A banner hangs outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ahead of the call of Virgin Galactic (SPCE) in New York, USA, October 28, 2019.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Virgin Galactic delivered its fourth-quarter results after the market closed on Thursday, and the company announcing its next spacecraft test is delayed until May.
The company already focused on the space test of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle ‘Unity’ on 13 February, which is a repeat of its flight attempt in December that was cut short by an engine anomaly. Virgin Galactic’s investor offer revealed that ‘EMI’ has been identified as the cause ‘of the engine flight outage in December, with’ additional EMI impacts’ rediscovered during preparations for 13 February.
While only two pilots will be on board, the flight is expected to be the first of three as the company tries to develop its spacecraft system and get paying passengers to fly.
Shares in Virgin Galactic fell 11% after 11 hours after falling 8.4% during the day to $ 42.24 a share.
Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft Unity slips in for a landing after a flight test in New Mexico on June 25, 2020.
Virgin Galactic
“We have reached some important milestones during 2020, despite the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Galglazier said in a press release. “Looking ahead, we focus on completing our test flight program, expanding our fleet of spacecraft and motherships, and developing our unique and transformative customer experience.”
The space tourism industry reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $ 59.5 million, slightly down from a loss of $ 66 million in the previous quarter. The company posted $ 0 revenue in the quarter, as in the previous quarter. Virgin Galactic’s fourth quarter loss of $ 0.31 per share was in line with analysts’ expectations examined by Refinitiv.
The company had approximately $ 666 million in cash at the end of the year, compared to $ 742 million in the third quarter.
Virgin Galactic has also said it will roll out the next spacecraft in its fleet, and the first of the SpaceShip III generation, on March 30. The next spacecraft will begin flight tests this summer.
The company announced earlier Thursday that CFO Jon Campagna has resigned, which is effective Monday. He will be succeeded by Doug Ahrens, former financial director of semiconductor specialist Mellanox.
Virgin Galactic has revealed in a security certificate that James Ryans, a director of Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, resigned from the board of directors on February 22. He will be replaced by Gil West, General Motor’s Chief Operating Officer.
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