MDA Space continued to grow its backlog to a record $4.6 billion in its most recent quarterly results, on the back of strong demand in the space business.
The company’s Q2 results, released yesterday (Aug. 8), mentioned revenues were up 23% annually to $242 million, its EBITDA was up 21% annually to $48.7 million, and its net income was slightly up from last year at $23.4 million. The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $1.02 billion and $1.06 billion (compared with earlier estimates of between $950 million and $1.05 billion.)
The Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA’s) next-phase Canadarm3 contract for the Gateway space station, valued at $1 billion, was one of the highlight deals that CEO Mike Greenley discussed with investors. But the company’s diversity of contracts overall has allowed it to remain cash-flow positive despite ripples in investment markets in recent weeks, he emphasized.
“The good thing is we have multiple objectives in the business,” Greenley said, mentioning large and already reported contracts with Globalstar, Telesat’s Lightspeed Constellation and the CSA’s Canadarm3 (alongside continuing operations with Canadarm2 at the International Space Station.)
“When you balance out these multiple things and these multiple curves, you end up with … a situation where we’re cash-flow positive this year, and our current forecast for next year’s would be at least cash-flow neutral.”
Greenley praised the “solid performance” from MDA Space during the quarter, also mentioning the $250 million contract extension from the CSA to continue supporting ISS robotic operations until 2030 as a notable contract during the summer.
Indications of government interest in space is continuing, he emphasized: the Department of National Defence’s new data-sharing initiatives with industry, and the Liberals’ activation of the National Space Council, will both bring new opportunities to industry more generally, he said.
The growing Artemis Accords, now at 43 nations, underly the Canadarm3 commitment to Gateway as that is funding CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s seat aboard the Artemis 2 round-the-moon mission as well as future astronaut seats in Artemis. Greenley praised the initiative, saying it “bodes well for the broader space market.”
As previously announced, MDA has also joined the Starlab private space station venture as a strategic partner and equity owner, to offer robotics and related engineering expertise. (Starlab is one of several efforts to eventually replace the ISS with commercially operated complexes.)
While robotics took the fore in Greenley’s opening remarks, other business areas of MDA Space are also performing well. Satellite systems has a number of constellation projects that include early design work and systems analysis for Telesat Lightspeed, among many other contracts. (Some customers cannot be named due to being defense and intelligence community members, Greenley added in analyst questions, which means that not all contracts can be discussed in detail.)
MDA Space released plans this spring for a new fleet of software-defined digital satellites that are already being picked up for some opportunities, he said. The company’s Montreal satellite systems facility is expanding to manufacture two of these satellites daily; ground has broken and “there’s all kinds of construction vehicles all over the place,” Greenley said.
Other projects of note include MDA Space’s next-generation Earth observation constellation and a data processing engine contract with the National Research Council supporting the Square Kilometer Array, although Greenley named many others. CHORUS remains on track for its Earth observation launch in late 2025, Greenley added in response to an analyst question.
Greenley also said there were 900 new hires since this quarter in 2023, with more than 3,000 employees today. Collective bargaining agreements were also ratified in Q2 with union operators in Brampton, Ontario and in Quebec. director.