Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Mark Dankberg: Okay. Okay. So, a lot in there. So, on the in-flight Wi-Fi, I think we do have a very good relationship with Delta, they’ve supported the notion that we’ll be their partner, including on the global wide-bodies. I think that’s part of what they’re looking for is consistent service across all their fleet. So, we think that they’re confident in ViaSat-3 is enabling us to do that on a global basis — in the time frame that they’re looking for. The — on the business models, one of the things that we have done is we’ve tried to tailor the service models that we offer to different airlines to their — to what their brand wants and the way they’re trying to use in-flight connectivity on their clients. And it varies a little bit by type of plane or routes or length of routes.

But there is — like we’ve said before, there are fixed and variable components to it, and the variable parts are dependent on the airlines model and the way their pipes are planned sort of their roots are planned. So, it’s hard to put a specific number on it. But I think overall, our revenue per plane, all things in — when you consider kind of the full-service model that we have are very representative of what others in the industry have had. We’re not going to break out average revenue per plane in particular. But it’s pretty representative of what others that are in these kind of full-service models have patent.

Landon Park: What kind of upside can you see under a free Wi-Fi model in terms of percent increases as that model matures?

Mark Dankberg: I’m not going to put up a percent increase. I think that what we are seeing and expect, what we expected to see another — in other places where we used in-flight Wi-Fi, you can see passenger engagement rates go from the 5% or 10% range up to the 30% to 40% range pretty easily. So, I think there will be a lot a lot more uptake. And that’s — I think that’s one of the things that makes us attractive for it is the ability to support that. But we’re not going to give any numbers about how that will translate into revenue per plane.

Landon Park: Understood. And then just one follow-up for Shawn on some of the financial guidance laid out in the letter. Can you maybe just bridge for me how you’re getting to the 4.0 leverage target for fiscal 2024 versus the 2.0 pro forma?

Shawn Duffy: Sure. So, I think it’s a couple of parts. First of all, keep in mind, as we look forward to our EBITDA next year, you need to right-size it with respect to not having TDL business anymore. Obviously, we’ll have growth across our business and the continuing operations, but keep that in mind. And then from the capital perspective, this year was about $1.2 billion or so, a little bit over that. Next year, we’ll see it about flat tick down a tad, but the mix will change quite a bit as we’ll have a lot more on the success-based CapEx for CPE relative to the satellite, which ones are coming up. So kind of — if you kind of roll that forward on our pro forma debt as the TDL sale, that’s where you get to about that mark.

Landon Park: And so what’s the underlying cash room that’s implied by that for fiscal 2024?

Shawn Duffy: Well, I think if you just kind of look about to what that EBITDA inferred relative to that CapEx. I’m not going to give kind of the total cash burn to that number, but I think you can kind of do the math — if you triangulate that on.

Landon Park: Okay. Understood. And then just so I make sure I’m understanding for fiscal 2023, the mid-single-digit guidance from last quarter is now flat, correct? So, what is the is the annual EBITDA number going to be in the low 500s on a continued operations basis?

Shawn Duffy: I think what we said is that next year’s EBITDA, we expect it to grow in the low double-digits year-over-year. So, I think–.

Landon Park: Sorry, I was asking about the base of fiscal 2023.

Shawn Duffy: Right. So, for 2023, what we said is you could think of it to 2022 on a continuing operations basis to be about flat to the prior year.

Landon Park: And that was about, what, around $500 million in fiscal 2022, right a little less?

Shawn Duffy: It was a little shy to that.

Landon Park: Okay, perfect. Great. Thanks very much Shawn and Mark.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Mike Crawford from B. Riley Securities. Please proceed.

Mike Crawford: Thank you. Can you tell us what, if any, changes there are in the time line with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority Phase 2 review, when you expect that decision? And how soon after that presuming it’s favorable, you could close Inmarsat?

Robert Blair: Hey Mike, this is Robert Blair. So, the timing for the CMA is the end of March is when we would expect them and what they’ve indicated to us is their plan to be wrapped up if it’s favorable, then we should be able to close theoretically shortly thereafter as long as the European Commission and along the same timeline. But that could drag out potentially further after the CMA. So, it really depends on how quickly the European Commission would finish their review if the CMA is done and approved the end of March. But as soon as both of those processes are done, we would expect to be able to close pretty quickly after that.