Telesat headquarters in Ottawa, Canada.
Photo Credit: Telesat

Telesat revealed its financial results for its Third Quarter (Q3) 2019, the three month period ended Sept. 30, in which it reported consolidated revenue of $180 million ($237 million CAD), an increase of 4 percent compared to Q3 2018. The increase was due to higher revenue related to the Telstar 19 Vantage and Telstar 18 Vantage satellites, which entered into commercial service in August 2018 and Oct. 2018, respectively, combined with an increase from short-term services provided to other satellite operators.

Telesat’s net loss for the quarter was $93.5 million ($123 million CAD) compared to net income of $88.7 million ($117 million CAD) for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The difference was the result of higher non-cash losses on financial instruments and a larger non-cash loss on foreign exchange arising principally from the translation of Telesat’s U.S. dollar denominated debt into Canadian dollars in the third quarter of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $154.3 million ($203 million CAD), an increase of 8 percent compared to the same period in 2018.

“I am pleased with our financial and operating performance in the third quarter of 2019 and the first nine months of the year,” commented Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO. “Our Telstar 19V and 18V satellites, as well as certain short-term satellite services provided to another satellite operator, contributed to top line growth relative to Q3 last year, and our continued operating discipline resulted in an increase in both Adjusted EBITDA and our Adjusted EBITDA margin. In addition to our strong performance in the quarter and year to date, last month we successfully refinanced our existing 8.875 percent Notes to reduce our borrowing costs and extend our borrowing maturities. Looking ahead, we remain heavily focused on continuing to increase the utilization of our in-orbit satellites and executing on our key growth initiatives, including our planned Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation.”