Virgin Galactic’s carrier aircraft releases its Unity spacecraft during a glide test.
Virgo Galactic
Virgin Galactic delivered its first quarter results after the market closed on Monday and announced that it has not yet set a target date for the next space test that the company had previously planned for this month.
“The timing of the next flight test is currently being evaluated,” said the company in a press release.
The space tourism company reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $ 55.9 million, slightly below the previous quarter’s loss of $ 59.5 million and below its adjusted EBITDA loss of $ 63.6 million, analysts at FactSet expected.
The company had revenue of $ zero for the quarter, like the previous quarter. Virgin Galactic had approximately $ 617 million in cash at the end of the first quarter compared to approximately $ 666 million in the fourth quarter.
Virgin Galactic shares fell more than 3% after close of trading after closing 8% on Monday at $ 17.95 per share.
The stock is down 24% since the start of the year – after falling more than 70% from its highs above $ 60 per share in February.
Virgin Galactic’s share losses have accelerated in the past two months following delays in its trial program as well as share sales by Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya, founder Richard Branson and Cathie Wood’s new space ETF. The stock also fell after Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin announced plans to launch the first crew flight of its space tourism rocket on July 20. UBS cautioned against removing Virgin Galactic’s first mover advantage.
The company is working to complete development of its SpaceShipTwo system. Four test flights remain before Virgin Galactic’s commercial service begins in 2022.
Virgin Galactic attempted the first of these four space tests in December, but the mission was interrupted by an engine anomaly. The company planned to rerun the attempt to fly in February, but then delayed it to May to allow more time to fix an electromagnetic interference issue on the spacecraft’s flight computer. Virgin Galactic said in its first quarter report that corrective work on this issue has been completed and said VSS Unity is “ready to begin pre-flight procedures for the flight.”
The fourth space test, expected later this year, will promote members of the Italian Air Force for professional astronaut training. It will be Virgin Galactic’s first “full revenue” flight that the company announces will generate $ 2 million – or the equivalent of $ 500,000 per seat.
Meanwhile, in March, Virgin Galactic unveiled the next starship in its fleet, VSS Imagine, the first of its next-generation SpaceShip III-class.
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