A banner hangs off the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) before Virgin Galactic’s IPO (SPCE) in New York, USA, October 28, 2019.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Virgin Galactic delivered its fourth quarter results after the market closed on Thursday, with the company announcing that its next space flight test has been postponed to May.
The company was already targeting the space flight test of its “Unity” vehicle, SpaceShipTwo, on February 13, which represents a repeat of its attempted flight in December, interrupted by an engine malfunction. Virgin Galactic’s investor presentation revealed that it “identified EMI as the root cause” of the engine flight abortion in December, with “additional EMI impacts” discovered during preparations for reflux on February 13.
While only two pilots will be on board, the flight is expected to be the first of three, as the company seeks to finish developing its spacecraft system and start flying with paying passengers.
Virgin Galactic shares fell up 11% on the floor, after falling 8.4% during the day, closing at $ 42.24 per share.
Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft, Unity, plans to land after a flight test in New Mexico on June 25, 2020.
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“We reached several significant milestones during 2020, despite the continuing challenges presented by
the COVID-19 pandemic, “said Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, in a press release.” Looking to the future, we are focused on completing our test flight program, expanding our fleet of spacecraft and motherships and developing our unique and transformative customer experience. “
The space tourism company reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $ 59.5 million, slightly below a loss of $ 66 million in the previous quarter. The company recorded $ 0 of revenue in the quarter, as it did in the previous quarter.
The company had about $ 666 million in cash at the end of the year, compared to $ 742 million in the third quarter.
Virgin Galactic also said it will launch 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 on Thursday that CFO Jon Campagna is stepping down as of Monday. He will be succeeded by Doug Ahrens, former CFO of semiconductor specialist Mellanox.
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