UrtheCast Reports 2014 Third Quarter Financial Results

VANCOUVER, Nov. 13, 2014 /CNW/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) ("UrtheCast" or the "Company"), a technology company that is developing the world's first Ultra HD video platform of Earth from space, today announces financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014. The Company reported a comprehensive loss of $3.9 million in the quarter as compared to $2.6 million in the comparative quarter and $4.1 million in the previous quarter. This year, the Company's comprehensive loss to date was $11.9 million as compared to $14.4 million in the previous year.

Highlights include:

Major Contract Update

UrtheCast's confidential customer on the previously-announced, five-year contract valued at US $65 million has provided the Company with a signed Authorization to Proceed ("ATP"). This ATP, along with the expected receipt of an advance payment of US $3 million, will provide UrtheCast with the funds to begin preliminary work on the program, while the parties await a final signature on the contract.

Business Interruption Insurance Payment

The Company has reached agreement with its underwriters for payment of its Business Interruption insurance claim. As a part of this agreement, UrtheCast's underwriters have agreed to pay the company $7.75 million and allocate an additional $750,000 per month to the Company beginning in January 2015, which will not be paid until its Ultra HD video camera, Iris, reaches Initial Operation Capability ("IOC"), or until the maximum insured amount of $11.5 million is reached. 

Acquired Access to TDRSS

In conjunction with NanoRacks LLC, and through their Space Act Agreement with NASA, UrtheCast has been granted access to the NASA geo-stationary constellation for downlinking data to Earth, known as the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System ("TDRSS"). This will significantly enhance UrtheCast's ability to downlink data and reduce the timelines for data delivery.

HRC Update

The Company's engineering team has developed and successfully ground-tested a solution for the Bi-axial Pointing Platform ("BPP"), which involves software updates and the installation of additional cabling inside the Zvezda module of the ISS. These cables are expected to be sent to the ISS aboard the manned Soyuz 42 launch, scheduled for November 23, 2014.

Achieving initial operations from the High-Resolution Camera ("HRC") is dependent on the completion of the commissioning and calibration of the BPP. Once the cables are installed, the Company expects that it will take a few weeks to complete the commissioning of the BPP before the HRC commissioning and calibration can commence.

MRC Update

The Company continued to move toward commencing commercial sales of imagery from our Medium-Resolution Camera ("MRC"). The initial MRC imagery has been available on UrtheCast's website for downloading, and contract negotiations for MRC imagery with several customers from around the world are underway.

Website Development

The latest version of the website with initial features was released in mid-September 2014 to a select set of application developers who had requested early access.  Additional features of the web platform and Application Programming Interface (API), including ordering and publishing services, are planned for launch beginning in 2015.

Results of Operations

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
		2014		2013		2014		2013
General and administrative expenses	$	2,540,554	$	1,444,187	$	8,070,313	$	3,566,751
Research expenditures		872,039		96,108		1,847,658		927,782
Share-based payments		538,645		1,086,499		2,029,116		2,437,731
Operating loss		3,951,238		2,626,794		11,947,087		6,932,264
Net finance (income)/costs, foreign exchange (gains)/losses and changes in fair value of derivatives		(4,863)		(27,581)		(62,348)		36,724
Loss on settlement of convertible debenture		-				-		230,345
Non-cash loss on completion of Transaction		-				-		7,205,501
Net loss		3,946,375		2,599,213		11,884,739		14,404,834
Other comprehensive loss		(8,350)		(2,333)		7,610		1,654
Comprehensive loss	$	3,938,025	$	2,596,880	$	11,892,349	$	14,406,488
Net loss per share	$	0.06	$	0.04	$	0.18	$	0.35

Given the current cash position of $5.7 million, the expected cash receipts and the initial expected revenues from the MRC, the Company's funds are expected to be sufficient to get it through to the start of revenue generation by the HRC. The expected cash receipts include the proceeds from the agreed insurance claim of $7.75 million, the ATP deposit of US $3 million and the additional major contract deposit of US $10 million.

"Completing our transition into the revenue stage and adding the TDRSS downlink made for a very successful quarter. With the launch of the cables later this month that will be used to solve the BPP anomaly, we are optimistic about our expected progress in Q4 and confident about our growth prospects," explained Scott Larson, UrtheCast's Chief Executive Officer.

The full financial statements and accompanying Management's Discussion & Analysis are available on UrtheCast's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at its website www.sedar.com, and on UrtheCast's website at www.urthecast.com.

The Company will host a conference call regarding its corporate earnings for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) on Thursday, November 13, 2014.  The live conference call will be available by calling toll-free at 866-696-5910, or by toll call at 416-340-2217. The participant pass code is 5604453.

An archived version of the conference call will be made available on the Company's investor webcast page following the live conference call.

About UrtheCast Corp.

UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that is developing the world's first Ultra HD video feed of Earth, streamed from space in full color. Working with renowned aerospace partners from across the globe, UrtheCast has built, launched, installed, and will soon operate its Ultra HD video camera, Iris, on the ISS alongside its Medium Resolution Camera ("MRC") which reached Initial Operation Capability ("IOC") in 2014. Video and still image data captured by the cameras will be downlinked to ground stations across the planet and displayed on the UrtheCast web platform, or distributed directly to partners and customers. UrtheCast's cameras will provide Ultra HD video and still imagery of Earth that will allow for monitoring of the environment, humanitarian relief, social events, agricultural land, etc. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker 'UR'.

For more information visit UrtheCast's website at www.urthecast.com.

Forward Looking Information

This release contains certain information which, as presented, constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information involves statements that relate to future events and often addresses expected future business and financial performance, containing words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions and includes, but is not limited to, statements about the commissioning of the cameras and the BPP, plans to operate camera components on, and stream video footage from, the ISS, proposed image and video product offerings, expectations regarding the commencement of commercial operations, expected partners and customers to distribute such products and expected costs and revenues. Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of UrtheCast to control or predict, and which may cause UrtheCast's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, including, but not limited to, damage which may have occurred to the cameras during launch or installation, unexpected changes in Russian or Canadian government policies, technology changes, reliance on key personnel, the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers, directors or promoters with certain other projects, competition, risks related to the business activities of Longford Energy Inc. (now UrtheCast) prior to the reverse take-over transaction with Earth Video Camera Inc., as well as those factors discussed in the Company's annual information form dated March 26, 2014, (the "AIF") and the Company's short form base shelf prospectus dated April 7, 2014 (the "Prospectus") which are available under UrtheCast's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information is developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, in the AIF and Prospectus, and as otherwise disclosed from time to time on UrtheCast's SEDAR profile.

Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and UrtheCast undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as may be required by applicable Canadian securities laws. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: UrtheCast Corp.

Issa Nakhleh, CFO, [phone] Direct

Related Links

www.urthecast.com