UrtheCast Reports Third Quarter Financial Results
VANCOUVER, Nov. 14, 2013 /CNW/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) ("UrtheCast" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its financial results for the three and nine months ending on September 30, 2013.
Highlights Include:
- Cosmonauts from Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, successfully installed the Bi-axial Pointing Platform ("BPP") on the Russian module of the International Space Station ("ISS"). The BPP is the structure on which UrtheCast's High-Resolution Camera ("HRC") will be mounted. Both the HRC and the Medium-Resolution Camera ("MRC") were certified for launch into space and shipped to the launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan in late October, where they have been packed into a Progress supply ship that is scheduled for launch aboard a Soyuz rocket on November 25, 2013.
- UrtheCast entered into data distribution agreements with two additional distributors in Asia, increasing the annual purchase commitments from our global network of distributors from $19 million to $21 million. Although these purchase commitments can not be considered binding prior to the cameras being installed on the ISS, UrtheCast has already begun the process of converting these purchase commitments into binding commercial agreements.
- UrtheCast has hired sales leaders in key geographic markets to help grow demand for UrtheCast's expected products. These individuals have extensive industry experience and have exposed UrtheCast's expected product offerings to many new potential distributors and customers globally.
- UrtheCast's engineers and contractors have made substantial progress on the architecture and software required for the development of UrtheCast's Earth-based operations and infrastructure. This infrastructure is critical for tasking the cameras and for downlinking, processing, archiving and distributing the video footage from the HRC and the imagery from the MRC.
Total operating expenses in the quarter were $2.6 million (2012 - $1.6 million), of which $1.1 million (2012 - $0.6 million) was attributable to non-cash, share-based payments. For the nine months ending September 30, 2013, the net loss was $14.4 million, or $7.2 million (2012 - $5.8 million) net of the non-cash loss on the reverse takeover transaction (the "Transaction") in the second quarter. Total expenses, net of share-based payments for the three and nine months ending September 30, 2013, were $1.5 million and $4.5 million respectively.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS | ||||||||
3 months ended September 30, | 9 months ended September 30, | |||||||
2013 | 2012 | 2013 | 2012 | |||||
General and administrative expenses |
$ | 1,444,187 | $ | 737,187 | $ | 3,566,751 | $ | 1,466,824 |
Research expenditures | 96,108 | 275,418 | 927,782 | 984,215 | ||||
Share-based payments | 1,086,499 | 586,478 | 2,437,731 | 3,402,444 | ||||
Operating loss | 2,626,794 | 1,599,083 | 6,932,264 | 5,853,483 | ||||
Finance costs, foreign exchange loss and gains/losses on short- term investments and derivatives |
(27,581) | (20,534) | 36,724 | (20,233) | ||||
Loss on settlement of convertible debenture |
- | - | 230,345 | - | ||||
Non-cash loss on completion of Transaction |
- | - | 7,205,501 | - | ||||
Net loss | (2,599,213) | (1,578,549) | (14,404,834) | (5,833,250) | ||||
Other comprehensive loss | 2,333 | - | (1,654) | - | ||||
Comprehensive loss | $ | (2,596,880) | $ | (1,578,549) | $ | (14,406,488) | $ | (5,833,250) |
Net loss per share | $ | (0.04) | $ | (0.06) | $ | (0.35) | $ | (0.25) |
Commencing on July 1, 2013, UrtheCast capitalized all costs directly attributable to the development of the ground segment network and data storage infrastructure. During the quarter, total development costs of $2.3 million were capitalized. Of this total, $1.1 million was comprised of salaries and benefits of our engineering team and other directly attributable internal costs, thereby reducing our operating costs in the quarter by that amount. The remaining $1.2 million was paid to contractors, consultants and other vendors for engineering support and hardware for the development of the ground segment network and data storage, which would have been capitalized as an intangible asset regardless of our treatment of the internal costs.
The Company's cash position on September 30, 2013, was $25.2 million, a decrease of $7.6 million from June 30, 2013. Cash outflows in the third quarter of 2013 included approximately $1.9 million of commissions and other costs associated with the going public transaction, which were accrued in the prior quarter. Capital expenditures of approximately $2.6 million were made during the third quarter for our camera equipment, which reduced our outstanding commitments to approximately $1.0 million.
"The third quarter of 2013, our first full quarter operating our business as a public company, resulted in the achievement of significant milestones for UrtheCast," explains Scott Larson, UrtheCast's Chief Executive Officer. "Completing the cameras and getting them fully certified for the upcoming launch was key amongst these milestones."
"The significant increase of UrtheCast's staff since early 2013 has provided us with momentum as we move towards the commissioning of our cameras and developing our ground segment in 2014," stated Wade Larson, UrtheCast's President and Chief Operating 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.
About UrtheCast Corp.
UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that is developing the world's first near-live high-definition video feed of Earth, from space. Working with renowned aerospace partners from across the globe, UrtheCast is building, launching, installing, and will operate two cameras on the Russian segment of the ISS. 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 exclusive partners and customers. UrtheCast's cameras will provide high-resolution video and imagery of Earth that will allow for monitoring of the environment, humanitarian relief, social events, agricultural land, etc. UrtheCast has completed the assembly of two cameras that are expected to launch into space in November 2013. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker 'UR'.
For more information visit our 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 launch schedule for our cameras to be delivered to the ISS and the timing of their mounting on the ISS and commissioning, projected revenues from operations, the completion of data distribution agreements and conversion of data distribution agreements into binding commercial orders for UrtheCast's proposed products, expectations regarding obtaining insurance for our cameras during the launch and commissioning process, plans to operate camera components on, and stream video footage from, the ISS, and proposed image and video product offerings. 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 the UrtheCast's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, including, but not limited to, delays in launch schedules, damage to the cameras during launch or once mounted on the ISS, 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. prior to the Transaction, as well as those factors discussed in the Company's annual information form dated November 14, 2013, (the "AIF") which is 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 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
(778) 331-7827 Direct
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