Gogo Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2020 Financial Results

Gogo the world’s largest provider of broadband connectivity services for the business aviation market, today announced its financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

Q4 2020 Highlights of Continuing Operations

• Total revenue of $77.6 million, a 17% sequential improvement, reflecting continuing recovery in the business aviation industry
• Net loss of $16.1 million and Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $19.3 million, each of which includes a $10.1 million full year accrual of employee bonus expense
• ATG aircraft online grew nearly 4% sequentially from 5,577 to 5,778, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 quarterly peak
• Average monthly connectivity service revenue per ATG aircraft online increased more than 2% sequentially from $2,996 to $3,069
• Cash and cash equivalents were $435.3 million as of December 31, 2020 and $465.3 million as of March 9, 2021.  This reflects a $19.1 million repayment of the ABL facility during the fourth quarter.

On December 1, 2020, Gogo completed the sale of its Commercial Aviation (“CA”) division to a subsidiary of Intelsat S.A. for $400 million in cash subject to certain adjustments. The financial results of the CA division are presented as discontinued operations for the fourth quarter of 2020 and all prior periods.

Fourth Quarter 2020 Financial Results from Continuing Operations

• Total revenue of $77.6 million decreased approximately 10% from Q4 2019, driven by decreases in both service and equipment revenue caused by the negative impact of COVID-19 on demand for air travel. On a sequential basis, total revenue grew nearly 17%, driven by a 57% increase in equipment revenue and a 7% increase in service revenue.
• Service revenue of $56.9 million decreased approximately 3% from Q4 2019, resulting primarily from a 4% decrease in average monthly connectivity service revenue per ATG aircraft online (“ARPU”) that was partially offset by a 2% increase in ATG aircraft online (“AOL”). Service revenue increased 7% sequentially as AOL and ARPU increased 4% and 2%, respectively.
• Equipment revenue of $20.7 million decreased 24% from Q4 2019, due primarily to lower narrowband satellite unit shipments. Equipment revenue increased 57% sequentially, due primarily to an increase in ATG shipments, particularly L5 and L3 products on the AVANCE platform.
• Combined engineering, design and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative expenses increased to $30.4 million from $25.7 million in Q4 2019, due primarily to increases in general and administrative spending and employee bonuses.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $19.3 million decreased from $36.2 million in Q4 2019 and $30.2 million in Q3 2020, due primarily to a $10.1 million full year accrual of employee cash bonus expense.

“Our 2020 performance demonstrates the resiliency of our business in this attractive market as Gogo exited the year with a record number of ATG units online,” said Oakleigh Thorne, President and CEO of Gogo.

“We plan to invest in improving the performance of our proprietary ATG network and driving market penetration of our AVANCE platform, positioning us well to introduce valuable add-on services such as Gogo 5G, and other new technologies as they evolve,” Thorne said.

“With the sale of the Commercial Aviation division, we have significantly improved Gogo’s financial profile and net debt level,” said Barry Rowan, Gogo’s Executive Vice President and CFO. “We are now well-positioned to execute a comprehensive refinancing to de-lever and reduce our interest expense, drive future growth and increase shareholder value.”

Full Year 2020 Financial Results from Continuing Operations

• Total revenue decreased to $269.7 million, down 13% from the prior year, driven by COVID-19 related declines in both equipment and service revenue.
  • Service revenue decreased to $212.0 million, down 4% from 2019.
  • Equipment revenue decreased to $57.7 million, down 34% from 2019.
• Net loss decreased to $48.6 million versus a net loss of $88.5 million in 2019.
• Adjusted EBITDA decreased to $98.3 million from $121.8 million in 2019, primarily due to the effects of COVID-19.

2021 Financial Guidance

• Total revenue in the range of $300 million to $320 million
• Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $105 million to $120 million, including approximately $12 million of 5G-related expenses and excluding approximately $4 million of non-recurring separation and migration costs related to the sale of the CA division
• Capital expenditures in the range of $25 million to $30 million, with the majority tied to Gogo 5G
• Gogo anticipates executing a comprehensive refinancing to significantly reduce interest expense. The Company expects to provide full year interest expense and cash flow guidance on the Q1 2021 earnings call.

Long-Term Financial Targets
Gogo also announces the following long-term financial targets:

• Revenue growth at a compounded annual growth rate of at least 10% from 2020 to 2025
• Adjusted EBITDA margin of 35% – 40% throughout the planning period
• Significant free cash flow growth beginning in 2023, following the deployment of the Gogo 5G network in 2022

Conference Call
The Company will host its fourth quarter and full-year 2020 conference call on March 11, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. ET. A live webcast of the conference call, as well as a replay, will be available online on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at http://ir.gogoair.com. Participants can access the call by dialing (844) 464-3940 (within the United States and Canada) or (765) 507-2646 (international dialers) and entering conference ID number: 1990508

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We report Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measurement, in the supplemental tables below. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA for business planning purposes, including managing our business against internally projected results of operations and measuring our performance. This supplemental performance measure also provides another basis for comparing period to period results by excluding potential differences caused by non-operational and unusual or non-recurring items. Adjusted EBITDA may vary from and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Adjusted EBITDA is not a recognized measurement under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP; when analyzing our performance with Adjusted EBITDA, investors should (i) evaluate each adjustment in our reconciliation to the corresponding GAAP measure, and the explanatory footnotes regarding those adjustments, and (ii) use Adjusted EBITDA in addition to, and not as an alternative to, net loss attributable to common stock as a measure of operating results.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain disclosures in this press release and related comments by our management include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our business outlook, industry, business strategy, plans, goals and expectations concerning our market position, international expansion, future technologies, future operations, margins, profitability, future efficiencies, capital expenditures, liquidity and capital resources and other financial and operating information. When used in this discussion, the words “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “budget,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “future” and the negative of these or similar terms and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking statements in this press release. Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations regarding future events, results or outcomes. These expectations may or may not be realized. Although we believe the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give you no assurance these expectations will prove to have been correct. Some of these expectations may be based upon assumptions, data or judgments that prove to be incorrect. Actual events, results and outcomes may differ materially from our expectations due to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Although it is not possible to identify all of these risks and factors, they include, among others, the following: our ability to attract and retain customers and generate revenue from the provision of our connectivity services; our reliance on our key OEMs and dealers for equipment sales; our ability to compete effectively with other current or future providers of in-flight connectivity services and other products and services that we offer, including on the basis of price and performance; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to combat it; our ability to evaluate or pursue strategic opportunities; our reliance on third parties for equipment and services; our ability to recruit, train and retain highly skilled employees; the achievement of the anticipated benefits of the sale of the CA business or our ability to operate as a standalone business; the impact of adverse economic conditions; our ability to develop and deploy our next generation ATG technology; a revocation of, or reduction in, our right to use licensed spectrum, the availability of other air-to-ground spectrum to a competitor or the repurposing by a competitor of other spectrum for air-to-ground use; our use of open source software and licenses; the availability of additional ATG spectrum in the United States or internationally; the effects of service interruptions or delays, technology failures and equipment failures or malfunctions arising from defects or errors in our software or defects in or damage to our equipment; the impact of assertions by third parties of infringement, misappropriation or other violations; our ability to innovate and provide products and services; the impact of government regulation of the internet; our possession and use of personal information; the extent of expenses or liabilities resulting from litigation; our ability to protect our intellectual property; our substantial indebtedness, limitations and restrictions in the agreements governing our current and future indebtedness and our ability to service our indebtedness; our ability to obtain additional financing for operations, or financing intended to refinance our existing indebtedness on acceptable terms or at all; fluctuations in our operating results; the utilization of our tax losses; and other events beyond our control that may result in unexpected adverse operating results.

Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found under the caption “Risk Factors” in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on March 11, 2021.

Any one of these factors or a combination of these factors could materially affect our financial condition or future results of operations and could influence whether any forward-looking statements contained in this report ultimately prove to be accurate. Our forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and you should not place undue reliance on them. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.