🚀 Spire's Revenue Adjustments

Plus $MYNA new CRO, CEO steps down, $ASTS redeeming all public warrants, ABL layoffs and more! The latest space investing news and updates.

August 30, 2024

The Space Scoop

Week Ended 08.30.2024

Happy Friday! And Happy Labor Day weekend to our US readers. Lets dive right into it.

Market Max-Q

Forward

Top Stories

1) Mynaric ($MYNA) announces departure of CEO and appointment of a Chief Restructuring Officer.

  • Following last weeks lower revised financials, CFO departure and -68% stock move, Mynaric continued with the negative news this week with current CEO, Mustafa Veziroglu, departing and a CRO being appointed. The Annual Meeting scheduled for August 29th will also be postponed.

  • Andreas Reif, who will serve as CRO, will focus on "reducing costs and near-term cash usage while working closely with customers to meet their requirements."

  • Shares finished the week down -20%, bringing the prior two weeks to -75% in shareholder value. Not ideal.

2) Spire ($SPIR) provided an update on its revenue recognition review and announced three new contracts.

  • On August 14th, Spire postponed earnings as the company was "in process of reviewing its accounting practices and procedures with respect to revenue recognition related to certain contracts in its 'Space as a Service' business."

  • On Tuesday the company announced a decision to restate FY2022, FY2023 and Q1 2024 financials following its review of revenue recognition accounting for certain contracts.

  • The review is ongoing, but the contracts identified for re-evaluation / restatement "resulted in recognized revenue currently estimated to be $10-15M on an annual basis." Spire believes that "the restatement of its revenue recognition for these Contracts will not impact its overall cash flows for any period."

  • Spire also took this opportunity to announce three new contract wins:

    • $14M Air Force Research Laboratory Contract

    • £3.5M UK Space Agency Grant

    • $6.7M NASA Contract Renewal

  • The company also signed a waiver and amendment to its financing agreement with Blue Torch Capital that adjusted certain financial covenants and required a $10M payment toward principal. Cash & Equivalents as of 6/30/2024 were $46M.

In Other News

Orbitworks, the New $100M Joint Venture 

Loft Orbital and Abu Dhabi-based Marlan Space established a joint venture to form the Middle East’s first private space infrastructure company. The initial investment aims to produce up to fifty 500kg satellites annually. Its first ten satellites are aiming for launch as early as Q1 2026.

AST SpaceMobile Announces Redemption of Warrants 

$ASTS announced that it will redeem all of its publicly traded warrants to purchase shares of Class A common stock that remain outstanding at 5pm EST time on September 27th for a redemption price of $0.01 per warrant as the price of shares have been at least $18 for 20 trading days within the 30 day trading period ending prior to redemption date.

KKR Receives Regulatory Approval for Minority Stake in OHB 

US-based PE firm KKR received final regulatory approvals to proceed with a 28.6% minority stake in the German space company, which would conclude at €44 per share and equate to a purchase price of €200M+. Upon final close, OHB will delist from public markets.

Raymond James Downgrades Spire 

The Wall Street firm downgraded $SPIR to 'Market Perform' from 'Outperform' without a price target following the need of restated financials. Analyst Ric Prentiss believes this will be a continued overhang and finds it hard for the shares to outperform in that period.

Chart of the Week

August Performance: This month's leader was AST SpaceMobile ($ASTS) at +40%, which should not be a shocker to anyone who follows along here. This months laggards were Terran Orbital ($LLAP) and Mynaric ($MYNA) at -66% and -77% respectively. 

Links

• Hughes ($SATS) & Boost Mobile Demonstrate Automated, Multi-Transport Network Management for US Navy• Redwire ($RDW) To Provide Advanced RF Payloads to Leading European Defense Contractor• Viasat ($VSAT) Appoints Gary Chase as CFO• Blue Origin Completes 26th Mission to Space• Intuitive Machines ($LUNR) Wins $116.9M NASA CLPS Contract Award• ABL Space Systems Announces Headcount Reduction

Opinion

• SoCal Will Be Space Central With or Without Elon, Experts Say• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Is Coming for the Big Boys• Rocket Lab ($RKLB): With Due Haste• Virgin Galactic ($SPCE): Pipe Dream Business Still Lacks Meaningful, Sustainable Model• Intuitive Machines ($LUNR): Dependence on NASA Is a Short-Term Risk

Earnings Calendar

• $PL: Sept 5 - Before Market Open• $SPIR: TBD - Postponed• $MNTS: TBD - Postponed

*Company confirmed dates only.