Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Introduction
The statements included in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements regarding our future financial results, operating results, business strategies, projected costs, products and services, competitive positions and plans, customer preferences, consumer trends, anticipated product development, and objectives of management for future operations. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Any expectations based on these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and other important factors, including those discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of Part I of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. These and many other factors could affect our future financial and operating results and could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations based on forward-looking statements made in this document or elsewhere by us or on our behalf. For example, our expectations regarding certain items as a percentage of sales assume that we will achieve our anticipated sales goals. The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated interim financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this report.
Overview
We are a leading global provider of innovative and technology-driven connectivity solutions to primarily maritime commercial, leisure, and military/government customers. We provide global high-speed Internet and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services via satellite to mobile users at sea and on land. We are also a leading provider of commercially licensed entertainment, including news, sports, music, and movies, to commercial customers in the maritime and hotel markets, along with supplemental value-added cybersecurity, email, and crew internet services.
We generate a substantial majority of our revenues from sales of satellite Internet airtime services. We provide, for monthly fixed fees and per-usage fees, satellite connectivity encompassing broadband Internet, data and VoIP services, to customers via our global HTS network. In mid-2022, we launched our KVH ONE hybrid network, which integrates global satellite service with KVH-provided cellular service in more than 150 countries, along with shore-based Wi-Fi access. Revenue from our cellular airtime service has increasingly supplemented, and we expect will continue to supplement, our satellite-only airtime revenue. In addition, we earn monthly usage fees from sales of third-party satellite connectivity for VoIP, data and Internet services to our Inmarsat, Iridium, and Starlink customers who choose to activate their subscriptions with us. We expect to earn usage fees from OneWeb service upon the launch of that service in the second quarter of 2024. We also generate service revenue from product repairs and extended warranty sales.
Our service sales also include the distribution of entertainment, including news, sports, music, and movies, to commercial customers in the maritime and hotel markets through KVH Media Group, along with supplemental value-added services.
Historically, we have also offered satellite communications products, but these products have represented a declining percentage of our revenues in recent years. Our satellite-only and hybrid products enable marine customers to receive data, VoIP, and value-added services via satellite, cellular, and shore-based Wi-Fi networks onboard commercial, leisure, and military/government vessels. In addition, our in-motion television terminals permit customers to receive live digital television via regional satellite services in marine vessels, recreational vehicles, buses and automobiles. We sell our products through an extensive international network of dealers and distributors. We also sell and lease products to service providers and end users.
In February 2024, we announced a staged wind-down of our product manufacturing operations at our Middletown, Rhode Island location. The wind-down was driven by reduced demand for our hardware products in the face of intensifying competition in the third and fourth quarters of 2023. We concluded that we should discontinue our capital-intensive manufacturing activities and concentrate our efforts on growing sales of our multi-orbit, multi-channel, integrated communications solutions. We expect that we will continue our product manufacturing activities in order to generate a targeted amount of inventory of maritime satellite connectivity and satellite television terminals to meet anticipated demand and that we will cease substantially all manufacturing activity by the end of 2024. We expect to continue to facilitate customer transition to third-party hardware products compatible with our mobile satellite communications services. We also plan to continue to conduct maintenance, service, warehousing, shipping and receiving activities at the Middletown location.
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As part of this restructuring, we will reduce our headcount by approximately 75 employees, or approximately 20% of our total workforce as of the time we announced the restructuring. Approximately one-half of the employee terminations have been completed, and the remaining terminations are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2024. Approximately $2.2 million of severance charges were incurred in the three months ended March 31, 2024. We expect to incur aggregate severance charges for this restructuring of approximately $3.3 million, consisting of approximately $3.0 million of cash charges and approximately $0.3 million of non-cash charges arising from pre-existing contractual obligations to accelerate vesting of certain outstanding equity compensation awards.
Our marine leisure business has been highly seasonal, and seasonality can also impact our commercial marine business. Temporary suspensions of our airtime services typically increase in the third and fourth quarters of each year as boats are placed out of service during the winter months. Historically, we have generated the majority of our marine leisure product revenues during the first and second quarters of each year, and these revenues typically decline in the third and fourth quarters of each year, compared to the first two quarters.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated interim financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The preparation of these interim financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure at the date of our interim financial statements. Our significant accounting policies are summarized in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Critical accounting estimates are those estimates made that involve a significant level of estimation uncertainty and have had or are reasonably likely to have an impact on our statement of operations. We believe that our accounting estimates for intangible assets and other long-lived assets are the only estimates critical to an understanding and evaluation of our financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2024, as discussed below.
Results of Operations
The following table provides, for the periods indicated, certain financial data relating to our operations expressed as a percentage of net sales:
Three Months Ended
March 31,
2024 2023
Sales:
Service 85.6 % 84.2 %
Product 14.4 15.8
Net sales 100.0 100.0
Cost and expenses:
Costs of service sales 48.0 47.1
Costs of product sales 18.1 15.6
Research and development 10.4 7.5
Sales, marketing and support 18.4 16.7
General and administrative 18.1 13.6
Total costs and expenses 113.0 100.5
Loss from operations (13.0) (0.5)
Interest income 3.1 2.3
Other expense, net (0.7) (0.7)
(Loss) income before income tax expense (10.6) 1.1
Income tax expense 0.3 0.1
Net (loss) income (10.9) % 1.0 %
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Three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023
Net Sales
Our net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 were as follows:
Change
For the three months ended March 31, 2024 vs. 2023
2024 2023 $ %
(dollars in thousands)
Service $ 25,038 $ 28,740 $ (3,702) (13) %
Product 4,229 5,403 (1,174) (22) %
Net sales $ 29,267 $ 34,143 $ (4,876) (14) %
Net sales decreased by $4.9 million, or 14%, for the three months ended March 31, 2024 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023. Service sales decreased by $3.7 million, or 13%, to $25.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 from $28.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The decrease was primarily due to a $4.1 million decrease in our VSAT service sales driven primarily by a decrease in subscribers, partially offset by a $0.7 million increase in Starlink service sales. Alternative solutions offered by recent low-earth-orbit (LEO) entrants have heightened competition in the global leisure segment and in commercial and government markets.
We expect that the trend of intensifying competition from LEO satellite service providers will continue and that our quarterly revenues from VSAT service sales will continue to decline on a year-over-year basis at least through the end of 2024. It is possible that the rate of reduction will accelerate. A key driver of the anticipated reduction in revenue is an acceleration of the previously disclosed transition by one of our largest customers, the U.S. Coast Guard, of its primary satellite service relationship to Starlink. As a result of the accelerated transition, the anticipated decline in revenue from this customer will occur earlier, reducing the aggregate amount of revenue we expect to receive from this customer in 2024.
Product sales decreased by $1.2 million, or 22%, to $4.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 from $5.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The decrease in product sales was primarily due to a $1.3 million decrease in VSAT Broadband product sales and a $0.8 million decrease in TracVision product sales, partially offset by a $1.4 million increase in Starlink product sales. The decline in product sales was primarily due to a decrease in unit sales volume, particularly in our global leisure segment. Competition from low-cost alternatives to VSAT, which include streaming capabilities, has had a significant impact on sales of both TracVision and VSAT Broadband products in the leisure segment.
Costs of Sales
Costs of sales consists of costs of service sales and costs of product sales. Costs of sales decreased by $2.0 million, or 10%, in the three months ended March 31, 2024 to $19.4 million from $21.4 million in the three months ended March 31, 2023. The decrease in costs of sales was driven by a $2.0 million decrease in costs of service sales and a less than $0.1 million decrease in costs of product sales. As a percentage of net sales, costs of sales were 66% and 63% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Our costs of service sales consist primarily of satellite service capacity, depreciation, service network overhead expense associated with our VSAT Broadband network infrastructure, direct network service labor, product installation costs, media materials and distribution costs, and service repair materials. For the three months ended March 31, 2024, costs of service sales decreased by $2.0 million, or 13%, to $14.0 million from $16.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, primarily due to a $2.5 million decrease in VSAT Broadband airtime costs of service sales, partially offset by a $0.5 million increase in Starlink airtime costs of service sales. As a percentage of service sales, costs of service sales were 56% for both the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023. We expect that margins on our new reseller arrangements will be lower than current margins on our VSAT Broadband airtime services.
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Our costs of product sales consist primarily of materials, manufacturing overhead, and direct labor used to produce our products. For the three months ended March 31, 2024, costs of product sales remained flat period-over-period at $5.3 million for both the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, primarily due to a $1.3 million increase in Starlink cost of product sales, partially offset by a $0.7 million decrease in VSAT Broadband cost of product sales and a $0.6 million decrease in TracVision cost of product sales. As a percentage of product sales, costs of product sales were 126% and 98% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Cost of product sales increased as a percentage of product sales primarily due to unabsorbed expenses driven by the under-utilization of the factory and severance costs for manufacturing employees in the first quarter of 2024.
Operating Expenses
Research and development expense consists of direct labor, materials, external consultants, and related overhead costs that support our internally funded product development and product sustaining engineering activities. Research and development expense for the three months ended March 31, 2024 increased by $0.5 million, or 18%, to $3.0 million from $2.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The increase in research and development expense resulted primarily from a $0.5 million increase in salaries, benefits and taxes, which was driven by $0.8 million in costs related to the reduction in our workforce beginning in February 2024. As a percentage of net sales, research and development expense was 10% and 8% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Sales, marketing, and support expense consists primarily of salaries and related expenses for sales and marketing personnel, commissions for both in-house and third-party representatives, costs related to the co-development of certain content, other sales and marketing support costs such as advertising, literature and promotional materials, product service personnel and support costs, warranty-related costs and bad debt expense. Sales, marketing and support expense also includes the operating expenses of our sales office subsidiaries in Denmark, Singapore, Brazil, and Japan. Sales, marketing and support expense for the three months ended March 31, 2024 decreased by $0.3 million, or 6%, to $5.4 million from $5.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The decrease in sales, marketing and support expense resulted primarily from a $0.3 million decrease in salaries, benefits and taxes, excluding costs related to the previously mentioned deduction in workforce, and a $0.2 million decrease in bad debt expense. These decreases were partially offset by $0.3 million in costs related to the reduction in our workforce beginning in February 2024. As a percentage of net sales, sales, marketing and support expense was 18% and 17% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
General and administrative expense consists of costs attributable to management, finance and accounting, information technology, human resources, certain outside professional services, and other administrative costs. General and administrative expense for the three months ended March 31, 2024 increased by $0.6 million, or 14%, to $5.3 million from $4.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The increase in general and administrative expense resulted primarily from a $1.2 million increase in salaries, benefits and taxes, which was driven by $0.6 million in costs related to the reduction in our workforce beginning in February 2024 and a $0.5 million reduction in reimbursements made by EMCORE for expenses incurred under the transition services agreement relating to the sale of the inertial navigation business in August 2022. Partially offsetting these items was a $1.0 million decrease in professional fees, related to a decrease in legal fees, as well as additional accounting and consulting costs incurred during the three months ended March 31, 2023 to prepare our 2022 annual filings. As a percentage of net sales, general and administrative expense was 18% and 14% for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Interest and Other Expense, Net
Interest income increased by $0.1 million to $0.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 from $0.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. Of the current period interest income of $0.9 million, $0.8 million is attributable to interest earned on cash and cash equivalents, and the remaining $0.1 million was attributable to interest from lease receivables. Other expense, net remained flat at $0.2 million for both the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 was $0.1 million and less than $0.1 million, respectively, and related to taxes on income earned in foreign jurisdictions.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our primary liquidity needs have been to fund general business requirements, including working capital requirements and capital expenditures. In recent years, we have funded our operations primarily from the sale of two businesses in 2022, the sale of a business in 2019, a PPP loan, cash flows from operations, bank financings and proceeds received from exercises of stock options and the issuance of stock.
On August 9, 2022, we sold our inertial navigation business to EMCORE Corporation for net proceeds of $54.9 million, less specified deductions.
As of March 31, 2024, we had $66.6 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, of which $3.7 million in cash and cash equivalents was held in local currencies by our foreign subsidiaries. Our foreign subsidiaries held no marketable securities as of March 31, 2024. As of March 31, 2024, we had $93.0 million in working capital.
Based upon our current working capital position, current operating plans and expected business conditions, we expect to have sufficient funds, through at least twelve months from the date that this report is filed with the SEC, to fund our short-term and long-term working capital requirements, including capital expenditures and contractual obligations. Our funding plans for our working capital needs and other commitments may be adversely impacted if our underlying assumptions regarding our anticipated revenues and expenses are not realized. If our operating results fail to meet our expectations, we could be required to seek additional funding through public or private financings or other arrangements. In that event, adequate funds may not be available when needed or may be available only on terms which could have a negative impact on our business and results of operations. In addition, if we raise funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience dilution.
Net cash used in operations was $0.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to net cash used in operations of $6.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The $6.0 million decrease in net cash used in operations was primarily the result of a $17.3 million decrease in cash outflows related to accounts payable, a $1.1 million decrease in cash outflows relating to inventories, a change of $0.6 million related to non-cash items and a $0.2 million decrease in cash outflows relating to prepaid expenses and other current assets, partially offset by an $8.5 million increase in cash outflows relating to accrued compensation, product warranty and other expenses, a $3.5 million increase in net loss, and a $1.1 million decrease in cash inflows relating to accounts receivable.
Net cash provided by investing activities was $0.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to net cash used in investing activities of $2.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The $3.6 million change in net cash provided by investing activities was primarily the result of a $3.9 million decrease in net investment in marketable securities, partially offset by a $0.3 million increase in capital expenditures.
Net cash provided by financing activities was $0.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $0.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023. The $0.7 million decrease in net cash provided by financing activities is primarily attributable to a $0.9 million decrease in cash inflows relating to proceeds from the exercise of stock options and purchases under our employee stock purchase plan, partially offset by a $0.2 million decrease in cash outflows related to the repurchase of common stock to satisfy specific tax withholding obligations arising from accelerated vesting of executive stock grants in 2023.
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