||||||||||
Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||||||||
Gain on equity issuance | 4,272 | — | — | — | 4,272 | ||||||||||||||
Interest income and expense, net of amounts capitalized | (8,894 | ) | (9 | ) | 36 | 1 | (8,866 | ) | |||||||||||
Derivative gain | 10,982 | — | — | — | 10,982 | ||||||||||||||
Equity in subsidiary earnings (loss) | (2,743 | ) | (12,794 | ) | — | 15,537 | — | ||||||||||||
Other | (802 | ) | (80 | ) | 284 | 93 | (505 | ) | |||||||||||
Total other income (expense) | 2,815 | (12,883 | ) | 320 | 15,631 | 5,883 | |||||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes | (2,577 | ) | (8,865 | ) | (12,053 | ) | 14,615 | (8,880 | ) | ||||||||||
Income tax benefit | — | — | (6,303 | ) | — | (6,303 | ) | ||||||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | (2,577 | ) | $ | (8,865 | ) | $ | (5,750 | ) | $ | 14,615 | $ | (2,577 | ) | |||||
Comprehensive income (loss) | $ | (2,577 | ) | $ | (8,865 | ) | $ | (5,659 | ) | $ | 14,608 | $ | (2,493 | ) |
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Globalstar, Inc.
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Operations
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017
(Unaudited)
Parent Company | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Non- Guarantor Subsidiaries | Eliminations | Consolidated | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
Revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||
Service revenues | $ | 56,315 | $ | 29,365 | $ | 38,775 | $ | (52,604 | ) | $ | 71,851 | ||||||||
Subscriber equipment sales | 182 | 9,517 | 4,603 | (2,920 | ) | 11,382 | |||||||||||||
Total revenue | 56,497 | 38,882 | 43,378 | (55,524 | ) | 83,233 | |||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||
Cost of services (exclusive of depreciation, amortization, and accretion shown separately below) | 19,003 | 4,351 | 7,966 | (3,995 | ) | 27,325 | |||||||||||||
Cost of subscriber equipment sales | 74 | 7,317 | 3,306 | (2,918 | ) | 7,779 | |||||||||||||
Marketing, general and administrative | 16,727 | 3,384 | 57,176 | (48,637 | ) | 28,650 | |||||||||||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 57,302 | 518 | 164 | — | 57,984 | ||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 93,106 | 15,570 | 68,612 | (55,550 | ) | 121,738 | |||||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations | (36,609 | ) | 23,312 | (25,234 | ) | 26 | (38,505 | ) | |||||||||||
Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||||||||
Loss on extinguishment of debt | (6,306 | ) | — | — | — | (6,306 | ) | ||||||||||||
Gain (loss) on equity issuance | 2,705 | — | (35 | ) | — | 2,670 | |||||||||||||
Interest income and expense, net of amounts capitalized | (26,479 | ) | (6 | ) | (152 | ) | 5 | (26,632 | ) | ||||||||||
Derivative gain | 4,933 | — | — | — | 4,933 | ||||||||||||||
Equity in subsidiary earnings (loss) | (2,461 | ) | (10,712 | ) | — | 13,173 | — | ||||||||||||
Other | (2,272 | ) | (619 | ) | 475 | (24 | ) | (2,440 | ) | ||||||||||
Total other income (expense) | (29,880 | ) | (11,337 | ) | 288 | 13,154 | (27,775 | ) | |||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes | (66,489 | ) | 11,975 | (24,946 | ) | 13,180 | (66,280 | ) | |||||||||||
Income tax expense | — | 14 | 195 | — | 209 | ||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | (66,489 | ) | $ | 11,961 | $ | (25,141 | ) | $ | 13,180 | $ | (66,489 | ) | ||||||
Comprehensive income (loss) | $ | (66,489 | ) | $ | 11,961 | $ | (26,905 | ) | $ | 13,177 | $ | (68,256 | ) |
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Globalstar, Inc.
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Operations
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016
(Unaudited)
Parent Company | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Non- Guarantor Subsidiaries | Eliminations | Consolidated | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
Revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||
Service revenues | $ | 51,878 | $ | 25,887 | $ | 31,615 | $ | (47,709 | ) | $ | 61,671 | ||||||||
Subscriber equipment sales | 508 | 7,299 | 5,232 | (2,244 | ) | 10,795 | |||||||||||||
Total revenue | 52,386 | 33,186 | 36,847 | (49,953 | ) | 72,466 | |||||||||||||
Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||
Cost of services (exclusive of depreciation, amortization, and accretion shown separately below) | 15,126 | 4,608 | 14,039 | (9,872 | ) | 23,901 | |||||||||||||
Cost of subscriber equipment sales | 169 | 5,648 | 3,896 | (2,238 | ) | 7,475 | |||||||||||||
Marketing, general and administrative | 15,833 | 3,358 | 48,561 | (37,615 | ) | 30,137 | |||||||||||||
Depreciation, amortization and accretion | 56,706 | 620 | 860 | (361 | ) | 57,825 | |||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 87,834 | 14,234 | 67,356 | (50,086 | ) | 119,338 | |||||||||||||
Income (loss) from operations | (35,448 | ) | 18,952 | (30,509 | ) | 133 | (46,872 | ) | |||||||||||
Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||||||||
Gain on equity issuance | 2,349 | — | — | — | 2,349 | ||||||||||||||
Interest income and expense, net of amounts capitalized | (26,875 | ) | (21 | ) | (116 | ) | (8 | ) | (27,020 | ) | |||||||||
Derivative gain | 50,137 | — | — | — | 50,137 | ||||||||||||||
Equity in subsidiary earnings (loss) | (4,170 | ) | (10,715 | ) | — | 14,885 | — | ||||||||||||
Other | (1,418 | ) | (192 | ) | 888 | 141 | (581 | ) | |||||||||||
Total other income (expense) | 20,023 | (10,928 | ) | 772 | 15,018 | 24,885 | |||||||||||||
Income (loss) before income taxes | (15,425 | ) | 8,024 | (29,737 | ) | 15,151 | (21,987 | ) | |||||||||||
Income tax benefit | — | — | (6,562 | ) | — | (6,562 | ) | ||||||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | (15,425 | ) | $ | 8,024 | $ | (23,175 | ) | $ | 15,151 | $ | (15,425 | ) | ||||||
Comprehensive income (loss) | $ | (15,425 | ) | $ | 8,024 | $ | (24,662 | ) | $ | 15,146 | $ | (16,917 | ) |
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Globalstar, Inc.
Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheet
As of September 30, 2017
(Unaudited)
Parent Company | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Eliminations | Consolidated | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
ASSETS | |||||||||||||||||||
Current assets: | |||||||||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 5,575 | $ | 7,485 | $ | 3,183 | $ | — | $ | 16,243 | |||||||||
Accounts receivable | 6,337 | 7,608 | 3,668 | — | 17,613 | ||||||||||||||
Intercompany receivables | 960,615 | 735,094 | 54,767 | (1,750,476 | ) | — | |||||||||||||
Inventory | 2,195 | 4,684 | 1,625 | — | 8,504 | ||||||||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 2,141 | 2,247 | 1,297 | — | 5,685 | ||||||||||||||
Total current assets | 976,863 | 757,118 | 64,540 | (1,750,476 | ) | 48,045 | |||||||||||||
Property and equipment, net | 992,745 | 3,780 | 4,461 | 5 | 1,000,991 | ||||||||||||||
Restricted cash | 37,984 | — | — | — | 37,984 | ||||||||||||||
Intercompany notes receivable | 6,195 | — | 6,435 | (12,630 | ) | — | |||||||||||||
Investment in subsidiaries | (281,776 | ) | 81,988 | 38,008 | 161,780 | — | |||||||||||||
Intangible and other assets, net | 17,887 | 67 | 2,846 | (12 | ) | 20,788 | |||||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 1,749,898 | $ | 842,953 | $ | 116,290 | $ | (1,601,333 | ) | $ | 1,107,808 | ||||||||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY | |||||||||||||||||||
Current liabilities: | |||||||||||||||||||
Current portion of long-term debt | $ | 94,327 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 94,327 | |||||||||
Accounts payable | 2,069 | 3,209 | 1,004 | — | 6,282 | ||||||||||||||
Accrued contract termination charge | 20,714 | — | — | — | 20,714 | ||||||||||||||
Accrued expenses | 14,582 | 6,420 | 6,887 | — | 27,889 | ||||||||||||||
Derivative liabilities | 1,911 | — | — | — | 1,911 | ||||||||||||||
Intercompany payables | 690,840 | 787,186 | 272,411 | (1,750,437 | ) | — | |||||||||||||
Payables to affiliates | 382 | — | — | — | 382 | ||||||||||||||
Deferred revenue | 1,279 | 24,578 | 7,273 | — | 33,130 | ||||||||||||||
Total current liabilities | 826,104 | 821,393 | 287,575 | (1,750,437 | ) | 184,635 | |||||||||||||
Long-term debt, less current portion | 466,669 | — | — | — | 466,669 | ||||||||||||||
Employee benefit obligations | 4,709 | — | — | — | 4,709 | ||||||||||||||
Intercompany notes payable | 6,436 | — | 6,194 | (12,630 | ) | — | |||||||||||||
Derivative liabilities | 242,324 | — | — | — | 242,324 | ||||||||||||||
Deferred revenue | 5,653 | 441 | 17 | — | 6,111 | ||||||||||||||
Other non-current liabilities | 961 | 325 | 5,032 | — | 6,318 | ||||||||||||||
Total non-current liabilities | 726,752 | 766 | 11,243 | (12,630 | ) | 726,131 | |||||||||||||
Stockholders’ equity (deficit) | 197,042 | 20,794 | (182,528 | ) | 161,734 | 197,042 | |||||||||||||
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | 1,749,898 | $ | 842,953 | $ | 116,290 | $ | (1,601,333 | ) | $ | 1,107,808 |
23
Globalstar, Inc.
Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheet
As of December 31, 2016
(Unaudited)
Parent Company | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries | Eliminations | Consolidated | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
ASSETS | |||||||||||||||||||
Current assets: | |||||||||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 7,259 | $ | 1,327 | $ | 1,644 | $ | — | $ | 10,230 | |||||||||
Accounts receivable | 5,938 | 6,340 | 2,941 | — | 15,219 | ||||||||||||||
Intercompany receivables | 897,691 | 678,707 | 32,040 | (1,608,438 | ) | — | |||||||||||||
Inventory | 2,266 | 4,354 | 1,473 | — | 8,093 | ||||||||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 1,570 | 955 | 2,063 | — | 4,588 | ||||||||||||||
Total current assets | 914,724 | 691,683 | 40,161 | (1,608,438 | ) | 38,130 | |||||||||||||
Property and equipment, net | 1,031,623 | 3,708 | 4,384 | 4 | 1,039,719 | ||||||||||||||
Restricted cash | 37,983 | — | — | — | 37,983 | ||||||||||||||
Intercompany notes receivable | 8,901 | — | 6,436 | (15,337 | ) | — | |||||||||||||
Investment in subsidiaries | (280,557 | ) | 73,029 | 36,146 | 171,382 | — | |||||||||||||
Intangible and other assets, net | 15,259 | 128 | 1,407 | (12 | ) | 16,782 | |||||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 1,727,933 | $ | 768,548 | $ | 88,534 | $ | (1,452,401 | ) | $ | 1,132,614 | ||||||||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY | |||||||||||||||||||
Current liabilities: | |||||||||||||||||||
Current portion of long-term debt | $ | 75,755 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 75,755 | |||||||||
Debt restructuring fees | 20,795 | — | — | — | 20,795 | ||||||||||||||
Accounts payable | 2,624 | 3,490 | 1,385 | — | 7,499 | ||||||||||||||
Accrued contract termination charge | 18,451 | — | — | — | 18,451 | ||||||||||||||
Accrued expenses | 10,573 | 5,884 | 6,705 | — | 23,162 | ||||||||||||||
Intercompany payables | 636,336 | 750,084 | 221,980 | (1,608,400 | ) | — | |||||||||||||
Payables to affiliates | 309 | — | — | — | 309 | ||||||||||||||
Deferred revenue | 1,576 | 19,304 | 5,599 | — | 26,479 | ||||||||||||||
Total current liabilities | 766,419 | 778,762 | 235,669 | (1,608,400 | ) | 172,450 | |||||||||||||
Long-term debt, less current portion | 500,524 | — | — | — | 500,524 | ||||||||||||||
Employee benefit obligations | 4,883 | — | — | — | 4,883 | ||||||||||||||
Intercompany notes payable | 6,435 | — | 8,901 | (15,336 | ) | — | |||||||||||||
Derivative liabilities | 281,171 | — | — | — | 281,171 | ||||||||||||||
Deferred revenue | 5,567 | 299 | 11 | — | 5,877 | ||||||||||||||
Other non-current liabilities | 1,115 | 325 | 4,450 | — | 5,890 | ||||||||||||||
Total non-current liabilities | 799,695 | 624 | 13,362 | (15,336 | ) | 798,345 | |||||||||||||
Stockholders’ equity (deficit) | 161,819 | (10,838 | ) | (160,497 | ) | 171,335 | 161,819 | ||||||||||||
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | 1,727,933 | $ | 768,548 | $ | 88,534 | $ | (1,452,401 | ) | $ | 1,132,614 |
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Globalstar, Inc.
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Cash Flows
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017
(Unaudited)
Parent Company | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Non- Guarantor Subsidiaries | Eliminations | Consolidated | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
Cash flows provided by operating activities | $ | 7,884 | $ | 6,721 | $ | 2,023 | $ | — | $ | 16,628 | |||||||||
Cash flows used in investing activities: | |||||||||||||||||||
Second-generation network costs (including interest) | (6,812 | ) | — | (50 | ) | — | (6,862 | ) | |||||||||||
Property and equipment additions | (3,395 | ) | (563 | ) | (75 | ) | — | (4,033 | ) | ||||||||||
Purchase of intangible assets | (2,099 | ) | — | (575 | ) | — | (2,674 | ) | |||||||||||
Net cash used in investing activities | (12,306 | ) | (563 | ) | (700 | ) | — | (13,569 | ) | ||||||||||
Cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities: | |||||||||||||||||||
Principal payments of the Facility Agreement | (21,695 | ) | — | — | — | (21,695 | ) | ||||||||||||
Proceeds from Thermo Common Stock Purchase Agreement | 33,000 | — | — | — | 33,000 | ||||||||||||||
Payment of debt restructuring fee | (20,795 | ) | — | — | — | (20,795 | ) | ||||||||||||
Payments for debt and equity issuance costs | (413 | ) | — | — | — | (413 | ) | ||||||||||||
Proceeds from issuance of stock to Terrapin | 12,000 | — | — | — | 12,000 | ||||||||||||||
Proceeds from issuance of common stock and exercise of options and warrants | 642 | — | — | — | 642 | ||||||||||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 2,739 | — | — | — | 2,739 | ||||||||||||||
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash | — | — | 216 | — | 216 | ||||||||||||||
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | (1,683 | ) | 6,158 | 1,539 | — | 6,014 | |||||||||||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period | 45,242 | 1,327 | 1,644 | — | 48,213 | ||||||||||||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period | $ | 43,559 | $ | 7,485 | $ | 3,183 | $ | — | $ | 54,227 |
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Globalstar, Inc.
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Cash Flows
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016
(Unaudited)
Parent Company | Guarantor Subsidiaries | Non- Guarantor Subsidiaries | Eliminations | Consolidated | |||||||||||||||
(In thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||
Cash flows provided by operating activities | $ | 4,785 | $ | 1,618 | $ | 1,301 | $ | — | $ | 7,704 | |||||||||
Cash flows used in investing activities: | |||||||||||||||||||
Second-generation network costs (including interest) | (8,272 | ) | — | (200 | ) | — | (8,472 | ) | |||||||||||
Property and equipment additions | (7,477 | ) | — | (169 | ) | — | (7,646 | ) | |||||||||||
Purchase of intangible assets | (1,327 | ) | — | — | — | (1,327 | ) | ||||||||||||
Net cash used in investing activities | (17,076 | ) | — | (369 | ) | — | (17,445 | ) | |||||||||||
Cash flows provided by (used in) financing activities: | |||||||||||||||||||
Principal payments of the Facility Agreement | (16,418 | ) | — | — | — | (16,418 | ) | ||||||||||||
Proceeds from issuance of stock to Terrapin | 28,500 | — | — | — | 28,500 | ||||||||||||||
Proceeds from issuance of common stock and exercise of options and warrants | 3,001 | — | — | — | 3,001 | ||||||||||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 15,083 | — | — | — | 15,083 | ||||||||||||||
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash | — | — | 133 | — | 133 | ||||||||||||||
Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | 2,792 | 1,618 | 1,065 | — | 5,475 | ||||||||||||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period | 41,448 | 719 | 3,227 | — | 45,394 | ||||||||||||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period | $ | 44,240 | $ | 2,337 | $ | 4,292 | $ | — | $ | 50,869 |
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Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Forward-Looking Statements.
Certain statements contained in or incorporated by reference into this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (the "Report"), other than purely historical information, including, but not limited to, estimates, projections, statements relating to our business plans, objectives and expected operating results, and the assumptions upon which those statements are based, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "project," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, such as the statements regarding our ability to develop and expand our business (including our ability to monetize our spectrum rights), our anticipated capital spending, our ability to manage costs, our ability to exploit and respond to technological innovation, the effects of laws and regulations (including tax laws and regulations) and legal and regulatory changes (including regulation related to the use of our spectrum), the opportunities for strategic business combinations and the effects of consolidation in our industry on us and our competitors, our anticipated future revenues, our anticipated financial resources, our expectations about the future operational performance of our satellites (including their projected operational lives), the expected strength of and growth prospects for our existing customers and the markets that we serve, commercial acceptance of new products, problems relating to the ground-based facilities operated by us or by independent gateway operators, worldwide economic, geopolitical and business conditions and risks associated with doing business on a global basis and other statements contained in this Report regarding matters that are not historical facts, involve predictions. Risks and uncertainties that could cause or contribute to such differences include, without limitation, those in Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 23, 2017 (the "2016 Annual Report"). We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any of our forward-looking statements after the date of this Report to reflect actual results or future events or circumstances.
New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events or performance. We cannot assure you that the events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. These cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf.
This "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition" should be read in conjunction with the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition" and information included in our 2016 Annual Report.
Overview
Mobile Satellite Services Business
Globalstar, Inc. (“we,” “us” or the “Company”) provides Mobile Satellite Services (“MSS”) including voice and data communications services globally via satellite. By providing wireless communications services in areas not served or underserved by terrestrial wireless and wireline networks and in circumstances where terrestrial networks are not operational due to natural or man-made disasters, we seek to meet our customers' increasing desire for connectivity. We offer voice and data communication services over our network of in-orbit satellites and our active ground stations (“gateways”), which we refer to collectively as the Globalstar System.
We currently provide the following communications services via satellite. These services are available only with equipment designed to work on our network:
• | two-way voice communication and data transmissions ("Duplex") using mobile or fixed devices; and |
• | one-way data transmissions ("Simplex") using a mobile or fixed device that transmits its location and other information to a central monitoring station, including certain SPOT and Simplex products. |
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Our constellation of Low Earth Orbit ("LEO") satellites includes second-generation satellites, which were launched and placed into service during the years 2010 through 2013 after a $1.1 billion investment, and certain first-generation satellites. We designed our second-generation satellites to last twice as long in space, have 40% greater capacity and be built at a significantly lower cost compared to our first-generation satellites. We achieved this longer life by increasing the solar array and battery capacity, using a larger fuel tank, adding redundancy for key satellite equipment, and improving radiation specifications and additional lot level testing for all susceptible electronic components, in order to account for the accumulated dosage of radiation encountered during a 15-year mission at the operational altitude of the satellites. The second-generation satellites use passive S-band antennas on the body of the spacecraft providing additional shielding for the active amplifiers which are located inside the spacecraft, unlike the first-generation amplifiers that were located on the outside as part of the active antenna array. Each satellite has a high degree of on-board subsystem redundancy, an on-board fault detection system and isolation and recovery for safe and quick risk mitigation.
Due to the specific design of the Globalstar System (and based on customer input), we believe that our voice quality is the best among our peer group. We define a successful level of service for our customers by their ability to make uninterrupted calls of average duration for a system-wide average number of minutes per month. Our goal is to provide service levels and call success rates equal to or better than our MSS competitors so our products and services are attractive to potential customers. We define voice quality as the ability to easily hear, recognize and understand callers with imperceptible delay in the transmission. By this measure, we believe that our system outperforms geostationary (“GEO”) satellites used by some of our competitors. Due to the difference in signal travel distance, GEO satellite signals must travel approximately 42,000 additional nautical miles, which introduces considerable delay and signal degradation to GEO calls. For our competitors using cross-linked satellite architectures, which require multiple inter-satellite connections to complete a call, signal degradation and delay can result in compromised call quality as compared to that experienced over the Globalstar System.
We designed our second-generation ground network, when combined with our second-generation products, to provide our customers with enhanced future services featuring increased data speeds of up to 256 kbps, with initial services up to 72 kbps, as well as increased capacity. The second-generation ground network is an Internet protocol multimedia subsystem ("IMS") based solution providing such industry standard services as voice, Internet, email and short message services ("SMS").
We compete aggressively on price. We offer a range of price-competitive products to the industrial, governmental and consumer markets. We expect to retain our position as a cost-effective, high quality leader in the MSS industry. Our next-generation products under development include Duplex, SPOT and Simplex products, including:
•Sat-Fi
Like the original Sat-Fi, the next-generation Sat-Fi will be designed to allow smartphones, laptops and tablets with Wi-Fi to connect to the Globalstar network for voice and data services outside terrestrial network coverage areas, and is expected to be the first product to operate using our second-generation ground infrastructure resulting in higher speeds, enhanced capacity and improved performance.
•Two-way SPOT
We are designing the next SPOT device with a new keyboard functionality to allow subscribers to send and receive SMS messages along with the traditional tracking and SOS functions to continue to appeal to consumers.
•Simplex
Partnering with existing companies, we are developing IoT-focused Simplex products to connect into existing user bases and accelerate deployment of a Globalstar IoT product suite. We expect the new solar-powered devices will be designed to support larger and more frequent data transmission capabilities to enable a longer field life than existing devices. The new solar-powered devices are also expected to take advantage of our network's ability to support over 10 billion transmissions daily assuming an average message size of 90 characters. We are also developing machine-to-machine ("M2M") products that support two-way communications allowing for both tracking and control of assets in our coverage footprint.
Our satellite communications business, by providing critical mobile communications to our subscribers, serves principally the following markets: recreation and personal; government; public safety and disaster relief; oil and gas; maritime and fishing; natural resources, mining and forestry; construction; utilities; and transportation. Currently, we believe there are billions of people who
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live, work or play in areas not connected by cellular service and over two-thirds of the world's landmass is without reliable connectivity.
Our products and services are sold through a variety of independent agents, dealers and resellers, and IGOs. We also have distribution relationships with a number of "Big Box" and online retailers and other similar distribution channels.
Licensed Spectrum Overview
We have access to a world-wide allocation of radio frequency spectrum through the international radio frequency tables administered by the International Telecommunications Union ("ITU"). In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") has authorized us to operate our first-generation satellites in 25.225 MHz of radio spectrum comprising two blocks of non-contiguous radio frequencies in the 1.6/2.4 GHz band commonly referred to as the "Big LEO" Spectrum Band. We licensed and registered our second-generation satellites in France. In March 2011, we obtained all authorizations necessary from the FCC to operate our domestic gateways with our second-generation satellites.
Terrestrial Authority for Globalstar's Licensed 2.4GHz Spectrum
In December 2016, the FCC unanimously adopted a Report and Order permitting us to provide terrestrial broadband services over 11.5 MHz of our licensed Mobile Satellite Services spectrum at 2483.5 to 2495 MHz, covering a population ("POPs") of approximately 320 million people, representing 3.7 billion MHz POPs. As provided in that Report & Order, we filed applications to modify our existing MSS licenses in April 2017 in order to obtain the terrestrial authorization permitted in the Report & Order. The FCC placed our applications on public notice in May with a comment cycle that ended in July 2017. In August 2017, the FCC granted Globalstar's MSS license modification application and granted Globalstar authority to provide terrestrial broadband services over its satellite spectrum. The FCC modified Globalstar's space station authorization to include a terrestrial low-power network using authorized Big LEO mobile-satellite service spectrum. We will need to comply with certain conditions in order to provide terrestrial broadband service under our MSS licenses, including obtaining FCC certifications for our equipment that will utilize this spectrum authority. We believe our MSS spectrum position provides potential for harmonized terrestrial authority across many international regulatory domains. We are seeking similar approvals in various foreign jurisdictions and have applied for licenses in countries serving 375 million consumers, or approximately 6.2 billion MHz POPs. Additionally, Globalstar is working with regulators in countries representing an aggregate population of another approximately 425 million. We expect this effort to continue for the foreseeable future.
We expect our terrestrial authority will allow future partners to develop high-density dedicated, small cell deployments using the TD-LTE protocol that eliminates the need for paired spectrum. Conventional commercial spectrum allocations must meet minimum population coverage requirements, which effectively prohibits the exclusive use of most carrier spectrum for dedicated small cell. In addition, low frequency carrier spectrum is not physically well suited to high-density small cell topologies, while mmWave spectrum is sub-optimal given range and attenuation limitations. We believe our license in the 2.4 GHz band, holds physical, regulatory, and ecosystem qualities that distinguish us from other current and anticipated allocations, and is well positioned to balance favorable range, capacity and attenuation characteristics.
Performance Indicators
Our management reviews and analyzes several key performance indicators in order to manage our business and assess the quality and potential variability of our earnings and cash flows. These key performance indicators include:
• | total revenue, which is an indicator of our overall business growth; |
• | subscriber growth and churn rate, which are both indicators of the satisfaction of our customers; |
• | average monthly revenue per user, or ARPU, which is an indicator of our pricing and ability to obtain effectively long-term, high-value customers. We calculate ARPU separately for each type of our Duplex, Simplex, SPOT and IGO revenue; |
• | operating income and adjusted EBITDA, both of which are indicators of our financial performance; and |
• | capital expenditures, which are an indicator of future revenue growth potential and cash requirements. |
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Comparison of the Results of Operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016
Revenue
Total revenue increased by $4.9 million, or approximately 19%, to $30.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 from $25.6 million for the same period in 2016. This increase was driven primarily by a $4.1 million increase in service revenue due to a 22% increase in Duplex ARPU and an 11% increase in SPOT ARPU as well as higher revenue generated from engineering service contracts. An increase in subscriber equipment revenue of $0.8 million also contributed to the increase in total revenue.
Total revenue increased by $10.8 million, or approximately 15%, to $83.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 from $72.5 million for the same period in 2016. This increase was driven primarily by a $10.2 million increase in service revenue resulting from increases in both Duplex and SPOT ARPU and higher revenue generated from engineering service contracts. An increase in subscriber equipment revenue of $0.6 million also contributed to the increase in total revenue.
The following table sets forth amounts and percentages of our revenue by type of service (dollars in thousands).
Three Months Ended September 30, 2017 | Three Months Ended September 30, 2016 | Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017 | Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue | % of Total Revenue | Revenue | % of Total Revenue | Revenue | % of Total Revenue | Revenue | % of Total Revenue | ||||||||||||||||||||
Service revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Duplex | $ | 10,576 | 35 | % | $ | 9,303 | 36 | % | $ | 27,496 | 33 | % | $ | 23,730 | 33 | % | |||||||||||
SPOT | 11,248 | 37 | 9,662 | 38 | 32,838 | 40 | 28,252 | 39 | |||||||||||||||||||
Simplex | 2,903 | 10 | 2,294 | 9 | 7,845 | 9 | 7,303 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||
IGO | 260 | 1 | 238 | 1 | 847 | 1 | 654 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
Other | 1,082 | 3 | 455 | 2 | 2,825 | 3 | 1,732 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
Total | $ | 26,069 | 86 | % | $ | 21,952 | 86 | % | $ | 71,851 | 86 | % | $ | 61,671 | 85 | % |
The following table sets forth amounts and percentages of our revenue generated from equipment sales (dollars in thousands).
Three Months Ended September 30, 2017 | Three Months Ended September 30, 2016 | Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017 | Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue | % of Total Revenue | Revenue | % of Total Revenue | Revenue | % of Total Revenue | Revenue | % of Total Revenue | ||||||||||||||||||||
Subscriber equipment sales: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Duplex | $ | 777 | 3 | % | $ | 1,125 | 4 | % | $ | 2,288 | 3 | % | $ | 3,144 | 4 | % | |||||||||||
SPOT | 1,410 | 5 | 1,436 | 6 | 4,461 | 5 | 4,051 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||
Simplex | 2,192 | 6 | 832 | 3 | 4,171 | 5 | 2,837 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||
IGO | 54 | — | 175 | 1 | 523 | 1 | 706 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
Other | (44 | ) | — | 24 | — | (61 | ) | — | 57 | — | |||||||||||||||||
Total | $ | 4,389 | 14 | % | $ | 3,592 | 14 | % | $ | 11,382 | 14 | % | $ | 10,795 | 15 | % |
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The following table sets forth our average number of subscribers and ARPU by type of revenue.
Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||
2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||||||
Average number of subscribers for the period: | |||||||||||||||
Duplex | 72,468 | 77,485 | 73,621 | 77,378 | |||||||||||
SPOT | 289,265 | 276,384 | 285,229 | 271,209 | |||||||||||
Simplex | 314,601 | 298,186 | 309,718 | 301,216 | |||||||||||
IGO | 36,894 | 39,318 | 37,499 | 39,226 | |||||||||||
Other | 1,432 | 2,185 | 1,531 | 2,270 | |||||||||||
Total | 714,660 | 693,558 | 707,598 | 691,299 | |||||||||||
ARPU (monthly): | |||||||||||||||
Duplex | $ | 48.64 | $ | 40.02 | $ | 41.50 | $ | 34.08 | |||||||
SPOT | 12.96 | 11.65 | 12.79 | 11.57 | |||||||||||
Simplex | 3.08 | 2.56 | 2.81 | 2.69 | |||||||||||
IGO | 2.35 | 2.02 | 2.51 | 1.85 |
The numbers reported in the above table are subject to immaterial rounding inherent in calculating averages.
We count "subscribers" based on the number of devices that are subject to agreements that entitle them to use our voice or data communications services rather than the number of persons or entities who own or lease those devices.
Other service revenue includes revenue generated primarily from sources which are not subscriber driven, such as engineering services. Accordingly, we do not present ARPU for other service revenue in the table above. Effective April 1, 2016, we began classifying activation fees with the service revenue to which they relate.
Service Revenue
Duplex service revenue increased 14% and 16% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, compared to the same period in 2016 due to increases in ARPU. ARPU increased 22% for each of the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared to the same periods in 2016, contributing $2.0 million and $5.1 million, respectively. Higher ARPU was due primarily to rate plan changes, increased revenue from prepaid, usage-based plans, and a higher number of revenue-generating subscribers. We increased prices for certain of our legacy rate plans beginning in 2016 to align our rate plans with our service levels and prospective rate plans for future products. Additionally, approximately half of our new subscribers select our prepaid, usage-based plans. These plans generally result in higher service revenue recognized when unused minutes expire on the anniversary date of the customer's contract. Higher revenue from prepaid plans contributed $1.0 million and $2.8 million, respectively, to the total service revenue increases during the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2017. A decrease in average subscribers of 6% and 5% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2016 offset partially the increases in ARPU. These decreases were due to slower activations and more aggressive collections procedures as we more promptly deactivate non-paying subscribers. The decline in the average subscriber base negatively impacted Duplex service revenue by $0.7 million and $1.3 million in the respective periods.
SPOT service revenue increased 16% for both of the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2017, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2016 due to increases in both ARPU and the average subscriber base. ARPU increased 11% for each of the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2017 compared to the same periods in 2016. These ARPU increases resulted in higher SPOT service revenue of $1.1 million and $3.0 million in the respective periods. Higher ARPU was primarily driven by rate plan increases beginning in 2016. The average number of SPOT subscribers increased 5% for both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared to the same periods in 2016 due to an increase in activations. These increases contributed $0.5 million and $1.5 million to the total SPOT service revenue increases in the respective periods.
Simplex service revenue increased 27% and 7% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2016 due to increases in both ARPU and average subscribers in the respective periods.
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Other revenue increased $0.6 million and $1.1 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2016. The increases in other revenue were due primarily to higher revenue generated from government contracts, which increased by $0.7 million and $1.5 million during the respective periods. The increase from government contracts for the year to date period was offset partially by the reclassification of activation fees from other revenue to Simplex and Duplex service revenue beginning April 1, 2016, which contributed $0.3 million to the total variance.
Subscriber Equipment Sales
Revenue from Duplex equipment sales decreased $0.3 million and $0.9 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2016. We experienced higher demand in 2016 due to lower service plan prices in effect and a change in sales promotions in 2017 as we manage phone inventory levels prior to the launch of a second-generation device.
For the three months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, revenue from SPOT equipment sales was flat. When comparing the nine-month periods, revenue from SPOT equipment sales increased 10%. This increase resulted primarily from higher selling prices during the year to date period, as volume was relatively flat from the prior year period.
Revenue from Simplex equipment sales increased $1.4 million and $1.3 million for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2017 compared to the same periods in 2016. During the third quarter of 2017, we sold a significant volume of our SmartOne asset-ready tracking device to support disaster recovery efforts related to the recent hurricane activity. This sale represented nearly the entire increase in both periods.
Operating Expenses
Total operating expenses increased $0.9 million, or 2%, to $41.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 from $40.3 million for the same period in 2016. Total operating expenses increased $2.5 million, or 2%, to $121.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 from $119.3 million for the same period in 2016. Higher cost of services and cost of subscriber equipment sales contributed to the increase in total expense; these increases were offset partially by lower marketing, general and administrative expenses during the respective periods.
Cost of Services
Cost of services increased $0.9 million and $3.4 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, from the same periods in 2016. These increases were due primarily to support costs related to our ground network, which increased $0.9 million and $1.8 million, respectively, from the comparable periods in 2016. Also contributing to the nine-month period increase were higher personnel costs of $0.8 million due to an increased headcount in 2017 and the timing of capital projects, which increased net payroll expense when compared to 2016. Additionally, higher research and development costs for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 of $1.0 million were driven by new products and technology being developed internally and through external partners.
Cost of Subscriber Equipment Sales
Cost of subscriber equipment sales increased $0.5 million and $0.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 from the same periods in 2016. These variances are consistent with the increase in revenue from subscriber equipment sales as margins generated from hardware sales are consistent during the respective periods.
Marketing, General and Administrative
Marketing, general and administrative expenses decreased $0.5 million and $1.4 million for three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared to the same periods in 2016.
For the three months ended September 30, 2017, lower subscriber acquisition costs of $0.5 million and bad debt of $0.6 million contributed to the decrease in expense from the same period in 2016; these decreases were offset by partially higher legal and consulting fees of $0.6 million.
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For the nine months ended September 30, 2017, lower subscriber acquisition costs of $1.5 million and professional and legal fees of $1.2 million contributed to the decrease in expense from the same period in 2016; partially offsetting these decreases were primarily by higher stock compensation of $0.7 million and personnel costs of $0.4 million. Subscriber acquisition costs were down due to changes in sales strategies during the respective periods, including lower rebates and co-op marketing credits given to our resellers. The reduction in professional fees and legal expenses was driven primarily by a $1.1 million accrual recorded in the second quarter of 2016 for the settlement of litigation related to one of our international operations. This settlement was paid through the issuance of shares of our common stock in October 2016.
Depreciation, Amortization and Accretion
Depreciation, amortization and accretion expense was flat for the three months ended September 30, 2017 and increased $0.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 from the same periods in 2016.
As of September 30, 2017, we had $221.9 million in construction in progress related to costs (including capitalized interest) associated with our contracts with Hughes and Ericsson to complete next-generation upgrades to our ground infrastructure. We will begin depreciating these assets when the second-generation gateways are placed into commercial service.
Other Income (Expense)
Loss on Extinguishment of Debt
For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, loss on extinguishment of debt was $6.3 million due to the conversion of a significant portion of our 2013 8.00% Notes. During the third quarter of 2017, holders of $16.0 million principal amount of 2013 8.00% Notes converted their notes, resulting in the issuance of 26.4 million shares of our common stock. The fair value of these shares exceeded the derivative liability and principal amount written off due to the conversions, resulting in a loss on extinguishment of debt. See Note 3: Long-Term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements and Note 4: Derivatives to our condensed consolidated financial statements for further discussion.
Gain on Equity Issuance
For the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, gain on equity issuance was $2.7 million and $2.3 million, respectively. There was no gain on equity issuance for the three months ended September 30, 2017 compared to a gain of $4.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016. These changes were driven primarily by downside protection features included in certain of our contracts relating to payment of consideration with our common stock in lieu of cash.
As discussed in Note 6: Commitments and Contingencies to our condensed consolidated financial statements, we had an agreement with Hughes whereby it exercised its right to receive a pre-payment of certain payment milestones in shares of our common stock at a 7% discount to the market value in lieu of cash. In connection with this agreement, we provided Hughes downside protection through June 30, 2017. In April 2017, Hughes sold all remaining shares of our common stock recognizing the required proceeds under the agreement. As a result of changes in the estimated value of this option between initial issuance and settlement in April 2017, we recorded non-cash gains and losses during each reporting period. This liability is no longer outstanding.
Interest Income and Expense
Interest income and expense, net, increased $0.1 million and decreased $0.4 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2016.
Gross interest costs increased $1.2 million and $2.5 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared to the same periods in 2016, respectively, resulting primarily from a higher LIBOR-based interest rate on our Facility Agreement and a higher principal balance outstanding on our Thermo Loan Agreement. The increase in gross interest expense was offset by an increase in capitalized interest of $1.1 million and $2.9 million during the same periods, respectively, due primarily to an increase in our construction in progress balances related to our ground network, which results in higher interest eligible to be capitalized.
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Derivative Gain
Derivative gain was $78.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017, compared to $11.0 million for the same period in 2016 and $4.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017, compared to a $50.1 million for the same period in 2016.
We recognize gains or losses due to the change in the value of certain embedded features within our debt instruments that require standalone derivative accounting. Although fluctuation in our stock price is the most significant cause for the change in value of these derivative instruments, other inputs can impact the value including volatility, discount rate, maturity date and changes in the principal amount of notes outstanding. See Note 5: Fair Value Measurements to our condensed consolidated financial statements for further discussion of computation of the fair value of our derivatives.
Other
Other income (loss) fluctuated $0.2 million to expense of $0.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 from expense of $0.5 million for the same period in 2016, and fluctuated $1.8 million to expense of $2.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 from expense of $0.6 million for the same period in 2016. Changes in other income (loss) are due primarily to foreign currency gains and losses recognized during the respective periods given the significant financial statement items we have denominated in foreign currencies, including primarily the Brazilian real, euro and Canadian dollar.
Income Tax Benefit (Expense)
During the third quarter of 2016, we removed $6.3 million in unrecognized tax positions, inclusive of cumulative interest and penalties, from our non-current liabilities resulting in a corresponding tax benefit due to the expiration of the statute of limitations associated with the tax position of one of our foreign subsidiaries. Similar activity did not recur in 2017.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview
Our principal liquidity requirements include paying our debt service obligations and funding our operating costs. Our principal sources of liquidity include cash on hand, restricted cash and cash flows from operations. See Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors in this Report for a description of risks, some of which are beyond our control, affecting our ability to fulfill our liquidity requirements.
As of September 30, 2017, we held cash and cash equivalents of $16.2 million. We also had $38.0 million in restricted cash, consisting of the balance in our debt service reserve account under the Facility Agreement. The Facility Agreement (as defined below) restricts the use of these funds to making principal and interest payments under the Facility Agreement. In October 2017, we received approximately $114.8 million in net proceeds from the sale of our common stock. Eighty percent of the net proceeds from the offering were deposited in a restricted account and the remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.
As of December 31, 2016, we held cash and cash equivalents of $10.2 million and had $38.0 million in restricted cash.
The carrying amount of our current and long-term debt outstanding was $94.3 million and $466.7 million, respectively, at September 30, 2017, compared to $75.8 million and $500.5 million, respectively, at December 31, 2016. The current portion of our debt outstanding at these dates represents primarily principal payments under our Facility Agreement scheduled to occur within 12 months. At September 30, 2017, this current debt balance also included the total outstanding amount of our 2013 8.00% Notes as the first put date of the notes is April 1, 2018. The decrease in our total debt balance was due primarily to a principal payment of $21.7 million made for the Facility Agreement in June 2017 and a reduction of $16.0 million to the 8.00% Notes Issued in 2013 following conversions in August 2017. This decrease was offset partially by a higher carrying value of the Thermo Loan Agreement due to interest accruing on that debt and a higher carrying value of the Facility Agreement and convertible notes due to accretion of the debt discounts and debt financing costs.
Indebtedness and Available Credit
Facility Agreement
We entered into the Facility Agreement in 2009, which was amended and restated in July 2013, August 2015 and June 2017. The Facility Agreement is scheduled to mature in December 2022.
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The Facility Agreement contains customary events of default and requires that we satisfy various financial and non-financial covenants. The compliance calculations of the financial covenants of the Facility Agreement permit us to include certain cash funds we receive from the issuance of our common stock and/or subordinated indebtedness before or immediately after the calculation date. We refer to these funds as "Equity Cure Contributions" and we may include them in calculating compliance with financial covenants through December 2019, subject to the conditions set forth in the Facility Agreement. If we violate any covenants and are unable to obtain a sufficient Equity Cure Contribution or a waiver, or are unable to make payments to satisfy our debt obligations under the Facility Agreement and are unable to obtain a waiver, we would be in default under the Facility Agreement, and the lenders could accelerate payment of the indebtedness. The acceleration of our indebtedness under one agreement may permit acceleration of indebtedness under other agreements that contain cross-acceleration provisions. As of September 30, 2017, we were in compliance with respect to the covenants of the Facility Agreement.
The Facility Agreement also requires that we maintain a debt service reserve account that is pledged to secure all of our obligations under the Facility Agreement. We may use these funds only to make principal and interest payments under the Facility Agreement. Prior to October 30, 2017, we must maintain a total of $37.9 million in a debt service reserve account. After October 30, 2017, the balance in the debt service reserve account must equal the total amount of principal and interest payable on the next payment date. As of September 30, 2017, the balance in the debt service reserve account was $38.0 million and classified as restricted cash on our condensed consolidated balance sheets.
Our indebtedness under the Facility Agreement bears interest at a floating rate of LIBOR plus 3.25% through June 2018, increasing by an additional 0.5% each year thereafter to a maximum rate of LIBOR plus 5.75%. Interest on the Facility Agreement is payable semi-annual in arrears in June and December of each calendar year. Ninety-five percent of our obligations under the Facility Agreement are guaranteed by Bpifrance Assurance Export S.A.S. ("BPIFAE") (formerly COFACE). Our obligations under the Facility Agreement are guaranteed on a senior secured basis by all of our domestic subsidiaries and are secured by a first priority lien on substantially all of our assets and our domestic subsidiaries (other than their FCC licenses), including patents and trademarks, 100% of the equity of our domestic subsidiaries and 65% of the equity of certain foreign subsidiaries.
In June 2017, we amended and restated the Facility Agreement and entered into a Third Global Amendment and Restatement Agreement (the “2017 GARA”). The 2017 GARA, among other things, deferred certain financial covenants until the measurement period ending December 31, 2018; extended to the measurement period ending December 31, 2019 the date through which Equity Cure Contributions can be made; and required us to raise a total of $159.0 million no later than October 30, 2017, of which $12.0 million was raised in January 2017 under a common stock purchase agreement with Terrapin Opportunity, L.P. ("Terrapin"), $33.0 million was raised in June 2017 under a common stock purchase agreement with Thermo and $114.0 million was raised in October 2017 through a public offering of our voting common stock. The funds raised from Thermo were used to pay outstanding restructuring fees, insurance premiums to BPIFAE and principal and interest due under the Facility Agreement as of June 30, 2017. Eighty percent of the net proceeds from the stock offering have been deposited in a restricted account and are expected to be drawn to pay principal and interest due under the Facility Agreement in December 2017 and June 2018. The remainder of the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
See Note 3: Long-Term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements to our condensed consolidated financial statements for further discussion of the Facility Agreement.
Thermo Agreements
We have an amended and restated loan agreement with Thermo (the “Loan Agreement”). Our obligations to Thermo under the Loan Agreement are subordinated to all of our obligations under the Facility Agreement. Amounts outstanding under the Loan Agreement accrue interest at 12% per annum, which we capitalize and add to the outstanding principal in lieu of cash payments. We will make payments to Thermo only when permitted by the Facility Agreement. Principal and interest under the Loan Agreement become due and payable six months after the obligations under the Facility Agreement have been paid in full, or earlier if a change in control or any acceleration of the maturity of the loans under the Facility Agreement occurs. As of September 30, 2017, the principal amount outstanding was $102.9 million, including $59.4 million of interest that had accrued since 2009 with respect to the Loan Agreement.
In connection with the 2017 GARA, Thermo and certain of its affiliates agreed to fund or backstop approximately $33.0 million to us by June 30, 2017. The total amount was raised pursuant to the Common Stock Purchase Agreement entered into between us and Thermo on June 30, 2017. Thermo purchased 17.8 million shares of our voting common stock for $33.0 million at a purchase price of $1.85, which represented a 10% discount to the closing price of our voting common stock on June 29, 2017. The terms of the Common Stock Purchase Agreement were approved by a special committee of independent directors of the Board of Directors, who were represented by independent legal counsel.
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See Note 3: Long-Term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements to our condensed consolidated financial statements for further discussion of the Thermo Agreements.
8.00% Convertible Senior Notes Issued in 2013
Our 2013 8.00% Notes are convertible into shares of our common stock at a conversion price of $0.73 (as adjusted) per share of common stock. As of September 30, 2017, the principal amount outstanding of the 2013 8.00% Notes was $1.3 million, following the conversion of approximately $16.0 million principal amount on August 24, 2017. Interest on the 2013 8.00% Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on April 1 and October 1 of each year. We pay interest in cash at a rate of 5.75% per annum and by issuing additional 2013 8.00% Notes at a rate of 2.25% per annum.
A holder of 2013 8.00% Notes has the right, at the holder’s option, to require us to purchase some or all of the 2013 8.00% Notes on each of April 1, 2018 and April 1, 2023 at a price equal to the principal amount of the 2013 8.00% Notes to be purchased plus accrued and unpaid interest.
The indenture governing the 2013 8.00% Notes provides for customary events of default. If there is an event of default, the Trustee may, at the direction of the holders of 25% or more in aggregate principal amount of the 2013 8.00% Notes, accelerate the maturity of the 2013 8.00% Notes. As of September 30, 2017, we were in compliance with respect to the terms of the 2013 8.00% Notes and the Indenture.
See Note 3: Long-Term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements to our condensed consolidated financial statements for further discussion of the 2013 8.00% Notes.
Terrapin Opportunity, L.P. Common Stock Purchase Agreement
In conjunction with the amendment to the Facility Agreement in August 2015, we entered into the August 2015 Terrapin Agreement pursuant to which we were entitled to require Terrapin to purchase up to $75.0 million of shares of our voting common stock over the 24-month term following the date of the agreement. Through the term of this agreement, Terrapin purchased a total of 67.3 million shares of voting common stock for a total purchase price of $75.0 million. In January 2017, we drew $12.0 million and issued to Terrapin 8.9 million shares of voting common stock. No funds remain available under this agreement.
Public Offering of Common Stock
In October 2017, we entered into an underwriting agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, as manager for several underwriters (collectively, the “Underwriters”), relating to the sale of 73.4 million shares of common stock, at a public offering price of $1.65 per share. Under the terms of the Underwriting Agreement, we granted the Underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 11.0 million shares of our common stock. As of November 1, 2017, this option has not been exercised.
The Underwriting Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and conditions to closing. We received approximately $114.8 million in net proceeds from the sale of the common stock. We used the net proceeds from the offering to meet our obligation to raise $114.0 million by October 30, 2017 pursuant to the 2017 GARA (as discussed above).
Cash Flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016
The following table shows our cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities (in thousands):
Nine Months Ended | |||||||
September 30, 2017 | September 30, 2016 | ||||||
Net cash provided by operating activities | $ | 16,628 | $ | 7,704 | |||
Net cash used in investing activities | (13,569 | ) | (17,445 | ) | |||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 2,739 | 15,083 | |||||
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash | 216 | 133 | |||||
Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | $ | 6,014 | $ | 5,475 |
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Cash Flows Provided by Operating Activities
Cash provided by operations includes primarily cash receipts from subscribers related to the purchase of equipment and satellite voice and data services. We use cash in operating activities primarily for personnel costs, inventory purchases and other general corporate expenditures. Net cash provided by operating activities during the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was $16.6 million compared to $7.7 million during the same period in 2016. The increase was due to higher net income after adjusting for non-cash items and a favorable change in working capital due primarily to higher cash receipts from service contracts.
Cash Flows Used in Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities was $13.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared to $17.4 million for the same period in 2016. This decrease was driven primarily by higher property and equipment as well as second-generation network additions in the prior year.
Cash Flows Provided by Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities was $2.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 compared to $15.1 million for the same period in 2016. This decrease was due to a higher amount of debt service payments during 2017, offset partially by higher proceeds from equity financings, including the Common Stock Purchase Agreement with Thermo in June 2017.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
There have been no significant changes to our contractual obligations and commitments since December 31, 2016, other than the updates made in this Report related to our debt agreements.
Off-Balance Sheet Transactions
We have no material off-balance sheet transactions.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
For a discussion of recently issued accounting guidance and the expected impact that the guidance could have on our condensed consolidated financial statements, see Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements in Note 1: Basis of Presentation to our condensed consolidated financial statements in Part 1, Item 1 of this Report.
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.
Our services and products are sold, distributed or available in over 120 countries. Our international sales are denominated primarily in Canadian dollars, Brazilian reais and euros. In some cases, insufficient supplies of U.S. currency may require us to accept payment in other foreign currencies. We reduce our currency exchange risk from revenues in currencies other than the U.S. dollar by requiring payment in U.S. dollars whenever possible and purchasing foreign currencies on the spot market when rates are favorable. We currently do not purchase hedging instruments to hedge foreign currencies. We are obligated to enter into currency hedges with the lenders to the Facility Agreement no later than 90 days after any fiscal quarter during which more than 25% of revenues is denominated in a single currency other than U.S. or Canadian dollars. Otherwise, we cannot enter into hedging agreements other than interest rate cap agreements or other hedges described above without the consent of the agent for the Facility Agreement, and with that consent the counterparties may only be the lenders to the Facility Agreement.
We also have operations in Venezuela. Since 2010, the Venezuelan government's frequent modifications to its currency laws have caused the bolivar to devalue significantly and resulted in Venezuela being considered a highly inflationary economy. We continue to monitor the significant uncertainty surrounding current Venezuela exchange mechanisms.
Our interest rate risk arises from our variable rate debt under our Facility Agreement, under which loans bear interest at a floating rate based on the LIBOR. In order to reduce the interest rate risk, we completed an arrangement with the lenders under the Facility Agreement to limit the interest to which we are exposed. The interest rate cap provides limits on the 6-month Libor rate (Base Rate) used to calculate the coupon interest on outstanding amounts on the Facility Agreement to be capped at 5.50% should the Base Rate not exceed 6.5%. Should the Base Rate exceed 6.5%, our Base Rate will be 1% less than the then 6-month LIBOR rate. We have $521.3 million in principal outstanding under the Facility Agreement. A 1.0% change in interest rates would result in a change to interest expense of approximately $5.2 million annually.
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See Note 5: Fair Value Measurements to our condensed consolidated financial statements for discussion of our financial assets and liabilities measured at fair market value and the market factors affecting changes in fair market value of each.
Item 4. Controls and Procedures.
(a) Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures.
Our management, with the participation of our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as of September 30, 2017, the end of the period covered by this Report. This evaluation was based on the guidelines established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued in 2013 by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives.
Based on this evaluation, our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer concluded that as of September 30, 2017 our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information we are required to disclose in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
We believe that the condensed consolidated financial statements included in this Report fairly present, in all material respects, our condensed consolidated financial position and results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2017.
(b) Changes in internal control over financial reporting.
As of September 30, 2017, our management, with the participation of our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, evaluated our internal control over financial reporting. Based on that evaluation, our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer concluded that no changes in our internal control over financial reporting occurred during the quarter ended September 30, 2017 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
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PART II: OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings.
For a description of our material pending legal and regulatory proceedings and settlements, see Note 6: Commitments and Contingencies in our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Report.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
You should carefully consider the risks described in this Report and all of the other reports that we file from time to time with the SEC, in evaluating and understanding us and our business. Additional risks not presently known or that we currently deem immaterial may also impact our business operations and the risks identified in this Report may adversely affect our business in ways we do not currently anticipate. Our financial condition or results of operations also could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks. In connection with our October 2017 public offering of common stock, we updated our risk factors as presented below and updated for the September 30, 2017 quarter end.
Risks Related to Our Business
The implementation of our business plan and our ability to generate income from operations assume we are able to maintain a healthy constellation and ground network capable of providing commercially acceptable levels of coverage and service quality, which are contingent on a number of factors.
Our products and services are subject to the risks inherent in a large-scale, complex telecommunications system employing advanced technology. Any disruption to our satellites, services, information systems or telecommunications infrastructure could result in degrading or disrupting services to our customers for an indeterminate period of time.
Since we launched our first satellites in the 1990's, most of our first-generation satellites have failed in orbit or have been retired, and we expect the remaining first-generation satellites to be retired in the future. Although we designed our second-generation satellites to provide commercial service over a 15-year life, we can provide no assurance as to whether any or all of them will continue in operation for their full 15-year design life. Satellites utilize highly complex technology and operate in the harsh environment of space and therefore are subject to significant operational risks while in orbit.
Further, our satellites may experience temporary outages or otherwise may not be fully functioning at any given time. There are some remote tools we use to remedy certain types of problems affecting the performance of our satellites, but the physical repair of satellites in space is not feasible. We do not insure our satellites against in-orbit failures after an initial period of six months, whether the failures are caused by internal or external factors. In-orbit failure may result from various causes, including component failure, solar array failures, telemetry transmitter failures, loss of power or fuel, inability to control positioning of the satellite, solar or other astronomical events, including solar radiation and flares, and collision with space debris or other satellites. These failures are commonly referred to as anomalies. Some of our satellites have had malfunctions and other anomalies in the past and may have anomalies in the future. Further, from time to time we move and relocate satellites within our constellation to improve coverage and service quality. Although we do not incur any direct cash costs related to the failure of a satellite, if a satellite fails, we record an impairment charge in our statement of operations to reduce the remaining net book value of that satellite to zero, and any such impairment charges could depress our net income (or increase or net loss) for the period in which the failure occurs. Additionally, human operators may execute improper implementation commands that may negatively impact a satellite's performance.
Prior to 2014 our ability to generate revenue and cash flow was impacted adversely by our inability to offer commercially acceptable levels of Duplex service due to the degradation of our first-generation constellation. As a result, we improved the design of our second-generation constellation to last twice as long in space and have 40% greater capacity compared to our first-generation constellation. Despite working closely with satellite manufacturers to determine the causes of anomalies and mitigate them in second-generation satellites and to provide for intrasatellite redundancies for certain critical components to minimize or eliminate service disruptions in the event of failure, anomalies are likely to be experienced in the future, whether due to the types of anomalies described above or arising from the failure of other systems or components, and intrasatellite redundancy may not be available upon the occurrence of such anomalies. There can be no assurance that, in these cases, it will be possible to restore normal operations. Where service cannot be restored, the failure could cause the satellite to have less capacity available for service, to suffer performance degradation, or to cease operating prematurely, either in whole or in part. We cannot guarantee that we could successfully develop and implement a solution to these anomalies.
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In order to maintain commercially acceptable service long-term, we must obtain and launch additional satellites from time to time. As discussed in Note 7: Contingencies in our Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K incorporated by reference herein, we and Thales Alenia Space France ("Thales") may negotiate the terms of a follow-on contract for additional satellites, but we can provide no assurance as to whether we will ultimately agree on commercial terms for this purchase. If we are unable to agree with Thales on commercial terms for the purchase of additional satellites, we may enter into negotiations with one or more other satellite manufacturers, but we cannot provide any assurance that these negotiations will be successful or at commercially reasonable prices.
Our ground stations require upgrades to enable us to integrate our second-generation technology and services. We have entered into various contracts to upgrade our ground network. During 2016 we completed this work according to the Hughes and Ericsson contracts for our owned gateways in North America and Europe. We will place these gateways into service in the near future upon the introduction of our second-generation products and services. The installation of Radio Access Network ("RANs") network equipment at additional sites outside the scope of the core Hughes contract will occur over time, and the completion of these upgrades may not be successful.
If we experience operational disruptions with respect to our gateways or operations center, we may not be able to provide service to our customers.
Our satellite network traffic is supported by 23 gateways distributed around the globe. We operate our satellite constellation from our Network Operations Control Centers at three locations (France, California, and Louisiana) to provide geo-redundancy and ongoing coverage. Our gateway facilities are subject to the risk of significant malfunctions or catastrophic loss due to unanticipated events and would be difficult to replace or repair and could require substantial lead-time to do so. In North America, we have implemented contingency coverage which allows neighboring gateways to provide services in the event of a gateway failure. Material changes in the operation of these facilities may be subject to prior FCC approval, and the FCC might not give such approval or may subject the approval to other conditions that could be unfavorable to our business. Our gateways and operations center may also experience service shutdowns or periods of reduced service in the future as a result of equipment failure, delays in deliveries or regulatory issues. Any such failure would impede our ability to provide service to our customers, which could have a material impact on our business.
The actual orbital lives of our satellites may be shorter than we anticipate and we may be required to reduce available capacity on our satellite network prior to the end of their orbital lives.
We anticipate that our second-generation satellites will have 15 year orbital lives. A number of factors will affect the actual commercial service lives of our satellites, including:
• | the amount of propellant used in maintaining the satellite's orbital location or relocating the satellite to a new orbital location (and, for newly-launched satellites, the amount of propellant used during orbit raising following launch); |
• | the durability and quality of their construction; |
• | the performance of their components; |
• | conditions in space such as solar flares and space debris; |
• | operational considerations, including operational failures and other anomalies; and |
• | changes in technology which may make all or a portion of our satellite fleet obsolete. |
It is possible that the actual orbital lives of one or more of our existing satellites may also be shorter than originally anticipated. Further, on some of our satellites it is anticipated that the total available payload capacity may need to be reduced prior to the satellite reaching its end-of-orbital life. We periodically review the expected orbital life of each of its satellites using current engineering data. A reduction in the orbital life of any of our satellites could result in a reduction of the revenues generated by that satellite, the recognition of an impairment loss and an acceleration of capital expenditures. To the extent we are required to reduce the available payload capacity prior to the end of a satellite's orbital life, our revenues from the satellite would be reduced.
Replacing a satellite upon the end of its service life will require us to make significant expenditures.
To ensure no disruption in our business and to prevent loss of customers, we will be required to commence construction of replacement satellites approximately five years prior to the expected end of service life of the satellite then in orbit. There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient cash, cash flow or be able to obtain third party or shareholder financing to fund such expenditures on favorable terms, if at all. Certain of our satellites are nearing their expected end-of-orbital maneuver lives. Should we not have sufficient funds available to replace our satellites, it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, business prospects and financial condition.
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The implementation of our business plan depends on increased demand for wireless communications services via satellite as well as via terrestrial mobile broadband networks, both for our existing services and products and for new services and products. If this increased demand does not occur, our revenues and profitability may not increase as we expect.
Demand for wireless communication services may not grow, or may even shrink, either generally or in particular geographic markets, for particular types of services or during particular time periods. A lack of demand could impair our ability to sell our services and develop and successfully market new services, or could exert downward pressure on prices, or both. This, in turn, could decrease our revenues and profitability and adversely affect our ability to increase our revenues and profitability over time.
We plan to introduce additional Duplex, SPOT, and Simplex products and services, as well as low-power terrestrial mobile broadband services. However, we cannot predict with certainty the potential longer-term demand for these products and services or the extent to which we will be able to meet demand. Our business plan assumes growing our subscriber base beyond levels achieved in the past.
The success of our business plan will depend on a number of factors, including but not limited to:
• | our ability to maintain the health, capacity and control of our satellites; |
• | our ability to maintain the health of our ground network; |
• | our ability to influence the level of market acceptance and demand for our products and services; |
• | our ability to introduce new products and services that meet this market demand; |
• | our ability to retain current customers and obtain new customers; |
• | our ability to obtain additional business using our existing and future spectrum authority both in the United States and internationally; |
• | our ability to control the costs of developing an integrated network providing related products and services, as well as our future terrestrial mobile broadband services; |
• | our ability to market successfully our Duplex, SPOT and Simplex products and services; |
• | our ability to develop and deploy innovative network management techniques to permit mobile devices to transition between satellite and terrestrial modes; |
• | our ability to sell our current equipment inventory; |
• | the cost and availability of user equipment that operates on our network; |
• | the effectiveness of our competitors in developing and offering similar products and services and in persuading our customers to switch service providers; |
• | our ability to successfully predict market trends; |
• | our ability to hire and retain qualified executives, managers and employees; |
• | our ability to provide attractive service offerings at competitive prices to our target markets; and |
• | our ability to raise additional capital on acceptable terms when required. |
We incurred operating losses in the past three years, and these losses are likely to continue.
We incurred operating losses of $38.5 million, $63.7 million, $66.6 million and $95.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and for the years ended 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. These losses resulted, in part, from depreciation expense related to our second-generation satellites placed into service in 2010, 2011 and 2013. We designed our second-generation satellites to have a 15-year life from the date the satellites were placed into their operational orbit, and we estimate that we will continue to recognize high levels of depreciation expense commensurate with their estimated 15-year life.
Rapid and significant technological changes in the satellite communications industry may impair our competitive position and require us to make significant capital expenditures, which may require additional capital that has not been arranged.
The space and communications industries are subject to rapid advances and innovations in technology. New technology could render our system obsolete or less competitive by satisfying consumer demand in more attractive ways or through the introduction of incompatible standards. Particular technological developments that could adversely affect us include the deployment by our competitors of new satellites with greater power, greater flexibility, greater efficiency or greater capabilities, as well as continuing improvements in terrestrial wireless technologies. We must continue to commit to make significant capital expenditures to keep up with technological changes and remain competitive. Customer acceptance of the services and products that we offer will continually be affected by technology-based differences in our product and service offerings. New technologies may be protected by patents and therefore may not be available to us. We expect to face competition in the future from companies using new technologies and new satellite systems.
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The hardware and software we utilize in operating our first-generation gateways were designed and manufactured over 15 years ago and portions have deteriorated. This original equipment may become less reliable as it ages and will be more difficult and expensive to service. It may be difficult or impossible to obtain all necessary replacement parts for the hardware before the new equipment and software is fully deployed. Some of the hardware and software we use in operating our gateways are significantly customized and tailored to meet our requirements and specifications and could be difficult and expensive to service, upgrade or replace. Although we maintain inventories of some spare parts, it nonetheless may be difficult, expensive or impossible to obtain replacement parts for the hardware due to a limited number of those parts being manufactured to our requirements and specifications. In addition, our business plan contemplates updating or replacing some of the hardware and software in our network as technology advances, but the complexity of our requirements and specifications may present us with technical and operational challenges that complicate or otherwise make it expensive or infeasible to carry out such upgrades and replacements. Material changes in the operation of these gateways may be subject to prior FCC approval, and the FCC might not give such approval or may subject the approval to other conditions that could be unfavorable to our business. If we are not able to suitably service, upgrade or replace our equipment, our ability to provide our services and therefore to generate revenue could be harmed.
Our business is capital intensive, and we may not be able to raise adequate capital to finance our business strategies, or we may be able to do so only on terms that significantly restrict our ability to operate our business.
Implementation of our business strategy requires a substantial outlay of capital. As we pursue business strategies and seek to respond to developments in our business and opportunities and trends in our industry, our actual capital expenditures may differ from our expected capital expenditures. There can be no assurance that we will be able to satisfy our capital requirements in the future. In addition, if one of our satellites failed unexpectedly, there can be no assurance of insurance recovery or the timing thereof and we may need to obtain additional financing to replace the satellite. If we determine that we need to obtain additional funds through external financing and are unable to do so, we may be prevented from fully implementing our business strategy.
We have substantial contractual obligations, which may require additional capital, the terms of which have not been arranged. The terms of our Facility Agreement could complicate raising this additional capital.
Our current sources of liquidity include cash on hand ($16.2 million as September 30, 2017) and future cash flows from operations. Our operating expenses for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2017 were $121.7 million. In October 2017, we received approximately $114.8 million in net proceeds from the sale of our common stock. Eighty percent of these proceeds were deposited in a restricted account and the remainder will be used for general corporate purposes. We estimate that, with our current operating plan, our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments are expected to be sufficient to fund our cash requirements for at least the next 12 months.
We have various contractual commitments related primarily to debt service obligations and capital expenditure plans, including with Thales, Hughes Network Systems, LLC and Ericsson Inc. related to the procurement, deployment and maintenance of the second generation network. Additionally, we may have other obligations or should any of our contingent liabilities crystallize, such as the Thales arbitration, that would exceed our current sources of liquidity. Restrictions in our Facility Agreement limit the types of financings we may undertake. In addition, the Facility Agreement provides that we must deposit at least 80% of the net cash proceeds received from equity issuances, subordinated indebtedness or any equity contribution to us or one of our subsidiaries through December 31, 2019 into a restricted deposit account which can be used only for paying down obligations under the Facility Agreement. This obligation significantly restricts our liquidity. See Note 3: Long-Term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements in our condensed consolidated financial statements included in this Report for further discussion of our debt agreements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain additional financing when required on reasonable terms or at all. If we cannot obtain it in a timely manner, we may be unable to execute our business plan and fulfill our financial commitments.
If we do not develop, acquire and maintain proprietary information and intellectual property rights, it could limit the growth of our business and reduce our market share.
Our business depends on technical knowledge, and we believe that our future success will be based, in part, on our ability to keep up with new technological developments and incorporate them in our products and services. We own or have the right to use our patents, work products, inventions, designs, software, systems and similar know-how. Although we have taken diligent steps to protect that information, the information may be disclosed to others or others may independently develop similar information, systems and know-how. Protection of our information, systems and know-how may result in litigation, the cost of which could be substantial. Third parties may assert claims that our products or services infringe on their proprietary rights. Any such claims, if made, may prevent or limit our sales of products or services or increase our costs of sales.
We license much of the software we require to support critical gateway operations from third parties, including Hughes, Ericsson and Qualcomm. This software was developed or customized specifically for our use. We also license technical information
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for the design, manufacture and sale of our products. This intellectual property is essential to our ability to continue to operate our constellation and sell our services and devices. We also license software to support customer service functions, such as billing, from third parties that developed or customized it specifically for our use. If the third party licensors were to cease to support and service the software, or the licenses were no longer to be available on commercially reasonable terms, it might be difficult, expensive or impossible for us to obtain such services from alternative vendors. Replacing such software could be difficult, time consuming and expensive, and might require us to obtain substitute technology with lower quality or performance standards or at a greater cost.
We may in the future become subject to claims that our products violate the patent or intellectual property rights of others, which could be costly and disruptive to us.
We may become subject to claims that our products violate the patent or intellectual property rights of others, which could be costly and disruptive to us.
We operate in an industry that is susceptible to significant intellectual property litigation. As a result, we or our products may become subject to intellectual property infringement claims or litigation. The defense of intellectual property suits is both costly and time-consuming, even if ultimately successful, and may divert management's attention from other business concerns. An adverse determination in litigation to which we may become a party could, among other things:
• | subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, including treble damages; |
• | require disputed rights to be licensed from a third party for royalties that may be substantial; |
• | require us to cease using technology that is important to our business; or |
• | prohibit us from selling some or all of our products or offering some or all of our services. |
We depend in large part on the efforts of third parties for the sale of our services and products. If these parties, including our independent gateway operators ("IGOs"), are unable to do this successfully, we will not be able to grow our business in those areas and our future revenue and profitability could decline.
We derive a large portion of our revenue from products and services sold through independent agents, dealers and resellers, including, outside the United States, IGOs. Although we derive most of our revenue from retail sales to end users in the United States, Canada, a portion of Western Europe, Central America and portions of South America, either directly or through agents, dealers and resellers, we depend on IGOs to purchase, install, operate and maintain gateway equipment, to sell phones and data user terminals, and to market our services in other regions where these IGOs hold exclusive or non-exclusive rights.
Our objective is to establish a worldwide service network, either directly or through IGOs, but to date we have been unable to do so in certain areas of the world, and we may not succeed in doing so in the future. We have been unable to establish our own gateways or to find capable IGOs for several important regions and countries, including India, China, and certain parts of Southeast Asia. In addition to the lack of global service availability, cost-effective roaming is not yet available in certain countries because the IGOs have been unable to reach business arrangements with one another. Further, our IGOs could fail to perform as expected or cease business operations. This could reduce overall demand for our products and services and undermine our value for potential users who require service in these areas.
Not all of the IGOs have been successful and, in some regions, they have not initiated service or sold as much usage as originally anticipated. Some of the IGOs are not earning revenues sufficient to fund their operating costs due to the operational issues we experienced with our first-generation satellites. Although we expect these IGOs to return to profitability, if they are unable to continue in business, we will lose the revenue we receive for selling equipment to them and providing services to their customers. Although we have implemented a strategy for the acquisition of certain IGOs when circumstances permit, we may not be able to continue to implement this strategy on favorable terms and may not be able to realize the additional efficiencies that we anticipate from this strategy. In some regions it is impracticable to acquire the IGOs either because local regulatory requirements or business or cultural norms do not permit an acquisition, because the expected revenue increase from an acquisition would be insufficient to justify the transaction, or because the IGO will not sell at a price acceptable to us. In those regions, our revenue and profits may be adversely affected if those IGOs do not fulfill their own business plans to increase substantially their sales of services and products. Any actions or failures to act by IGOs may result in liabilities for us.
We rely on a limited number of key vendors for timely supply of equipment and services. If our key vendors fail to provide equipment and services to us, we may face difficulties in finding alternative sources and may not be able to operate our business successfully.
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We have a limited quantity of our Duplex handsets remaining in inventory and have not contracted with a manufacturer to produce additional inventory. We have depended on Qualcomm as the exclusive manufacturer of phones using the IS 41 CDMA North American standard, which incorporates Qualcomm proprietary technology. We canceled this contract in March 2013.
Additionally, in some cases our contract manufacturers provide us with other equipment inventory and obtain FCC certification of the devices we sell. If these manufacturers do not take on future orders or fail to perform under our current contracts, we may be unable to continue to produce and sell this equipment to customers at a reasonable cost to us or there may be delays in production and sales.
Lack of availability of electronic components from the electronics industry, as needed in our retail products, our gateways and our satellites, could delay or adversely impact our operations.
We rely upon the availability of components, materials and component parts from the electronics industry. The electronics industry is subject to occasional shortages in parts availability depending on fluctuations in supply and demand. Industry shortages may result in delayed shipments of materials or increased prices, or both. As a consequence, elements of our operation which use electronic parts, such as our retail products, our gateways and our satellites, could be subject to delays or cost increases, or both.
We face special risks by doing business in international markets and developing markets, including currency and expropriation risks, which could increase our costs or reduce our revenues in these areas.
Although our most economically important geographic markets currently are the United States and Canada, we have substantial markets for our mobile satellite services in, and our business plan includes, developing countries or regions that are underserved by existing telecommunications systems, such as rural Venezuela, Brazil, Central America and portions of Africa. Developing countries are more likely than industrialized countries to experience market, currency and interest rate fluctuations and may have higher inflation. In addition, these countries present risks relating to government policy, price, wage and exchange controls, social instability, expropriation and other adverse economic, political and diplomatic conditions. For example, the Venezuelan government has frequently modified its currency laws over the past several years, resulting in significant devaluation of the bolivar, resulting in Venezuela being considered a highly inflationary economy.
Conducting operations outside the United States involves numerous special risks and, while expanding our international operations would advance our growth, it would also increase these risks. These risks include, but are not limited to:
• | difficulties in penetrating new markets due to established and entrenched competitors; |
• | difficulties in developing products and services that are tailored to the needs of local customers; |
• | lack of local acceptance or knowledge of our products and services; |
• | lack of recognition of our products and services; |
• | unavailability of or difficulties in establishing relationships with distributors; |
• | significant investments, including the development and deployment of dedicated gateways, as some countries require physical gateways within their jurisdiction to connect the traffic coming to and from their territory; |
• | instability of international economies and governments; |
• | changes in laws and policies affecting trade and investment in other jurisdictions; |
• | noncompliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act, sanctions laws and export controls; |
• | exposure to varying legal standards, including intellectual property protection in other jurisdictions, and other similar laws and regulations; |
• | difficulties in obtaining required regulatory authorizations; |
• | difficulties in enforcing legal rights in other jurisdictions; |
• | variations in local domestic ownership requirements; |
• | requirements that operational activities be performed in-country; |
• | changing and conflicting national and local regulatory requirements; and |
• | uncertainty in foreign currency exchange rates and exchange controls. |
These risks could affect our ability to compete successfully and expand internationally. To the extent that the prices for our products and services are denominated in U.S. dollars, any appreciation of the U.S. dollar against other currencies will increase the cost of our products and services to our international customers and, as a result, may reduce the competitiveness of our international offerings and make it more difficult for us to grow internationally. Limited availability of U.S. currency in some local markets or governmental controls on the export of currency may prevent our customers from making payments in U.S. dollars or delay the availability of payment due to foreign bank currency processing and approval. In addition, exchange rate fluctuations may affect our ability to control the prices charged for our independent gateway operators' services.
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Our operations involve transactions in a variety of currencies. Sales denominated in foreign currencies involve primarily the Canadian dollar, the euro, and the Brazilian real. Certain of our obligations are denominated in euros. Accordingly, our operating results may be significantly affected by fluctuations in the exchange rates for these currencies. Approximately 32%, 34% and 35% of our total sales were to customers located in Canada, Europe, Central America, and South America during the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Our results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 included a net loss of $1.8 million, a net loss of $0.2 million and a net gain of $3.7 million, respectively, on foreign currency transactions. We may be unable to offset unfavorable currency movements as they adversely affect our revenue and expenses. Our inability to do so could have a substantial negative impact on our operating results and cash flows.
Our global operations expose us to trade and economic sanctions and other restrictions imposed by the United States, the European Union and other governments and organizations.
The U.S. Departments of Justice, Commerce, State and Treasury and other federal agencies and authorities have a broad range of civil and criminal penalties they may seek to impose against corporations and individuals for violations of economic sanctions laws, export control laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the "FCPA") and other federal statutes and regulations, including those established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"). Under these laws and regulations, as well as other anti-corruption laws, anti-money-laundering laws, export control laws, customs laws, sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations, various government agencies require export licenses, may seek to impose modifications to business practices, including cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries or with sanctioned persons or entities and modifications to compliance programs, which may increase compliance costs, and may subject us to fines, penalties and other sanctions. A violation of these laws or regulations could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Although we have implemented policies and procedures in these areas, we cannot assure you that our policies and procedures are sufficient or that directors, officers, employees, representatives, distributors, consultants, IGOs, dealers and resellers, JV partners, independent agents, vendors, customers or subscribers, have not engaged and will not engage in conduct for which we may be held responsible, nor can we assure you that our business partners have not engaged and will not engage in conduct that could materially affect their ability to perform their contractual obligations to us or even result in us being held liable for such conduct. Violations of the FCPA, OFAC restrictions or other export control, anti-corruption, anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorism laws or regulations may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.
The United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We sell our products and services in the United Kingdom (the "UK") and throughout Europe. In particular, the United Kingdom is the largest market in Europe for our SPOT product family. On June 23, 2016, the UK voted in an advisory referendum for the UK to leave the European Union (the "EU"). The exit process (commonly referred to as "Brexit") is expected to take approximately two years, and will involve the negotiation of new trade and other agreements.
Brexit creates legal, regulatory, and economic uncertainty that could have a negative impact on our business. If the UK changes the regulatory structure for telecommunications products, it is possible that we would not be able to comply or compliance would become cost prohibitive. Similarly, post-Brexit trade agreements could impose import taxes or other expenses on our products, which may increase the price of our products sold in the UK.
We also have currency exchange risk as a result of the Brexit vote. Following the UK vote to leave the EU, the value of the British pound and the euro have declined relative to the U.S. dollar. Although most of our sales are denominated in U.S. dollars, we also receive payments in international currencies, including the pound and the euro. We therefore incur currency translation risk when currency values fluctuate and the U.S. dollar is strong relative to other currencies. Furthermore, a strong U.S. dollar increases the price of our products in international markets, which could reduce demand in those markets for our products.
Although the future impacts of Brexit are unknown at this time, the UK's vote to leave the EU has created legal, regulatory, and currency risk that may have a materially adverse impact on our business. Furthermore, this uncertainty could negatively impact the economies of other countries in which we operate.
We face intense competition in all of our markets, which could result in a loss of customers, lower revenues and difficulty entering new markets.
Satellite-based Competitors
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There are currently three other MSS operators providing services similar to ours on a global or regional basis: Iridium, Thuraya, and Inmarsat. ORBCOMM Inc. is also emerging as a competitor in the M2M markets. The provision of satellite-based products and services is subject to downward price pressure when the capacity exceeds demand or as new competitors enter the marketplace with particular competitive pricing strategies. We also face competition on the basis of coverage and specialized industries, such as maritime and governmental.
Other providers of satellite-based products could introduce their own products similar to our SPOT, Simplex or Duplex products, which may materially adversely affect our business plan. In addition, we may face competition from new competitors or new technologies. With so many companies targeting many of the same customers, we may not be able to retain successfully our existing customers and attract new customers and as a result may not grow our customer base and revenue.
Terrestrial Competitors
In addition to our satellite-based competitors, terrestrial wireless voice and data service providers are continuing to expand into rural and remote areas, particularly in less developed countries, and providing the same general types of services and products that we provide through our satellite-based system. Many of these companies have greater resources, greater name recognition and newer technologies than we do. Industry consolidation could adversely affect us by increasing the scale or scope of our competitors and thereby making it more difficult for us to compete. We could lose market share and revenue as a result of increasing competition from the extension of land-based communication services.
Although satellite communications services and ground-based communications services are not perfect substitutes, the two compete in certain markets and for certain services. Consumers generally perceive cellular voice communication products and services as cheaper as and more convenient than satellite-based products and services.
Terrestrial Broadband Network Competitors
We also expect to compete with a number of other satellite companies that plan to develop terrestrial networks that utilize their MSS spectrum. DISH Network received FCC approval to offer terrestrial wireless services over the MSS spectrum that previously belonged to TerreStar and ICO Global. Further, Ligado Networks (formerly LightSquared) continues its regulatory initiative to receive final FCC approval to build out a wireless network utilizing its MSS spectrum. Any of these competitors could deploy terrestrial mobile broadband networks before we do, could combine with existing terrestrial networks that provide them with greater financial or operational flexibility than we have, or could offer wireless services, including mobile broadband services, that customers prefer over ours.
We have a substantial amount of indebtedness, which may adversely affect our cash flow and our ability to operate our business, including our ability to incur additional indebtedness.
As of September 30, 2017, the principal balance of our debt obligations were $625.5 million, consisting of $521.3 million under the Facility Agreement, $102.9 million outstanding under the Thermo Loan Agreement and $1.3 million under the 8.00% Convertible Senior Notes Issued in 2013 (the "2013 8.00% Notes"). Our significant indebtedness could have several consequences, including: increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic, industry or competitive developments; requiring a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to be dedicated to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness, therefore reducing our ability to use our cash flow to fund our operations, capital expenditures, return of capital to shareholders, and future business opportunities; restricting us from making strategic acquisitions; limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, product development, debt service requirements, acquisitions and general corporate or other purposes; restricting us from paying dividends to our shareholders and limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business or the industry in which we operate, placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors who are not as highly leveraged as us and who, therefore, may be able to take advantage of opportunities that our leverage prevents us from exploiting. Additionally, even though our debt agreements place limits on our ability to incur additional debt, we may incur additional debt in the future which could further exacerbate these risks.
Restrictive covenants in our Facility Agreement may limit our operating and financial flexibility and our inability to comply with these covenants could have significant implications.
Our Facility Agreement contains a number of significant restrictions and covenants. See Note 3: Long-Term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements in our condensed consolidated financial statements in this Report for further discussion of our debt covenants. Complying with these restrictive covenants, as well as the financial and other non-financial covenants in the Facility Agreement and certain of our other debt obligations, as well as those that may be contained in any agreements governing future
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indebtedness, may impair our ability to finance our operations or capital needs or to take advantage of other favorable business opportunities. The Facility Agreement includes a limitation on capital expenditures at any time in connection with spectrum rights to the lesser of (1) $20 million and (2) 20% of proceed from equity raises from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2019, which may prohibit us from making certain capital expenditures that we consider accretive to our business and would otherwise make. Our ability to comply with these covenants will depend on our future performance, which may be affected by events beyond our control. Our failure to comply with these covenants would be an event of default. An event of default under the Facility Agreement would permit the lenders to accelerate the indebtedness under the Facility Agreement. That acceleration would permit holders of our obligations under other agreements that contain cross-acceleration provisions to accelerate that indebtedness. See Part II, Item 7. Managements' Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 for further discussion.
Pursuing strategic transactions may cause us to incur additional risks.
We may pursue acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships or other strategic transactions on an opportunistic basis. We may face costs and risks arising from any such transactions, including integrating a new business into our business or managing a joint venture. These may include legal, operational, financial and other costs and risks.
In addition, if we were to choose to engage in any major business combination or similar strategic transaction, we may require significant external financing in connection with the transaction. Depending on market conditions, investor perceptions of us, and other factors, we may not be able to obtain capital on acceptable terms, in acceptable amounts or at appropriate times to implement any such transaction. Our Facility Agreement and other debt obligations contain covenants which limit our ability to engage in specified forms of capital transactions without lender consent, which may be impossible to obtain. Any such financing, if obtained, may further dilute our existing stockholders.
Our networks and those of our third-party service providers may be vulnerable to security risks, and our use of personal information could give rise to liabilities or additional costs as a result of laws, governmental regulations and evolving views of personal privacy rights.
Our network and those of our third-party service providers and our customers may be vulnerable to unauthorized access, computer viruses and other security problems. Persons who circumvent security measures could wrongfully obtain or use information on the network or cause interruptions, delays or malfunctions in our operations, any of which could harm our reputation, cause demand for our products and services to fall or compromise our ability to pursue our business plans. A number of significant, widespread security breaches have occurred that have compromised network integrity for many companies and governmental agencies. In some cases, these breaches originated from outside the United States. We may be required to expend significant resources to protect against the threat of security breaches or to alleviate problems, including reputational harm and litigation, caused by any breaches. In addition, our customer contracts may not adequately protect us against liability to third parties with whom our customers conduct business.
We collect and store data, including our customers' personal information. In jurisdictions around the world, personal information is becoming increasingly subject to legislation and regulations intended to protect consumers' privacy and security. The interpretation of privacy and data protection laws and regulations regarding the collection, storage, transmission, use and disclosure of such information in some jurisdictions is unclear and evolving. These laws may be interpreted and applied in conflicting ways from country to country and in a manner that is not consistent with our current data protection practices. Complying with these varying international requirements could cause us to incur additional costs and change our business practices. Because our services are accessible in many foreign jurisdictions, some of these jurisdictions may claim that we are required to comply with their laws, even where we have no local entity, employees or infrastructure. We could be forced to incur significant expenses if we were required to modify our products, our services or our existing security and privacy procedures in order to comply with new or expanded regulations. In addition, we could have liability to end users that allege that their personal information is not collected, stored, transmitted, used or disclosed appropriately or in accordance with our privacy policies or applicable laws, including claims and litigation resulting from such allegations. Any failure on our part to protect information pursuant to applicable regulations could result in a loss of user confidence, reputation and the loss of customers which could materially impact our results of operations and cash flows.
We may be unable to obtain and maintain our insurance coverages, and the insurance we obtain may not cover all liabilities to which we may become subject. As a result, we may incur material uninsured or under-insured losses.
The price, terms and availability of insurance have fluctuated significantly since we began offering commercial satellite services. The cost of obtaining insurance can vary as a result of either satellite failures or general conditions in the insurance industry. Higher premiums on insurance policies would increase our cost. In addition to higher premiums, insurance policies may
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provide for higher deductibles, shorter coverage periods and additional policy exclusions. Our insurance may not adequately cover losses related to claims brought against us, which could be material. Our insurance could become more expensive and difficult to maintain and may not be available in the future on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Our failure to maintain sufficient insurance could also be an event of default under our Facility Agreement.
Product Liability Insurance and Product Replacement or Recall Costs
We are subject to product liability and product recall claims if any of our products and services are alleged to have resulted in injury to persons or damage to property. If any of our products proves to be defective, we may need to recall and/or redesign them. In addition, any claim or product recall that results in significant adverse publicity may negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, we do not maintain any product recall insurance, so any product recall we are required to initiate could have a significant impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. We regularly investigate potential quality issues as part of our ongoing effort to deliver quality products to our customers.
Because consumers use SPOT products and services in isolated and, in some cases, dangerous locations, we cannot predict whether users of the device who suffer injury or death may seek to assert claims against us alleging failure of the device to facilitate timely emergency response. Although we will seek to limit our exposure to any such claims through appropriate disclaimers and liability insurance coverage, we cannot assure investors that the disclaimers will be effective, claims will not arise or insurance coverage will be sufficient.
General Liability Insurance In-Orbit Exposures
Our liability policy, covers amounts up to €70 million per occurrence (with a €70 million annual limit) that we and other specified parties may become liable to pay for bodily injury and property damages to third parties related to processing, maintaining and operating our satellite constellation. Our current policy has a one-year term, which expires in October 2018. Our current in-orbit liability insurance policy contains, and we expect any future policies would likewise contain, specified exclusions and material change limitations customary in the industry. These exclusions may relate to, among other things, losses resulting from in-orbit collisions, acts of war, insurrection, terrorism or military action, government confiscation, strikes, riots, civil commotions, labor disturbances, sabotage, unauthorized use of the satellites and nuclear or radioactive contamination, as well as claims directly or indirectly occasioned as a result of noise, pollution, electrical and electromagnetic interference and interference with the use of property.
Our in-orbit insurance does not cover losses that might arise as a result of a satellite failure or other operational problems affecting our constellation, or damage that may result from de-orbiting a satellite. As a result, a failure of one or more of our satellites or the occurrence of equipment failures and other related problems or collision damage that may result during the de-orbiting process could constitute an uninsured loss and could materially harm our financial condition.
Our satellites may collide with space debris which could adversely affect the performance of our constellation.
Although we have some ability to maneuver our satellites to avoid potential collisions with space debris, this ability is limited by, among other factors, uncertainties and inaccuracies in the projected orbit location of and predicted conjunctions with debris objects tracked and cataloged by the U.S. government. Additionally, some space debris is too small to be tracked and therefore its orbital location is completely unknown; nevertheless, this debris is still large enough to potentially cause severe damage or a failure of one of our satellites should a collision occur. If our constellation experiences satellite collisions with space debris, our service could be impaired. Any such collision could potentially expose us to significant losses.
Changes in tax rates or adverse results of tax examinations could materially increase our costs.
We operate in various U.S. and foreign tax jurisdictions. The process of determining our anticipated tax liabilities involves many calculations and estimates which are inherently complex. We believe that we have complied, in all material respects, with our obligations to pay taxes in these jurisdictions. However, our position is subject to review and possible challenge by the taxing authorities of these jurisdictions. If the applicable taxing authorities were to challenge successfully our current tax positions, or if there were changes in the manner in which we conduct our activities, we could become subject to material unanticipated tax liabilities. We may also become subject to additional tax liabilities as a result of changes in tax laws, which could in certain circumstances have a retroactive effect.
As a result of our acquisition of an IGO in Brazil during 2008, we are exposed to potential pre-acquisition tax liabilities, for which we have been indemnified by the previous owners. As of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, we recorded a tax
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liability of $1.4 million and $1.1 million, respectively, to the foreign tax authorities with an offsetting tax receivable from the previous owners.
In addition, we reached an agreement with the seller in November of 2014 to fully settle outstanding refinancing contingencies by the utilization of the Brazilian tax amnesty program. Pursuant to the settlement, the seller paid approximately $0.2 million of these liabilities. We calculated the amount of the tax liability to be settled after reducing for the accumulated fiscal losses related to the tax periods preceding the date of the agreement. If the amount required to satisfy the tax liabilities under the amnesty program differs from the amount paid by the seller, we and the seller will arrange a true-up. We will continue to monitor the remaining contingencies and work with the Brazilian tax authority to settle any remaining unpaid contingencies. We may also be exposed to these or other pre-acquisition liabilities for which we may not be fully indemnified by the seller, or the seller may fail to perform its indemnification obligations.
Our revenues are subject to changes in global economic conditions and consumer sentiment and discretionary spending.
Financial markets continue to be uncertain and could significantly adversely impact global economic conditions. These conditions could lead to further reduced consumer spending in the foreseeable future, especially for discretionary travel and related products. A substantial portion of the potential addressable market for our consumer retail products and services relates to recreational users, such as mountain climbers, campers, kayakers, sport fishermen and wilderness hikers. These potential customers may reduce their activities or their spending due to economic conditions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.
We are exposed to trade credit risk in the ordinary course of our business activities.
We are exposed to risk of loss in the event of nonperformance by our customers. Some of our customers may be highly leveraged and subject to their own operating and regulatory risks. Many of our customers finance their activities through cash flow from operations, the incurrence of debt or the issuance of equity. From time to time, the availability of credit is more restrictive. The combination of reduction of cash flow resulting from declines in commodity prices and the lack of availability of debt or equity financing may result in a significant reduction in our customers' liquidity and ability to make payments or perform on their obligations to us. Even if our credit review and analysis mechanisms work properly, we may experience financial losses in our dealings with other parties. Any increase in the nonpayment or nonperformance by our customers could reduce our cash flows.
Our Simplex business is heavily concentrated in the oil and gas industry and has been negatively impacted by the downturn in this industry in recent years. For example, our largest customer during 2016 is a reseller to oil and gas companies. Concentrations of customers in other industries may further increase trade credit risk of our business.
Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.
Borrowings under our Facility Agreement bear interest at a variable rate. In order to mitigate a portion of our variable rate interest risk, we entered into a ten-year interest rate cap agreement. The interest rate cap agreement reflects a variable notional amount at interest rates that provide coverage to us for exposure resulting from escalating interest rates over the term of the Facility Agreement. The interest rate cap provides limits on the six-month Libor rate ("Base Rate") used to calculate the coupon interest on outstanding amounts on the Facility Agreement. Our interest rate is capped at 5.5% if the Base Rate does not exceed 6.5%. Should the Base Rate exceed 6.5%, our Base Rate will be 1% less than the then six-month Libor rate. Regardless of our attempts to mitigate our exposure to interest rate fluctuations through the interest rate cap, we still have exposure for the uncapped amounts of the facility, which remain subject to a variable interest rate. As a result, an increase in interest rates could result in a substantial increase in interest expense, especially as the capped amount of the term loan decreases over time.
The loss of skilled management and personnel could impair our operations.
Our performance is substantially dependent on the performance and institutional knowledge of our senior management and key scientific and technical personnel. The loss of the services of any member of our senior management, scientific or technical staff or the inability to attract key employees may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of business objectives by diverting management's attention to retention matters, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.
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A natural disaster could diminish our ability to provide communications service.
Natural disasters could damage or destroy our ground stations resulting in a disruption of service to our customers. In addition, the collateral effects of disasters such as flooding may impair the functioning of our ground equipment. If a natural disaster were to impair or destroy any of our ground facilities, we might be unable to provide service to our customers in the affected area for a period of time. Even if our gateways are not affected by natural disasters, our service could be disrupted if a natural disaster damages the public switch telephone network or terrestrial wireless networks or our ability to connect to the public switch telephone network or terrestrial wireless networks. Additionally, there are inherent dangers and risk associated with our satellite operations, including the risk of increased radiation. Any such failures or service disruptions could harm our business and results of operations.
We have been in the past from time to time, and may in the future, be subject to litigation and investigations that could have a substantial, adverse impact on our business.
From time to time we are subject to litigation, including claims related to our business activities. We have also been in the past from time to time, and may in the future, been subject to investigations by regulators and governmental agencies, including from the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Irrespective of its merits, litigation and investigations may be both lengthy and disruptive to our operations and could cause significant expenditure and diversion of management attention. In our opinion there is no pending litigation, investigation, dispute or claim that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or liquidity other than the arbitration with Thales, which is described in Note 7 to our 2016 annual financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. However, we may be wrong in this assessment. Additionally, in the future we may become subject to additional litigation could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and operating results, on the trading price of our securities and on our ability to access the capital markets.
We have had material weaknesses in our internal controls in the past and we cannot assure you that in the future additional material weaknesses will not recur, exist or otherwise be identified.
Our internal control processes, regardless of how well designed, operated and evaluated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that their objectives will be met. Therefore, we have had material weaknesses in our internal controls in the past and we cannot assure you that in the future additional material weaknesses will not recur, exist or otherwise be identified. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of our processes, procedures and controls and will make changes as management determines appropriate. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports. If we cannot produce reliable financial reports, our business and operating results may be adversely affected, investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information, there may be a negative effect on our stock price, and we may be subject to civil or criminal investigations and penalties, litigation, regulatory or enforcement actions by the SEC and the NYSE American.
Wireless devices' radio frequency emissions are the subject of regulation and litigation concerning their environmental effects, which includes alleged health and safety risks. As a result, we may be subject to new regulations, demand for our services may decrease, and we could face liability based on alleged health risks.
There has been adverse publicity concerning alleged health risks associated with radio frequency transmissions from portable hand-held telephones that have transmitting antennas. Lawsuits have been filed against participants in the wireless industry alleging a number of adverse health consequences, including cancer, as a result of wireless phone usage. Other claims allege consumer harm from failures to disclose information about radio frequency emissions or aspects of the regulatory regimes governing those emissions. Although we have not been party to any such lawsuits, we may be exposed to such litigation in the future. While we comply with applicable standards for radio frequency emissions and power and do not believe that there is valid scientific evidence that use of our devices poses a health risk, courts or governmental agencies could determine otherwise. Any such finding could reduce our revenue and profitability and expose us and other communications service providers or device sellers to litigation, which, even if frivolous or unsuccessful, could be costly to defend.
If consumers' health concerns over radio frequency emissions increase, they may be discouraged from using wireless handsets. Further, government authorities might increase regulation of wireless handsets as a result of these health concerns. Any actual or perceived risk from radio frequency emissions could reduce the number of our subscribers and demand for our products and services.
Risks Related to Government Regulations
Our business is subject to extensive government regulation, which mandates how we may operate our business and may increase our cost of providing services, slow our expansion into new markets and subject our services to additional competitive pressures.
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Our ownership and operation of an MSS system are subject to significant regulation in the United States by the FCC and in foreign jurisdictions by similar authorities. Additionally, our use of our licensed spectrum globally is subject to coordination by the ITU. Our second-generation constellation has been licensed and registered in France. The rules and regulations of the FCC or these foreign authorities may change and may not continue to permit our operations as currently conducted or as we plan to conduct them. Further, certain foreign jurisdictions may decide to allow additional uses within our ITU-allocation of spectrum that may be incompatible with our continued provision of MSS.
Failure to provide services in accordance with the terms of our licenses or failure to operate our satellites, ground stations, or other terrestrial facilities (including those necessary to provide ATC services) as required by our licenses and applicable government regulations could result in the imposition of government sanctions against us, up to and including cancellation of our licenses.
Our system requires regulatory authorization in each of the markets in which we or the IGOs provide service. We and the IGOs may not be able to obtain or retain all regulatory approvals needed for operations. For example, the company with which the original owners of our first-generation network contracted to establish an independent gateway operation in South Africa was unable to obtain an operating license from the Republic of South Africa and abandoned the business in 2001. Regulatory changes, such as those resulting from judicial decisions or adoption of treaties, legislation or regulation in countries where we operate or intend to operate, may also significantly affect our business. Because regulations in each country are different, we may not be aware if some of the IGOs and/or persons with which we or they do business do not hold the requisite licenses and approvals.
Our current regulatory approvals could now be, or could become, insufficient in the view of foreign regulatory authorities. Furthermore, any additional necessary approvals may not be granted on a timely basis, or at all, in all jurisdictions in which we wish to offer services, and applicable restrictions in those jurisdictions could become unduly burdensome.
Our operations are subject to certain regulations of the United States State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (the export of satellites and related technical data), United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (financial transactions and customers with sanctioned persons or countries), and the United States Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (export of satellites and related technical data, our gateways, phones) and as well as other similar foreign regulations. These U.S. and foreign obligations and regulations may limit or delay our ability to offer products and services in a particular country. We may be required to provide U.S. and some foreign government law enforcement and security agencies with call interception services and related government assistance, in respect of which we face legal obligations and restrictions in various jurisdictions. These regulations may limit or delay our ability to operate in a particular country or engage in transactions with certain parties and may impose significance compliance costs. As new laws and regulations are issued, we may be required to modify our business plans or operations. If we fail to comply with these regulations in any country, we could be subject to sanctions that could affect, materially and adversely, our ability to operate in that country. Failure to obtain the authorizations necessary to use our assigned radio frequency spectrum and to distribute our products in certain countries could have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate revenue and on our overall competitive position.
Spectrum values historically have been volatile, which could cause the value of our business to fluctuate.
Our business plan includes forming strategic partnerships to maximize the use and value of our spectrum, network assets and combined service offerings in the United States and internationally. Value that we may be able to realize from these partnerships will depend in part on the value ascribed to our spectrum. Historically, valuations of spectrum in other frequency bands have been volatile, and we cannot predict the future value that we may be able to realize for our spectrum and other assets. In addition, to the extent that the FCC takes action that makes additional spectrum available or promotes the more flexible use or greater availability (e.g., via spectrum leasing or new spectrum sales) of existing satellite or terrestrial spectrum allocations, the availability of such additional spectrum could reduce the value that we may be able to realize for our spectrum.
Our business plan to use our licensed MSS spectrum to provide terrestrial wireless services depends upon action by third parties, which we cannot control.
Our business plan includes utilizing approximately 11.5 MHz of our licensed MSS spectrum to provide terrestrial wireless services, including mobile broadband applications, around the world. In support of these plans, in December 2016, the FCC adopted a report and order establishing rules that permit us to offer such services. As provided in that report and order, we filed applications to modify our existing MSS licenses in April 2017 in order to obtain the terrestrial authorization permitted in the report and order. The FCC placed Globalstar's applications on public notice in May with a comment cycle that ended in July 2017. In August 2017, the FCC granted Globalstar's MSS license modification application and granted Globalstar authority to provide terrestrial broadband services over its satellite spectrum at 2483.5 MHz to 2495.0 MHz. Globalstar’s MSS licenses, including its terrestrial authority,
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are valid until 2024 and will need to be renewed at that time. In addition, we will need to comply with certain conditions in order to provide terrestrial broadband service under its MSS licenses, including obtaining FCC certifications for our equipment that will utilize this spectrum authority. We are seeking similar approvals in various foreign jurisdictions and have applied for licenses in countries serving 375 million consumers but cannot guarantee that such applications will be successful. Additionally, Globalstar has commenced diligence efforts in countries representing an aggregate population of approximately 425 million. We are currently engaged in the process of selecting a strategic partner (or multiple partners) for operating these spectrum licenses. If we encounter delays in engaging one or more partners or other delays or obstacles in implementing our business plan to use licensed MSS spectrum to provide terrestrial wireless services, our anticipated future revenues and profitability could be reduced. We can provide no assurance that that we will be successful in monetizing the value of these licenses, if we are successful at all. Additionally, together with a working group we intend to first submit for approval our spectrum in a future band class in December 2017 and to ultimately seek approval.
These plans to seek approval for spectrum in a future band class are subject to significant business, economic, regulatory and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control and are based upon assumptions with respect to future decisions, which are subject to change. There is no assurance that we will obtain such approval, seek such approval or even initiate the process for such approval and we undertake no duty to do any of these things.
Other future regulatory decisions could reduce our existing spectrum allocation or impose additional spectrum sharing agreements on us, which could adversely affect our services and operations.
Under the FCC's plan for MSS in our frequency bands, we must share frequencies in the United States with other licensed MSS operators. To date, there are no other authorized CDMA-based MSS operators and no pending applications for authorization. However, the FCC or other regulatory authorities may require us to share spectrum with other systems that are not currently licensed by the United States or any other jurisdiction. On February 11, 2013, Iridium filed its own petition for rulemaking seeking to have the FCC reallocate 2.725 MHz of "Big LEO" spectrum from 1616-1618.725 MHz to Iridium's exclusive use. Iridium also filed a motion to consolidate its petition with our petition for rulemaking. Subsequently, Iridium modified its petition, requesting the ability to share additional spectrum licensed to Globalstar at 1616-1618.725 MHz. Although the FCC has received comments on Iridium's petition, it has not taken any substantive action with respect to it. An adverse result in this proceeding could materially affect our ability to provide both Duplex and Simplex mobile satellite services.
We registered our second-generation constellation with the ITU through France rather than the United States. The French radiofrequency spectrum regulatory agency, ANFR, submitted the technical papers filing to the ITU on our behalf in July 2009. As with the first-generation constellation, the ITU requires us to coordinate our spectrum assignments with other administrators and operators that use any portion of our spectrum frequency bands. We are actively engaged in but cannot predict how long the coordination process will take; however, we are able to use the frequencies during the coordination process in accordance with our national licenses.
In March 2014, the FCC adopted an order related to the 5 GHz band which, among other things, expanded the use of unlicensed terrestrial mobile broadband services within our C-band Forward Link (Earth Station to Satellite) which operates at 5091-5250 MHz. We had previously filed comments in opposition to these changes to the technical rules due to the substantial risk of harmful interference that these deployments could have on our system. As part of this order, the FCC adopted certain technical requirements for the expanded unlicensed use within our licensed spectrum which should protect our services from harmful interference. We can provide no assurances that such requirements will be adhered to by unlicensed users or whether such requirements will actually prevent harmful interference to our services. Further, other regulatory jurisdictions internationally may also consider similar expanded unlicensed use in the 5 GHz band that may have a significant adverse impact on our ability to provide mobile satellite services.
If the FCC revokes, modifies or fails to renew or amend our licenses, our ability to operate may be curtailed.
We hold FCC licenses for the operation of certain of our satellites, our U.S. gateways and other ground facilities, and our mobile earth terminals that are subject to revocation if we fail to satisfy specified conditions or to meet prescribed milestones. The FCC licenses are also subject to modification by the FCC. There can be no assurance that the FCC will renew the FCC licenses we hold. If the FCC revokes, modifies or fails to renew or amend the FCC licenses we hold, or if we fail to satisfy any of the conditions of our respective FCC licenses, we may not be able to continue to provide mobile satellite communications services.
If our French regulator revokes, modifies or fails to renew or amend our licenses, our ability to operate may be curtailed.
We hold licenses issued by, and are subject to the continued regulatory jurisdiction of, the French Ministry for the Economy, Industry and Employment, French Ministry in charge of Space Activities ("MESR") and ARCEP, the French independent
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administrative authority of post and electronic communications regulations, for the operation of our second-generation satellites. These licenses are subject to revocation if we fail to satisfy specified conditions or to meet prescribed milestones. These licenses are also subject to modification by the French regulators. There can be no assurance that the French regulators will renew the licenses we hold. If the MESR and ARCEP or other French regulators for any reason revoke, modify or fail to renew or amend the licenses we hold or take any other action, or if we fail to satisfy any of the conditions of our respective French licenses, we may not be able to continue to provide mobile satellite communications services which would have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.
Similarly, we hold certain licenses in each country within which we have ground infrastructure located. If we fail to maintain such licenses within any particular country, we may not be able to continue to operate the ground infrastructure located within that country which could prevent us from continuing to provide mobile satellite communications services within that region.
Changes in international trade regulations and other risks associated with foreign trade could adversely affect our sourcing.
We source our products primarily from foreign contract manufacturers, with the largest concentration being in China. The adoption of regulations related to the importation of product, including quotas, duties, taxes and other charges or restrictions on imported goods, and changes in U.S. customs procedures could result in an increase in the cost of our products. Delays in customs clearance of goods or the disruption of international transportation lines used by us could result in our inability to deliver goods to customers in a timely manner or the potential loss of sales altogether. Current or future social and environmental regulations or critical issues, such as those relating to the sourcing of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo or the need to eliminate environmentally sensitive materials from our products, could restrict the supply of components and materials used in production or increase our costs. Any delay or interruption to our manufacturing process or in shipping our products could result in lost revenue, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
Our Common Stock is traded on the NYSE American but could be delisted in the future, which may impair our ability to raise capital and would require us to repurchase our 2013 8.00% Notes.
Our Common Stock was listed on the NYSE American under the symbol "GSAT." Broker-dealers may be less willing or able to sell and/or make a market in our Common Stock if delisting were to occur, which may make it more difficult for shareholders to dispose of, or to obtain accurate quotations for the price of, our Common Stock. Removal of our Common Stock from listing on the NYSE American may also make it more difficult for us to raise capital through the sale of our securities.
If our Common Stock is not listed on a U.S. national stock exchange or approved for quotation and trading on a national automated dealer quotation system or established automated over-the-counter trading market, holders of our 2013 8.00% Notes will have the option to require us to repurchase the notes, which we may not have sufficient financial resources to do.
Restrictive covenants in our Facility Agreement do not allow us to pay dividends on our Common Stock for the foreseeable future.
We do not expect to pay cash dividends on our Common Stock. Our Facility Agreement currently prohibits the payment of cash dividends. Any future dividend payments are within the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, working capital requirements, capital expenditure requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions, business opportunities, anticipated cash needs, provisions of applicable law and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. We may not generate sufficient cash from operations in the future to pay dividends on our Common Stock.
The market price of our Common Stock is volatile and there is a limited market for our shares.
The trading price of our Common Stock is subject to wide fluctuations. Factors affecting the trading price of our Common Stock may include, but are not limited to:
• | actual or anticipated variations in our operating results; |
• | failure in the performance of our current or future satellites; |
• | changes in financial estimates by research analysts, or any failure by us to meet or exceed any such estimates, or changes in the recommendations of any research analysts that elect to follow our Common Stock or the common stock of our competitors; |
• | actual or anticipated changes in economic, political or market conditions, such as recessions or international currency fluctuations; |
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• | actual or anticipated changes in the regulatory environment affecting our industry; |
• | actual or anticipated sales of common stock by our controlling stockholder or others; |
• | changes in the market valuations of our industry peers; and |
• | announcement by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, divestitures, joint ventures or other strategic initiatives. |
The trading price of our Common Stock may also decline in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry even if these events do not directly affect us. Our stockholders may be unable to resell their shares of our Common Stock at or above the initial purchase price. Additionally, because we are a controlled company there is a limited market for our Common Stock, and we cannot assure our stockholders that a trading market will develop further or be maintained. In periods of low trading volume, sales of significant amounts of shares of our Common Stock in the public market could lower the market price of our stock.
The future issuance of additional shares of our Common Stock could cause dilution of ownership interests and adversely affect our stock price.
We may issue our previously authorized and unissued securities, resulting in the dilution of the ownership interests of our current stockholders. We are authorized to issue 1.9 billion shares of Common Stock (400 million are designated as nonvoting) and 100 million shares of preferred stock. As of September 30, 2017, approximately 1,051.8 million shares of Common Stock and 134.0 million shares of nonvoting common stock were issued and outstanding. Thermo, the owner of our nonvoting common stock, converted all of its shares of nonvoting common stock into Common Stock in October 2017, in part to maintain at least a 51% voting and economic interest in us as required under the Facility Agreement. The conversion does not require payment of any consideration. Additionally, we have been informed by James Monroe, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, that Thermo may sell up to 38.0 million of shares of our Common Stock beginning 45 days after October 5, 2017 and prior to December 31, 2017 for tax purposes.
As of September 30, 2017, there were 814.2 million shares available for future issuance, of which approximately 170.0 million shares were contingently issuable upon the exercise of warrants, stock options, or convertible notes, the vesting of restricted stock awards, and as consideration for other liabilities. The potential issuance of additional shares of Common Stock may create downward pressure on the trading price of our Common Stock. We may issue additional shares of our Common Stock or other securities that are convertible into or exercisable for Common Stock for capital raising or other business purposes. Future sales of substantial amounts of Common Stock, or the perception that sales could occur, could have a material adverse effect on the price of our Common Stock.
We have issued and may issue shares of preferred stock or debt securities with greater rights than our Common Stock.
Our certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors to issue one or more series of preferred stock and set the terms of the preferred stock without seeking any further approval from holders of our Common Stock. Currently, there are 100 million shares of preferred stock authorized; during 2009 one share of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock was issued and subsequently converted to shares of Common Stock and nonvoting common stock. Any preferred stock that is issued may rank ahead of our Common Stock in terms of dividends, priority and liquidation premiums and may have greater voting rights than holders of our Common Stock.
If persons engage in short sales of our Common Stock, the price of our Common Stock may decline.
Selling short is a technique used by a stockholder to take advantage of an anticipated decline in the price of a security. A significant number of short sales or a large volume of other sales within a relatively short period of time can create downward pressure on the market price of a security. Further sales of Common Stock could cause even greater declines in the price of our Common Stock due to the number of additional shares available in the market, which could encourage short sales that could further undermine the value of our Common Stock. Holders of our securities could, therefore, experience a decline in the value of their investment as a result of short sales of our Common Stock.
Provisions in our charter documents and Facility Agreement and Delaware corporate law may discourage takeovers, which could affect the rights of holders of our Common Stock and convertible notes.
Provisions of Delaware law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and our Facility Agreement and indenture could hamper a third party's acquisition of us or discourage a third party from attempting to acquire control of us. These provisions include:
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• | the absence of cumulative voting in the election of our directors, which means that the holders of a majority of our Common Stock may elect all of the directors standing for election; |
• | the ability of our board of directors to issue preferred stock with voting rights or with rights senior to those of the Common Stock without any further vote or action by the holders of our Common Stock; |
• | the division of our board of directors into three separate classes serving staggered three-year terms; |
• | the ability of our stockholders, at such time when Thermo does not own a majority of our outstanding capital stock entitled to vote in the election of directors, to remove our directors only for cause and only by the vote of at least 662/3% of the outstanding shares of capital stock entitled to vote in the election of directors; |
• | prohibitions, at such time when Thermo does not own a majority of our outstanding capital stock entitled to vote in the election of directors, on our stockholders acting by written consent; |
• | prohibitions on our stockholders calling special meetings of stockholders or filling vacancies on our board of directors; |
• | the requirement, at such time when Thermo does not own a majority of our outstanding capital stock entitled to vote in the election of directors, that our stockholders must obtain a super-majority vote to amend or repeal our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws; |
• | change of control provisions in our Facility Agreement, which provide that a change of control will constitute an event of default and, unless waived by the lenders, will result in the acceleration of the maturity of all indebtedness under that agreement; |
• | change of control provisions relating to our 2013 8.00% Notes, which provide that a change of control will permit holders of those notes to demand immediate repayment; and |
• | change of control provisions in our 2006 Equity Incentive Plan, which provide that a change of control may accelerate the vesting of all outstanding stock options, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock. |
We also are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits us from engaging in any business combination with any interested stockholder, as defined in that section, for a period of three years following the date on which that stockholder became an interested stockholder. This provision does not apply to Thermo, which became our principal stockholder prior to our initial public offering.
These provisions also could make it more difficult for you and our other stockholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions, and could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Common Stock.
We are controlled by Thermo, whose interests may conflict with yours.
As of September 30, 2017, Thermo owned approximately 52% of our outstanding Common Stock and approximately 57% of all outstanding common stock. Additionally, Thermo owns convertible notes and warrants that may be converted into or exercised for additional shares of Common Stock and converted all 134.0 million shares of its nonvoting common stock into Common Stock in October 2017, in part to maintain at least a 51% voting and economic interest in us as required under the Facility Agreement. Thermo is able to control the election of all of the members of our board of directors and the vote on substantially all other matters, including significant corporate transactions such as the approval of a merger or other transaction involving our sale.
We have depended substantially on Thermo to provide capital to finance our business. In 2006 and 2007, Thermo purchased an aggregate of $200 million of Common Stock at prices substantially above market. On December 17, 2007, Thermo assumed all of the obligations and was assigned all of the rights (other than indemnification rights) of the administrative agent and the lenders under our amended and restated credit agreement. To fulfill the conditions precedent to our Facility Agreement, in 2009, Thermo converted the loans outstanding under the credit agreement into equity and terminated the credit agreement. In addition, Thermo and its affiliates deposited $60.0 million in a contingent equity account to fulfill a condition precedent for borrowing under the Facility Agreement, purchased $20.0 million of our 5.0% Notes, which were subsequently converted into shares of Common Stock in 2013, purchased $11.4 million of our 2013 8.00% Notes, loaned us $37.5 million to fund our debt service reserve account under the Facility Agreement, and funded a total of $65.0 million during 2013 pursuant to the terms of the Equity Commitment, Restructuring and Consent Agreement, the Common Stock Purchase Agreement, and the Common Stock Purchase and Option Agreement. Additionally, in August 2015, we entered into an equity agreement with Thermo in which Thermo agreed to purchase up to $30.0 million of our equity securities if we so requested or if an event of default was continuing under the Facility Agreement and funds were not available under our Common Stock purchase agreement with Terrapin. Thermo was not required to fund under this commitment and has no remaining cash equity commitment as of December 31, 2016. In June 2017, Thermo purchased 17.8 million shares of our Common Stock for a purchase price of $33.0 million to provide funds required by our lenders to obtain an amendment to our Facility Agreement. In October 2017, Thermo purchased a total of 27.6 million shares of our Common Stock at a purchase price of $43.3 million in connection with our public stock offering.
Thermo is controlled by James Monroe III, our Chairman and CEO. Through Thermo, Mr. Monroe holds equity interests in, and serves as an executive officer or director of, a diverse group of privately-owned businesses not otherwise related to us. We
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reimburse Thermo and Mr. Monroe for certain third party, documented, out of pocket expenses they incur in connection with our business.
The interests of Thermo may conflict with the interests of our other stockholders. Thermo may take actions it believes will benefit its equity investment in us or loans to us even though such actions might not be in your best interests as a holder of our Common Stock.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.
Not Applicable
Item 3. Defaults upon Senior Securities.
None
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not Applicable
Item 5. Other Information.
None.
Item 6. Exhibits.
Exhibit Number | Description | |
31.1 | ||
31.2 | ||
32.1 | ||
32.2 | ||
101.INS | XBRL Instance Document | |
101.SCH | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document | |
101.CAL | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document | |
101.DEF | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document | |
101.PRE | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document | |
101.LAB | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document | |
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
GLOBALSTAR, INC. | |||
Date: | November 2, 2017 | By: | /s/ James Monroe III |
James Monroe III | |||
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
/s/ Rebecca S. Clary | |||
Rebecca S. Clary | |||
Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer) |
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