Austin, TX (May 7, 2012) - 

Astrotech Corporation (Nasdaq:ASTC), a leading provider of commercial aerospace services, today announced financial results for its fiscal year 2012 third quarter ended March 31, 2012.

 

"We are excited to report the positive financial results of the third quarter, driven by our core satellite payload processing business," said Thomas B. Pickens III, Chairman and CEO of Astrotech Corporation. "ASO continued to meet our customer's needs for payload processing while completing over $5.6 million of work on multiple GSE fabrication contracts."

 

"Additionally, we are pleased about the introduction of our mini mass spectrometer, the MMS-1000™, at PITTCON, the world's largest annual conference and exposition for laboratory science. The MMS-1000™ represents a technological breakthrough due to its size and lab quality performance and has been very well received already resulting in a unit sale and in leases to the laboratory and OEM markets. We will continue to expand our product offering by specifically tuning our instrument and directing our sales force towards established and new markets that can benefit from a more affordable, faster, smaller instrument for the research, security, mobile, and in-situ factory applications."

 

Third Quarter Results
The Company posted a third quarter fiscal year 2012 net income of $1.0 million, or $0.05 per diluted share on revenue of $10.0 million compared with a third quarter fiscal year 2011 net loss of $0.4 million, or $(0.02) per diluted share on revenue of $5.7 million.

 

Update of Ongoing Operations
The Company's 18-month rolling backlog, which includes contractual backlog, scheduled but uncommitted missions, and the design and fabrication of GSE, was $34.8 million at March 31, 2012. The majority at ASO consists of pre-launch satellite processing services, which include hardware launch preparation, advance planning, use of unique satellite preparation facilities and spacecraft checkout, encapsulation, fueling, and transport and design and fabrication of equipment and hardware for space launch activities at our Titusville, Florida and VAFB locations.

 

In addition to providing support for missions in process at our facilities in Florida, ASO supported the successful launch of the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System (MUOS-1) and the U.S. Air Force's Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-4).

 

Our Spacetech business unit introduced the MMS-1000™ to market in March 2012, the first commercial product offering of the miniature mass spectrometer initially designed for the sophisticated laboratory professional. The MMS-1000™ is a compact, high performance instrument capable of rapid MS / MS detection of trace levels of volatile compounds in approximately five seconds. The MMS-1000™ provides a versatile platform that can be used in various applications in the security and industrial markets.

 

Financial Position and Liquidity
Working capital was $7.4 million as of March 31, 2012, which included $15.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $1.7 million of accounts receivable.

 

Financial Tables for FY2012 3rd Quarter [PDF 244KB]

 

About Astrotech Corporation and Astrotech Space Operations (ASO)

Astrotech is one of the first space commerce companies and remains a strong entrepreneurial force in the aerospace industry. We are leaders in identifying, developing and marketing space technology for commercial use. Our Astrotech Space Operations (ASO) has been a global satellite processing leader since 1981. With nearly 300 successful spacecraft missions to date, Astrotech continues to provide adaptable and flexible services for its government and commercial customers. Astrotech Space Operations provides all support necessary for successful spacecraft processing to prepare for launch on a variety of domestic and foreign launch vehicles. Spacecraft undergo pre-launch hardware integration and testing, satellite encapsulation, and fueling before transport to the pad. Astrotech Space Operations business unit serves our satellite and spacecraft customers with pre-launch services on the eastern (Kennedy Space Center) and western (Vandenberg Air Force Base) ranges.

 

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from the forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to, continued government support and funding for key space programs, customer and market acceptance of products and services, as well as other risk factors and business considerations described in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings including the annual report on Form 10-K. Any forward-looking statements in this document should be evaluated in light of these important risk factors. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
John Porter
Chief Financial Officer
Astrotech Corporation
512.485.9530