BRAMPTON, ON, Nov. 12, 2021 – MDA, the Canadian company that built the Canadarm2 and are contracted with the Canadian Space Agency to build the Canadarm3 are no stranger to good news these days. The company has recently come back to Canadian ownership, and after a successful IPO are continuing their leadership in space robotics as Canada joins the NASA lead Artemis moon/mars landing. Yesterday they announced they have been awarded the initial design study for a Canadian Lunar Rover mission to the Moon.
In addition to highlighting several contracts in robotics, low orbit satellites and continued leverage of its famed RADARSAT program MDA is the current leader in Canadian space growth. High profile contracts from private space companies like Mitsubishi Japan, JAXA, and Intuitive Machines have also advanced revenue growth into its third quarter results.
As a leading provider of advanced technology and services to the rapidly expanding global space industry, MDA announced its financial results for the three-month period ended September 30, 2021.
“In the third quarter MDA delivered another strong performance highlighted by solid adjusted EBITDA, growth in backlog and double-digit revenue expansion on a year-over-year basis. Operationally, the company continued to execute with significant progress and developments on all three of our flagship programs. With solid financials, operational momentum and growing backlog and demand in Q4 and heading into 2022, we remain focused on delivering long-term growth and shareholder value.”
Mike Greenley, Chief Executive Officer, MDA
MDA releases information on their third quarter results as follows:
- Backlog continues to build this year as we obtain incremental awards across our business.
- Revenue growth on a YTD basis is primarily driven by increased volume in Satellite Systems and the ramp up of the Canadarm3 program.
- Q3 and YTD gross profit improvement is driven by increased profitable volume and improved program performance.
- Increases in operating expenses were primarily driven by the additional quarter of amortization of intangible assets, resulting from the April 2020 acquisition of MDA by Northern Private Capital and increased share-based compensation expenses following the introduction of a new stock option plan with commencement of grants awarded in Q4 2020.
Q3 Customer and Business Highlights:
- In Q3 MDA, continued to make significant progress on all three of our flagship programs:
- On Canadarm3, MDA was awarded a $35.3 million contract from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the design of the Gateway External Robotics Interfaces (GERI), a key component of the Canadarm3 which will be installed on the international Lunar Gateway. The new contract is the third awarded to MDA in conjunction with its Canadarm3 program.
- On Telesat Lightspeed, a series of significant funding announcements including a $1.44 billion investment from the Government of Canada and $109 million partnership from the Province of Ontario substantially advanced the program. MDA continued to advance risk reduction activities under our existing Telesat Lightspeed contract.
- On CSC, work on the requirements analysis phase of the program continued to advance and the team is finalizing a number of the Electronic Warfare suite sensor contracts. The program represents over $1.5 billion of potential revenue for the Company over the life of the contract.
- On Canadarm3, MDA was awarded a $35.3 million contract from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the design of the Gateway External Robotics Interfaces (GERI), a key component of the Canadarm3 which will be installed on the international Lunar Gateway. The new contract is the third awarded to MDA in conjunction with its Canadarm3 program.
- MDA Geointelligence released first details of our next industry leading Earth observation (EO) mission. Leveraging legendary RADARSAT heritage, the new system will include a large C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite operating in a mid-inclination orbit. Capable of covering a 700 km swath in a single pass, the new system will provide the broadest area coverage on the market, changing how, when and what can be seen.
- MDA Robotics and Space Operations announced a series of new contracts reflecting rapid global market growth driven by near-term space exploration missions.
- MDA has been awarded the full contract from MELCO (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation) in Japan to provide a Laser Rangefinder (LRF) altimeter for the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) mission. MDA will be providing two redundant flight units (laser range finder – LRF) altimeters and one engineering development unit (EDU) LRF altimeter.
- MDA has signed an agreement with Intuitive Machines, LLC to provide Lunar landing sensors to support its upcoming IM-1 and IM-2 missions. As a result, MDA landing sensors will support the soft landing US mission to the Moon scheduled for early 2022. MDA landing sensors will also support the mining mission to the South pole of the Moon in late 2022.
- MDA has been awarded the full contract from MELCO (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation) in Japan to provide a Laser Rangefinder (LRF) altimeter for the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) mission. MDA will be providing two redundant flight units (laser range finder – LRF) altimeters and one engineering development unit (EDU) LRF altimeter.
- In line with the Company’s strategic growth objectives, MDA continues to attract and recruit top talent to help drive our future growth. Since the beginning of the year, the Company has hired more than 600 new employees.
