5 March 2014
Record Full-Year Revenues of $121.8 Million, Up 7.4% from Year-Ago Period;
Record High Next 12-Month Backlog of $92 Million
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST), a leading provider of digital media services including content management and global distribution services to the broadcasting industry, announced today financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2013.
Fourth Quarter Highlights
· Record revenues of $32.5 million, up 10.5% year-over-year
· Gross margin for the quarter was 23.3%, down from 25.1% in Q4 2012 due to revenue mix and the impact of foreign currency fluctuations
· Non-GAAP net income of $0.14 per share, unchanged from Q4 2012 despite of the negative effect of foreign currency
· Cash flow from operations was $8.1 million in comparison to $2.8 million in Q4 2012
· Board announces a cash dividend of $0.06 per share, representing an annual dividend yield of 2.6%, in line with previously adopted quarterly dividend policy
Full-Year Highlights
· Record revenues of $121.8 million, up 7.4% year-over-year
· Gross margin for the year was 24.2%, up from 23.9% in 2012 despite foreign currency impact
· Non-GAAP net income per share was $0.48, compared to $0.46 per share in 2012, reflecting a $1.6 million foreign currency impact and higher sales and marketing spending in 2013 resulting from the continuous investment in our geographic presence, to expand our future growth opportunities.
· Cash flow from operations was $21.3 million in comparison to $15.9 million in 2012;
“We generated record revenue and solid growth in the fourth quarter as well as full year 2013, continuing the momentum we saw throughout the year,” commented Avi Cohen, CEO of RRsat. “Our efforts to transform the Company into a global leader with local services, leveraging local talent in key markets around the world and expanding our capabilities, are driving record revenue, accelerating growth and generated our highest next 12months backlog in the Company’s history.”
Mr. Cohen continued, “The integration of JCA Content Preparation services, following our recent acquisition, into our existing infrastructure and service platform has facilitated the establishment of our ‘Global Media Services Platform.’ This powerful platform offers our customers a global single point of contact for handling any media, preparing it, and delivering it to any screen, anywhere in the world, in any form of video consumption, from linear TV to video-on-demand, streaming, pay-per-view and TV-Everywhere. These expanded capabilities are helping us reach a higher tier of potential customers, including global broadcasters and leading content owners.”
Quarterly Dividend
In accordance with the Company’s dividend policy, on March 5, 2014, the Board of Directors declared a cash dividend in the amount of $0.06 per ordinary share, and in the aggregate amount of approximately $1.0 million, representing 50% of RRsat’s net income for the fourth quarter of 2013. The dividend will be payable on April 9, 2014 to all of the Company’s shareholders of record at the end of the trading day on the NASDAQ on March 19, 2014.
Fourth Quarter 2013 Financial Results
Revenues: Fourth quarter 2013 revenues were a record of $32.5 million up 10.5% from $29.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and up 6.2% from $30.6 million in the third quarter of 2013.
Gross profit: Fourth quarter 2013 gross profit and gross margin were $7.6 million and 23.3% respectively, compared to $7.4 million and 25.1%, respectively, for the fourth quarter of 2012. The gross profit in the fourth quarter was mainly impacted by expenses increase related to foreign currency fluctuation, and by the impact of the revenue mix in the quarter. Excluding the foreign currency impact, gross margin would have increased compared to the fourth quarter last year. Although management continues to expect quarterly fluctuations in gross margin due to revenue mix, going forward, excluding any additional foreign currency impact, management believes gross margins should return to historical levels.
Non-GAAP operating income & operating margin, was $2.1 million and 6.5% respectively during the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to $2.9 million and 9.9% respectively in the fourth quarter of 2012. The main change was due to an extraordinary accrual for bad debt expense related to Fashion TV. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, RRsat was forced to take down the services provided to this former customer for non-payment. RRsat filed a $5 million lawsuit in Israel to recoup debt owed as well as damages to RRsat. It is important to note that the Company has been successful in signing a contract with a new customer, also in the fashion industry, utilizing the satellite capacity that was freed up as a result of the forced termination of Fashion TV. This new contract has resulted in an increase to RRsat’s backlog. As a result, management does not expect any negative impact to the Company’s income statement. In aggregate, the foreign currency and extraordinary bad debt expense totaled $0.9 million impact in the fourth quarter.
Inclusive of the extraordinary bad debt expense and the foreign currency impact, Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2013 was $2.4 million, unchanged compared to $2.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and improved to $2.1 million for the third quarter of 2013. Non-GAAP net income per share on a fully diluted basis was $0.14 for the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to $0.14 in the fourth quarter last year and $0.12 in the third quarter of 2013.
GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2013 was $2.1 million, compared to $2.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $1.1 million in the third quarter of 2013. GAAP net income per share on a fully diluted basis was $0.12 for the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to $0.14 in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $0.06 in the third quarter of 2013.
Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2013 was $4.5 million compared to $5.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $5.0 million in the third quarter of 2013.
Backlog to be delivered in the next 12 months increased to a record $92 million, up from $87 million in the year-ago period and up from $88 million in the third quarter of 2013.
Full year 2013 Financial Results
Revenues: Full year 2013 revenues were a record $121.8 million up 7.4% compared to $113.4 million for 2012.
Gross profit: Full year 2013 gross profit and gross margin were $29.5 million and 24.2% respectively, compared to $27.1 million and 23.9%, respectively, for 2012. The gross profit in 2013 was mainly impacted by expenses related to foreign currency fluctuation in the amount of $1.6 million.
Non-GAAP operating income & operating margin were $9.9 million and 8.1% respectively during 2013, compared to $10.3 million and 9.1% respectively in 2012. The main change was due to an extraordinary $0.5 million bad debt expense related to a former customer and the effect of foreign currency impact in the amount of $1.6 million. Normalizing for the foreign currency fluctuations and the impact of the bad debt expense operating margin would have increased to $12 million and 9.9% respectively compared to 2012. In aggregate, the foreign currency and extraordinary bad debt expense totaled $2.1million impact for the full year.
GAAP operating income was $8.0 million compared to $9.7 million in 2012. GAAP operating margin was 6.5% compared to 8.5% in 2012.
Non-GAAP net income was $8.3 million, an increase of 4.6% compared to $7.9 million in 2012. Non-GAAP net income per share on a fully diluted basis was $0.47 compared to $0.46 in 2012.
GAAP net income was $6.5 million compared to $8.3 million in 2012. GAAP net income per share on a fully diluted basis was $0.37 compared to $0.48 in 2012.
Adjusted EBITDA was $18.7 million in 2013, down slightly compared with $18.9 million in 2012.
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2013 totaled $24.2 million compared with $26.4 million as of December 31, 2012. The change in cash position during the period was mainly attributable to the acquisition of JCA in the third quarter investing in CAPEX and the distribution of a cash dividend.
Full Year 2014 Guidance
Full year 2014 total revenues are expected to be in the range of $129 million to $134 million representing 6.2% to 10% year-over-year growth.
Given the increase of RRsat’s revenue outside of the 24/7 services and some level of seasonality associated with that revenue, management believes that an annual revenue guidance is more appropriate than quarterly estimates. Management continues to expect some level of variation in mix from quarter to quarter leading to some fluctuations in revenues and gross margin between quarters. However, management continues to anticipate improvement in gross profit margin, and expects full-year 2014 gross margin to be higher than the margin for the full year 2013.
Conference Call Information
The Company will conduct a conference call today, March 5, 2014 at 9 a.m. ET (4 p.m. Israel time). On the call, Mr. Avi Cohen, Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Shmulik Koren, Chief Financial Officer will review and discuss the results and will be available to answer investor questions.
Call time: 9 a.m. Eastern Time; 4 p.m. Israel Time
- Dial-in number from within the United States: 1-877-941-2068
- Dial-in number from Israel: 1809-21-4368
- Dial-in number from the UK: 0800-358-5258
- Dial-in number (other international): 1-480-629-9712
- Playback, available until March 12, 2014 by calling 1-877-870-5176 (United States) or 1-858-384-5517 (international). Please use pin number 4669061 for the replay.
- A live webcast is accessible at http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=107916.
3 March 2014
Eurosport and France Télévisions have announced that in partnership with the French Tennis Federation (FFT) they will continue to broadcast the French Open until 2018. This agreement, which makes Eurosport and France Télévisions the official broadcasters for the five coming editions of the Roland-Garros tournament in the French market, is the result of a tender launched last autumn regarding the commercialisation of the audio-visual rights for the coming editions 2014 until 2018 of the tournament.
France Télévisions will remain domestic broadcaster of the French Open, as they have been since 1987. Eurosport, already broadcaster of the French Open in the rest of Europe until 2021, has acquired with this deal sub-licensed rights in France from France Télévisions.
Jean-Thierry Augustin, CEO of the Eurosport Group, says: “We are very pleased that we are able to continue our collaboration with the FFT thanks to this agreement, with whom we are already partnering in all other European countries to broadcast Roland-Garros until 2021. This new agreement will enable us to offer our subscribers extensive coverage of the tournament, both on our channels (Eurosport and Eurosport 2) and on our various digital offerings, whether on the internet, mobile, tablet or connected TV. The Roland Garros tournament is one of the flagship events in the portfolio rights of the Eurosport Group, and we are very proud to be able to continue, through the various agreements we have now signed, to support the development of tournament in France and internationally in 54 countries.” (Source: press release)
28 February 2014
RFE/RL’s Board of Directors has appointed Vice President of Finance, CFO and Treasurer John Giambalvo and Editor-in-Chief for Programming Nenad Pejic to serve as Interim Managers of the Corporation. Their service begins on March 2, following the departure of Kevin Klose as President and CEO, and remains in effect until a new president is appointed. The RFE/RL Board of Directors consists of all of the members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
Commenting on the leadership change at RFE/RL, Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman Jeffrey Shell said, “Kevin Klose’s leadership in the past year has assured RFE/RL’s place in the forefront of independent journalism in an area of the world where uncensored news and information is in very short supply. I and the entire board have the utmost confidence in John Giambalvo and Nenad Pejic’s ability to further enhance RFE/RL’s reputation and impact as we search for Kevin’s successor.”
Giambalvo joined RFE/RL as Deputy CFO in 2009, after five years on the BBG staff as Policy and Program Coordinator. Giambalvo is a 1997 graduate of the Duke University School of Law, served as an Associate at Hale and Dorr LLP from 2000-2003 and as an Associate at White & Case LLP from 1997-2000. He also holds a Master’s degree from the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University and has earned a B.S. in Business Administration at the State University of New York at Albany.
Pejic, who was named Editor-in-Chief in December 2013, joined RFE/RL in 1993 as the first Director of RFE/RL’s Balkan Service. Prior to this, Pejic held various positions with Sarajevo Television including head of the news department, Belgrade correspondent, and Program Director. He also served briefly as the Head of Publications and Public Relations at the European Institute for the Media.
The Board has engaged a professional search firm to identify a successor president. (Source: press release)
25 February 2014
Channel NewsAsia, covering the news and helping the region understand Asia for the past 15 years, launches its Corporate Social Responsibility programme during its annual Luminary Awards Gala at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore.
Over the last year, the channel re-launched with 24-hour “live” news reporting, and increased production of original content by over 30 percent with focus on current affairs, analysis and documentaries. The channel has moved aggressively into the digital space with mobile applications and interfaces with smartphones for the on-the-go Asian consumer. A Chinese SMS language service was launched and the channel continues to work on improving accessibility, speed to market, and is developing apps for the next generation Smart TVs.
For the coming year, the channel will launch a slew of initiatives to take on challenges in a diverse and very dynamic market. It will continue to focus on building its programming, and roll out the slate of changes in the next few months for its flagship news programmes and launch programming initiatives to support its CSR plan.
Starting with the morning show, AM Live!, the new format will take in fresh segments that explore for the viewers the latest trends around Asia, in property, food, motoring, health, luxury lifestyle and travel. These will provide opportunities for businesses around the region to work with the channel to reach the affluent Asian consumer. It will continue to have a business focus with daily “live” crosses to its bureaus in the region so viewers get a first-hand update of the Business Day across Asia.
- To further improve its business coverage, there will be more business reports spread throughout the day, increasing the number of hours of market updates across Asia per day, and more hours of business news in its prime time programmes.
- To improve depth of coverage in the daily news cycle, a daily analysis show called Between the Lines will give the story behind the headlines.
- And for viewers who want to understand Singapore better, the current half hour Singapore Tonight, will become a full-hour programme, incorporating the key happenings in the Singapore market and business world.
A series of specials will be committed to initiatives to support the advancement of Women in Asia, in line with the channels’ brand promise to be the “Voice of Asian Progress”. Beyond merely being a Voice – the channel aims to go a step further and promote “Progress in Asia” – improving the lives of Asians via infrastructure and connectivity for local communities.
The focus on women centres around the fact that while they represent nearly half the population in Asia, their voices often go unheard. In many parts of Asia, women still do not have equal opportunities to education, nor are they treated on par in the legal system. The channel aims to use its reach of 50 million across Asia to bring attention to not only the issues, but also the success of women in Asia. It will work with corporate partners to promote awareness of the issues, especially to improve access to infrastructure and technologies.
Ms Debra Soon, Managing Director of Channel NewsAsia comments, “The channel is still young, at 15 years old, we are a baby when compared with other international broadcasters in terms of viewership in Asia. We have worked hard to improve our programming and content over the last year so as to stay abreast and sometimes ahead of the competition, but it’s also time to seriously think about where we are, why we exist and how we can go beyond our business to do something lasting for communities in Asia. We will raise issues about access, talk about uncomfortable things such as the issue of rape and violence against women, gender bias, and also talk about progress and positivity, feature successful role models in business and society.” More details on the CSR programme and projects will be revealed throughout the coming year.
On the business front, the channel took its series of regional seminars called, Business Insights, to different cities starting with Jakarta, Bangkok and Yangon. These seminars will continue to travel to key Asian cities throughout the year and provide opportunities for corporates to join us and tap on the opportunities presented in the gatherings of captains of industry, think-tanks and governments.
It is significant that Channel NewsAsia marks its 15th anniversary at its most prominent event, the Luminary Awards, where it honours some of the best business practitioners. The highest honour of Lifetime Achievement Award for 2014 is bestowed on Mr John L. Gokongwei Jr, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of JG Summit Holdings in the Philippines. His personal life story of overcoming adversity and his exemplary entrepreneurial spirit of achieving great success is one which resonates with the channel and will serve as an inspiration to Asians.
At the Gala, three other awards – Innovation, Green and Future Luminary Awards – will be presented to outstanding businesses and individuals. The recipients had undergone a stringent selection process before being shortlisted and evaluated by a distinguished jury panel of renowned management strategists, academics and corporate personalities. (Please see Annex 1 for details). In conjunction with the Luminary Awards, the Leadership Forum gathers key corporate leaders to share their business insights on the theme of driving growth in a global landscape, focusing on innovative and sustainable leadership. Luminary Leadership Forum 2014 is moderated by Channel NewsAsia’s Teymoor Nabili. (Please see Annex 2 for details). The Awards Gala Dinner will be recorded and telecast on Channel NewsAsia on 28 February 2014, 8-9pm (SIN/HK/MNL time) and the Leadership Forum will be shown on 4 March 2014, 11.30pm (SIN/HK/MNL time).
(Source: Channel NewsAsia press release)
25 February 2014
Euronews joins Google’s free application for smartphones and tablets, available on Android as “Google Play Newsstand” and on iOS as “Google Currents”.
Euronews, the European news leader, is now a partner of the Google App that brings together magazines and other news sources in one must-have reading app.
Both Apps, Google Play Newsstand or Google Currents, help people to create their personalized magazine by aggregating information from selected news sites, magazines, blogs and others news sources in one single place.
Euronews provides users with six content verticals to choose from: “News”, “Europe”, “Business”, “Culture”, “No Comment” and “Sci-Tech” in text, images and videos. Euronews for Google Play Newsstand/Currents Apps is available in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
The Google Apps are free on the AppStore for iPhone/iPad and on Google Play for Android smartphones and tablets.
Furthermore, Newsstand is pre-installed on all new Android devices.
With 1 billion devices and 1.5 million daily activations on Android, Newsstand represents a one-stop shop for users to discover and consume Euronews’ content.
“Being a partner of Google on such a platform allows Euronews to increase its audience reach and engagement in an unprecedented manner and to remain at the forefront of new content consumption trends.” said Walid Chamak, Head of Digital Partnerships at Euronews.
Content syndication fits into Euronews strategy to be a global multimedia News organization.
As underlined at the MIPCOM conference in October: Euronews places innovation at the heart of its strategy which aims to transform the company into a global media group offering “the right content, in the right place, at the right time.”
The company is a pioneer in adapting content to new trends in digital news consumption. By launching some of the most innovative projects and products all over the world, Euronews aims to increase its audience and brand awareness.
(Source: Euronews press release)
25 February 2014
RFE/RL President and CEO Kevin Klose has announced that he will leave the organization March 1.
In farewell remarks to RFE/RL staff, Klose expressed how “honored and delighted” he was to have worked with colleagues in Washington; Prague, Czech Republic, where RFE/RL’s offices are headquartered; and in RFE/RL’s 19 local bureaus.
At the request of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), Klose returned to RFE/RL in January 2013 after previously serving as its president from 1994 to 1997. In his most recent tenure, Klose oversaw the revitalization of RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Radio Svoboda and its Moscow bureau; strengthening of the company’s multimedia platforms and programming; and, most recently, the Ukrainian Service‘s outstanding coverage of Kyiv’s Euromaidan protests.
“Having achieved what the BBG asked me to do, it’s time to move aside and take up the other part of my life,” Klose said, adding that he plans to work “as an independent person steeped in journalism in the pursuit of a wider public engagement of the importance of the work we and our colleagues in U.S. international media do.”
“Words are inadequate to express how sad we are to see Kevin leave,” said RFE/RL’s Editor-in-Chief Nenad Pejic. “He pushed us to the next level, and raised the bar of our professionalism. He stood for us whenever we needed it and we responded by making our content better, sharper, more attractive.”
Klose is a tenured professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, where he served as dean of the journalism college from 2009 to 2012. He also served as president of NPR from 1998 to 2008, directed the International Broadcasting Bureau at the U.S. Information Agency from 1997 to 1998, and was an editor and reporter for “The Washington Post” for 25 years, including stints as Moscow bureau chief, city editor and deputy national editor.
About RFE/RL
RFE/RL is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 21 countries, including Russia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
(Source: RFE/RL press release)
