Blacksky Technology Inc (BKSY) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to BlackSky Technology's first-quarter 2023 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this conference call is being recorded.

早上好，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 BlackSky Technology 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，本次電話會議正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the call over to Aly Bonilla, BlackSky's Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Aly.

我現在想將電話轉給 BlackSky 投資者關係副總裁 Aly Bonilla。請繼續，艾莉。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Today, I'm joined by our Chief Executive Officer, Brian O'Toole, and our Chief Financial Officer, Henry Dubois. On today's call, Brian will provide some highlights on the quarter and give an update on the business. Henry will then review the company's first-quarter financial results and outlook for 2023. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the line for your questions.

早上好，感謝您加入我們。今天，我們的首席執行官布萊恩·奧圖爾 (Brian O'Toole) 和首席財務官亨利·杜波依斯 (Henry Dubois) 也加入了我的行列。在今天的電話會議上，布萊恩將提供本季度的一些亮點並提供業務最新情況。隨後，亨利將回顧公司第一季度的財務業績和 2023 年的展望。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將開通您的提問熱線。

A replay of this conference call will be available from approximately 12:30 PM Eastern Time today through May 24. Information to access the replay can be found in today's press release.

從今天東部時間中午 12:30 到 5 月 24 日，均可重播本次電話會議。有關訪問重播的信息，請參閱今天的新聞稿。

Additionally, a webcast of this earnings call will be available in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.blacksky.com. In conjunction with today's call, we have posted a quarterly earnings presentation on the investor relations website that you may use to follow along with our prepared remarks.

此外，本次財報電話會議的網絡廣播將在我們網站 www.blacksky.com 的投資者關係部分提供。結合今天的電話會議，我們在投資者關係網站上發布了季度收益演示，您可以使用該演示以及我們準備好的評論。

Before we begin, let me remind you that today's conference call includes forward-looking statements, including financial guidance for 2023, and that actual results may differ from the expectations reflected in these statements due to factors such as long and unpredictable sales cycles, customer demand, and our ability to estimate resources for fixed price contracts, expenses, and other operational and liquidity needs. We encourage you to review our press release and most recent SEC filings for a full discussion of the risks and uncertainties that pertain to these statements and that may affect future results or the market price of our stock. BlackSky assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

在開始之前，請允許我提醒您，今天的電話會議包含前瞻性陳述，包括 2023 年的財務指引，由於銷售週期漫長且不可預測、客戶需求等因素，實際結果可能與這些陳述中反映的預期有所不同。 ，以及我們估算固定價格合同資源、費用以及其他運營和流動性需求的能力。我們鼓勵您查看我們的新聞稿和最近向 SEC 提交的文件，以充分討論與這些聲明相關且可能影響未來業績或我們股票市場價格的風險和不確定性。 BlackSky 不承擔更新前瞻性陳述的義務，除非適用證券法可能要求。

In addition, during today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and adjusted imagery and software analytical services cost of sales. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP measures are included in today's accompanying presentation, which can be viewed and downloaded from our investor relations website.

此外，在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及某些非公認會計準則財務指標，包括調整後的 EBITDA 以及調整後的圖像和軟件分析服務銷售成本。這些非公認會計原則財務指標與其最具可比性的公認會計原則指標的調節表包含在今天的隨附演示文稿中，可以從我們的投資者關係網站查看和下載。

At this point, I'll turn the call over to Brian O'Toole. Brian?

此時，我會將電話轉給布萊恩·奧圖爾。布萊恩？

Thanks, Aly, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on today's call.

謝謝，艾莉，大家早上好。感謝您參加今天的電話會議。

Let's begin with slide 4. I'm pleased with the strong performance that we delivered in 2022 and how that momentum has carried over into 2023. We are making great progress across all aspects of our business as demand for our high-frequency imagery and analytics remain strong, and we continue to secure more new customers and expand the services that we are delivering to existing customers.

讓我們從幻燈片 4 開始。我對我們​​在 2022 年實現的強勁業績以及這種勢頭如何延續到 2023 年感到高興。隨著對高頻圖像和分析的需求，我們在業務的各個方面都取得了巨大進步保持強勁，我們將繼續爭取更多新客戶並擴大我們為現有客戶提供的服務。

We continue to demonstrate strong operating leverage. As revenue growth from our high-margin imagery and analytics continues to deliver improving operating margins, which is putting us on a clear trajectory towards sustainable long-term profitable growth.

我們繼續展示強大的運營槓桿。隨著我們的高利潤圖像和分析帶來的收入增長繼續提高營業利潤，這使我們走上了可持續長期盈利增長的明確軌道。

I'm happy to report that Q1 was another strong quarter that included the following key highlights. First, we continued to deliver strong year-over-year revenue growth. Our imagery and analytics revenue, which represents our core service business, increased 114% over the prior year, as revenues ramped up from a number of new contracts signed throughout last year.

我很高興地向大家報告，第一季度是另一個強勁的季度，其中包括以下主要亮點。首先，我們繼續實現強勁的同比收入增長。我們的圖像和分析收入（代表我們的核心服務業務）比上一年增長了 114%，因為去年全年簽署的大量新合同帶來了收入的增長。

Second, we delivered a 97% incremental contribution margin as a result of increased revenues from our high-margin imagery and analytics business. With our company's low fixed cost structure, we're continuing to prove strong operating leverage with our existing assets, which is enabling our business to scale and deliver improving EBITDA performance.

其次，由於高利潤圖像和分析業務的收入增加，我們的邊際貢獻增加了 97%。憑藉我們公司的低固定成本結構，我們將繼續利用現有資產證明強大的運營槓桿，這使我們的業務能夠擴大規模並提高 EBITDA 績效。

Third, we won over a dozen new contracts and renewal agreements, supporting international and US government agencies. These contracts are an addition to the $150 million contract when we announced in March, further demonstrating the strong global demand for BlackSky's high-frequency imagery and advanced analytics.

第三，我們贏得了十多個新合同和續簽協議，為國際和美國政府機構提供支持。這些合同是我們 3 月份宣布的 1.5 億美元合同的補充，進一步證明了全球對 BlackSky 高頻圖像和高級分析的強勁需求。

Fourth, we successfully deployed two new Gen-2 satellites into orbit, providing BlackSky with additional imaging capacity and redundancy. This was a major milestone, as we have now completed the deployment of our first-generation constellation.

第四，我們成功地將兩顆新的第二代衛星部署到軌道，為 BlackSky 提供了額外的成像能力和冗餘。這是一個重要的里程碑，因為我們現在已經完成了第一代星座的部署。

And finally, today, we announced an amendment to our existing debt facility, which extends maturity of the note until 2026 and reduces cash interest payments for the next two years. This amendment, combined with the $29 million PIPE transaction we announced in March, strengthens our balance sheet and provides us with additional capital to fuel our growth. Henry will go into more details on this transaction later.

最後，今天，我們宣布對現有債務融資進行修訂，將票據期限延長至 2026 年，並減少未來兩年的現金利息支付。這項修正案與我們在 3 月份宣布的 2900 萬美元 PIPE 交易相結合，增強了我們的資產負債表，並為我們提供了額外的資本來推動我們的增長。亨利稍後將詳細介紹這筆交易。

These accomplishments, along with growing market demand worldwide, reinforces our confidence in achieving our full-year financial goals, including a key objective of delivering positive EBITDA in the fourth quarter. I would now like to share some operational highlights from the quarter.

這些成就，加上全球不斷增長的市場需求，增強了我們實現全年財務目標的信心，包括在第四季度實現正 EBITDA 的關鍵目標。我現在想分享本季度的一些運營亮點。

Turning to slide 5. We continue to experience strong and growing demand in the international market, as is evidenced by a growing sales pipeline, the signing of new customers, and the expansion of existing customers during the quarter. We successfully closed over a dozen contracts, many of which support international government agencies. Some of these contract wins are multi-year, multi-million-dollar awards, such as the $150 million contract we announced in March for a multi-year subscription to imagery and analytic services from our next-generation constellation.

轉向幻燈片 5。我們繼續感受到國際市場的強勁且不斷增長的需求，本季度不斷增長的銷售渠道、新客戶的簽約以及現有客戶的擴張就證明了這一點。我們成功簽訂了十多個合同，其中許多都支持國際政府機構。其中一些合同是數百萬美元的多年期合同，例如我們在 3 月份宣布的價值 1.5 億美元的合同，用於多年訂閱下一代星座的圖像和分析服務。

We are now seeing customers looking for long-term subscription-based contracts to secure assured priority access to our current and future constellation, particularly in supply-constrained, high-demand regions. Government agencies around the world are increasing their investments in space-based capabilities to meet their country's near- and long-term intelligence and surveillance needs in response to a wide range of growing geopolitical, economic, and security concerns. This trend is driving strong demand for BlackSky's products and services worldwide. To capitalize on this opportunity, we are continuing to invest in the expansion of our international sales team.

我們現在看到客戶正在尋求基於訂閱的長期合同，以確保優先訪問我們當前和未來的星座，特別是在供應有限、需求高的地區。世界各地的政府機構正在增加對天基能力的投資，以滿足本國近期和長期的情報和監視需求，以應對日益增長的地緣政治、經濟和安全問題。這一趨勢推動了全球對 BlackSky 產品和服務的強勁需求。為了利用這個機會，我們將繼續投資擴大我們的國際銷售團隊。

I'm happy to report that our recent investments in building a global sales network are now paying dividends, as we are successfully converting a strong pipeline of sales opportunities into meaningful long-term contracts. These contract wins demonstrate how BlackSky is increasingly relied upon by some of the most important customers in the world to support their current and future critical mission needs. We are proud to be providing these government agencies with a first-of-its-kind intelligence capability delivered through a best-in-class customer experience.

我很高興地向大家報告，我們最近在建設全球銷售網絡方面的投資現已獲得回報，因為我們正在成功地將強大的銷售機會轉化為有意義的長期合同。這些合同的贏得表明，世界上一些最重要的客戶越來越依賴 BlackSky 來支持他們當前和未來的關鍵任務需求。我們很自豪能夠通過一流的客戶體驗為這些政府機構提供同類首創的情報能力。

Moving on to slide 6. In addition to the momentum we are gaining internationally, we also won new and follow-on contracts with a number of US defense and intelligence agencies. In Q1, we continue to expand the advanced monitoring services that we are providing to the NGA under the Economic Indicator Monitoring program. During the quarter, the NGA awarded BlackSky additional task orders to provide dynamic monitoring and analysis of new strategic locations and critical regions of interest around the world. Since this five-year contract began in late 2021, we have provided the NGA with advanced AI-enabled monitoring solutions through multiple task orders that we won through a competitive bid process.

繼續看幻燈片 6。除了我們在國際上獲得的勢頭外，我們還贏得了與許多美國國防和情報機構的新合同和後續合同。在第一季度，我們繼續擴大根據經濟指標監測計劃向 NGA 提供的先進監測服務。本季度，NGA 向 BlackSky 授予了額外的任務訂單，以對全球新的戰略地點和關鍵利益區域進行動態監控和分析。自 2021 年底開始這份為期五年的合同以來，我們通過競爭性投標流程贏得的多個任務訂單為 NGA 提供了先進的人工智能監控解決方案。

We are pleased that our industry leading AI algorithms are delivering high-confidence detection and classification performance that NGA and their end users can rely on. We believe our AI capabilities are a key competitive differentiator, especially when combined with our real-time space capabilities. As a result of the success of this program and the recent award of new task orders, we look forward to continuing to support the NGA as we compete for new additional contract task orders throughout 2023.

我們很高興我們行業領先的人工智能算法能夠提供 NGA 及其最終用戶可以信賴的高置信度檢測和分類性能。我們相信我們的人工智能能力是一個關鍵的競爭優勢，特別是與我們的實時空間能力相結合時。由於該計劃的成功以及最近授予的新任務訂單，我們期待在 2023 年爭奪新的額外合同任務訂單時繼續支持 NGA。

It's important to note that the subscription monitoring services that we are delivering under this program are provided as a commercial service and, therefore, can be offered to other customers around the world with almost no incremental cost. This is just another example that demonstrates the operating leverage of our platform and scalable AI infrastructure.

值得注意的是，我們根據該計劃提供的訂閱監控服務是作為商業服務提供的，因此可以向世界各地的其他客戶提供幾乎沒有增量成本。這只是展示我們平台和可擴展人工智能基礎設施運營槓桿的另一個例子。

We also continue to expand our relationship with several Department of Defense customers, including the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force, who are seeking to apply our real-time capabilities toward meeting next-generation tactical mission requirements. During the quarter, we won a multi-year contract renewal with AFWERX, a component of the Air Force Research Laboratory. AFWERX is looking to leverage BlackSky's existing space and ground architecture in the development of future space capabilities that leverage commercial technologies. This program is an example of how we use government-funded R&D to advance our technology and build strong relationships with long-term strategic customers.

我們還繼續擴大與多個國防部客戶的關係，包括美國空軍和美國太空軍，他們正在尋求應用我們的實時功能來滿足下一代戰術任務要求。本季度，我們贏得了與空軍研究實驗室下屬機構 AFWERX 的多年續約合同。 AFWERX 正在尋求利用 BlackSky 現有的空間和地面架構來開發利用商業技術的未來空間功能。該計劃是我們如何利用政府資助的研發來推進我們的技術並與長期戰略客戶建立牢固關係的一個例子。

Also, in the quarter, we're pleased to announce that we were awarded a multi-year contract by the NRO to explore commercial hyperspectral imaging capabilities. During the initial stage of this contract, we will evaluate the extension of our constellation to include hyperspectral imaging in the application of these sensors to meet advanced real-time mission intelligence needs. These next-generation capabilities are an actual extension of BlackSky's agile space architecture and, with this contract, further expands our long-term relationship with the NRO.

此外，在本季度，我們很高興地宣布，我們獲得了 NRO 授予的一份多年期合同，以探索商業高光譜成像能力。在該合同的初始階段，我們將評估我們的星座的擴展，將高光譜成像納入這些傳感器的應用中，以滿足先進的實時任務情報需求。這些下一代功能是 BlackSky 敏捷空間架構的實際延伸，通過這份合同，進一步擴大了我們與 NRO 的長期關係。

Turning to slide 7. We also continue to make progress with new commercial customers that are looking to space-based imagery and analytics solutions to advance their real-time business intelligence capabilities. As an example, during the quarter, we signed a new subscription contract with a large multinational commercial customer for the dynamic monitoring and tracking of high value assets.

轉向幻燈片 7。我們還繼續與新的商業客戶取得進展，這些客戶正在尋求天基圖像和分析解決方案來提高其實時商業智能能力。例如，本季度我們與一家大型跨國商業客戶簽訂了新的訂閱合同，用於動態監控和跟踪高價值資產。

We've been working with this customer over the last several months under a pilot program, where they tested and evaluated the performance of our monitoring services. After the successful pilot, we're pleased to report that we have transitioned into a six-figure annual subscription contract. Like the EIM contract with NGA, this is a prime example of how through our API-enabled software platform, we're able to quickly configure our core platform services to deliver subscription-based monitoring services that provide new information, insights, and alerts to solve a wide range of real-time business intelligence problems.

過去幾個月，我們一直在試點計劃中與該客戶合作，他們測試並評估了我們監控服務的性能。試點成功後，我們很高興地報告，我們已轉變為六位數的年度訂閱合同。就像與 NGA 簽訂的 EIM 合同一樣，這是一個很好的例子，說明瞭如何通過我們支持 API 的軟件平台，我們能夠快速配置我們的核心平台服務，以提供基於訂閱的監控服務，從而為用戶提供新的信息、見解和警報。解決各種實時商業智能問題。

Moving to slide 8. The need for high-frequency imaging and analytics is expanding every day as international, US, and commercial organizations continue to place a high value on receiving real-time geospatial intelligence in response to emerging global events.

轉到幻燈片 8。隨著國際、美國和商業組織繼續高度重視接收實時地理空間情報以應對新出現的全球事件，對高頻成像和分析的需求日益擴大。

As an example, last week, we released the first and only known public image, according to a third-party intelligence analyst, of an alleged airship on a runway at a veiled military base in Korla, China. Capturing this image was only made possible by the unique attributes of our constellation that has been specifically designed to provide reliable dynamic hourly monitoring of the world's most important and strategic locations.

例如，上週，根據第三方情報分析師的說法，我們發布了第一張也是唯一一張已知的公開圖片，圖片顯示一艘據稱飛艇停在中國庫爾勒軍事基地跑道上。只有我們星座的獨特屬性才能捕捉到這張圖像，該星座經過專門設計，可以對世界上最重要和最具戰略意義的地點提供可靠的每小時動態監測。

In contrast, most commercial imaging satellites that aren't over today are in sun-synchronous polar orbits that are purposely constrained to take images at the same fixed time of day, such as at 10:30 in the morning. These satellites were designed and optimized to primarily support static mapping applications, rather than deliver dynamic real-time monitoring solutions. Because of these constraints, these satellites are limited in their ability to see events that occurred during the rest of the day and, therefore, are unable to capture an event such as an appearance of the airship, which was captured by BlackSky at 9 AM local time.

相比之下，今天尚未結束的大多數商業成像衛星都位於太陽同步極軌，這些衛星被故意限制在一天中的同一固定時間（例如上午 10:30）拍攝圖像。這些衛星的設計和優化主要是為了支持靜態測繪應用，而不是提供動態實時監控解決方案。由於這些限制，這些衛星觀察當天剩餘時間發生的事件的能力受到限制，因此無法捕獲諸如飛艇出現之類的事件，該事件由 BlackSky 在當地時間上午 9 點捕獲時間。

Our continuous monitoring, combined with our first-of-its-kind Spectra AI software analytics platform, is a new and unique capability in the market that now enables customers to see and understand events that they could not have seen before now. This dynamic hourly monitoring is what sets BlackSky apart in our industry and why governments worldwide are tapping into our unique capabilities to see anomalies, capture rare events, and gain unprecedented insights about emerging events in areas that are critical to their national interests.

我們的持續監控與我們首創的 Spectra AI 軟件分析平台相結合，是市場上一項全新且獨特的功能，現在使客戶能夠看到和了解他們以前無法看到的事件。這種動態的每小時監控使 BlackSky 在我們的行業中脫穎而出，也是世界各國政府利用我們獨特的能力來發現異常、捕獲罕見事件並獲得有關對其國家利益至關重要的領域中的新興事件的前所未有的見解的原因。

Another example is shown on slide 9, where our on-demand imagery captured the destruction that took place at the Khartoum Airport in Sudan, following the recent military fighting taking place there. Powered by our Spectra AI software platform, which combines our high-resolution imagery with AI-enabled analytics, we were able to identify not only the number of aircraft station at the airport, but how many had been damaged or destroyed. The high-resolution imagery and the critical intelligence enabled by our software is what governments and allied partners around the world are using in their day-to-day mission operations to respond to key global events such as this.

幻燈片 9 中顯示了另一個例子，我們的點播圖像捕捉到了蘇丹喀土穆機場最近發生的軍事戰鬥之後所發生的破壞。在我們的 Spectra AI 軟件平台的支持下，該軟件平台將我們的高分辨率圖像與人工智能分析相結合，我們不僅能夠確定機場的飛機站點數量，還能夠確定有多少飛機站點被損壞或摧毀。我們的軟件支持的高分辨率圖像和關鍵情報是世界各地政府和盟友在日常任務行動中使用的，以應​​對此類重大全球事件。

Turning to slide 10 and an update on our constellation. We successfully deployed two new satellites into orbit on March 24. Within 18 hours of launch, these Gen-2 satellites entered into revenue-generating operations. This is an industry-leading ability to rapidly deploy space infrastructure and deliver immediate value to our customers. These two new satellites provide us with additional capacity for taking high-resolution imagery around the world and provide redundancy to our constellation.

轉向幻燈片 10，了解我們星座的最新情況。 3 月 24 日，我們成功將兩顆新衛星送入軌道。發射後 18 小時內，這些第二代衛星就開始創收運營。這是快速部署空間基礎設施並為客戶提供即時價值的行業領先能力。這兩顆新衛星為我們提供了在世界各地拍攝高分辨率圖像的額外能力，並為我們的星座提供了冗餘。

With our baseline constellation fully complete and delivering hourly dynamic monitoring solutions to customers, our focus can now fully turn to building our next generation of advanced satellites, which remain on track to begin deployment next year. As a reminder, we already have contracts in hand for Gen-3 capacity and capability and are excited to bring these capabilities to market to meet the strong customer demand we are already experiencing. In summary, we're pleased with the progress we made in the first quarter and the strong momentum we are building in the market.

隨著我們的基線星座完全完成並向客戶提供每小時動態監測解決方案，我們的重點現在可以完全轉向建造下一代先進衛星，這些衛星仍有望在明年開始部署。提醒一下，我們已經擁有第三代產能和功能的合同，並且很高興將這些功能推向市場，以滿足我們已經經歷的強勁客戶需求。總之，我們對第一季度取得的進展以及我們在市場上建立的強勁勢頭感到滿意。

I'll now turn it over to Henry to go through the quarterly financial results in more detail. Henry?

我現在將把它交給亨利，讓他更詳細地查看季度財務業績。亨利？

Thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased that our first-quarter financial results contain the strong momentum we experienced last year.

謝謝你，布萊恩，大家早上好。我很高興我們第一季度的財務業績延續了去年的強勁勢頭。

Beginning with slide 12, total revenue for the first quarter of 2023 was $18.4 million, an increase of $4.5 million or 32% over the prior year quarter. Imagery and analytics revenue grew to $15.8 million, a 114% increase over the prior year period, primarily driven by greater volumes of imagery delivered to new and existing US and international government customers. The largest contributor to the year-over-year increase in imagery comes from the daily delivery of high-volume imagery under the EOCL contract with the NRO.

從幻燈片 12 開始，2023 年第一季度的總收入為 1,840 萬美元，比去年同期增加 450 萬美元，即 32%。圖像和分析收入增長至 1580 萬美元，比上年同期增長 114%，這主要是由於向新的和現有的美國和國際政府客戶提供了更多的圖像。圖像同比增長的最大貢獻者是根據與 NRO 簽訂的 EOCL 合同每天交付的大量圖像。

We've experienced significant growth in customer demand for our imagery and analytics over the past year. And as a result, this line of business contributed 86% of total revenues in Q1 this year, compared to about 50% in Q1 last year.

在過去的一年裡，客戶對我們的圖像和分析的需求顯著增長。因此，該業務線貢獻了今年第一季度總收入的 86%，而去年第一季度約為 50%。

Professional and engineering services revenue was $2.6 million in the first quarter of 2023, compared to $6.5 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to a couple of R&D programs that are nearing completion this year, whereas these programs were in full swing back in Q1 last year. Also, keep in mind, revenues recognized from these types of projects are largely milestone based, which means they can introduce quarter-to-quarter variability. This is in contrast to our imagery and analytics services, which is typically subscription-based revenue.

2023 年第一季度的專業和工程服務收入為 260 萬美元，而去年同期為 650 萬美元，這主要是由於今年即將完成的幾個研發項目，而這些項目早在第一季度就已全面展開去年。另外，請記住，從這些類型的項目中確認的收入很大程度上是基於里程碑的，這意味著它們可能會帶來季度與季度的變化。這與我們的圖像和分析服務形成鮮明對比，後者通常是基於訂閱的收入。

As a reminder, these professional and engineering service projects provide us with government-funded R&D and enable us to build long-term relationships with strategic customers. These programs are oftentimes precursors to securing long-term subscription contracts for imagery and analytics services with these customers.

需要提醒的是，這些專業和工程服務項目為我們提供了政府資助的研發，使我們能夠與戰略客戶建立長期合作關係。這些計劃通常是與這些客戶簽訂長期圖像和分析服務訂閱合同的先兆。

Moving on to slide 13, our imagery and analytics business continue to demonstrate strong operating leverage. Excluding stock-based compensation, depreciation, and amortization expenses, imagery and analytics cost of sales was $3.6 million in the first quarter of 2023, compared to $3.3 million in the prior year quarter. Year over year, the small increase in cost of sales, coupled with an $8.4 million increase in revenue, equates to a very high incremental contribution margin of 97%. This performance, once again, demonstrates the strong margin leverage delivered by our imagery and analytics business on incremental revenues.

轉到幻燈片 13，我們的圖像和分析業務繼續展現出強大的運營槓桿。不包括股票薪酬、折舊和攤銷費用，2023 年第一季度的圖像和分析銷售成本為 360 萬美元，而去年同期為 330 萬美元。與去年同期相比，銷售成本小幅增加，加上收入增加 840 萬美元，相當於 97% 的非常高的增量貢獻率。這一業績再次證明了我們的圖像和分析業務對增量收入的強大利潤槓桿。

Turning to slide 14. For the first quarter of 2023, we reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.1 million, a 57% improvement over the $9.5 million loss in the prior year period. The year-over-year improvement was primarily driven by greater volumes of our high-margin imagery and analytics revenue while operating on a predominantly static cost base as just discussed. We're pleased with the progress we've made in adjusted EBITDA and are on track with our goal of achieving positive EBITDA later this year.

轉向幻燈片 14。2023 年第一季度，我們報告調整後 EBITDA 損失為 410 萬美元，比上年同期的 950 萬美元損失減少了 57%。同比改善主要是由於我們的高利潤圖像和分析收入增加，同時我們在剛才討論的主要靜態成本基礎上運營。我們對調整後 EBITDA 取得的進展感到滿意，並正在朝著今年晚些時候實現正 EBITDA 的目標邁進。

Regarding our balance sheet, we ended the first quarter of 2023 with $71.6 million of cash, restricted cash, and short-term investments. Our capital expenditures in the first quarter of 2023 increased to $15.8 million, primarily due to final payments for the launch of two additional satellites in March, as well as expected milestone payments for our Gen-3 satellite production as certain milestones are reached. These expenses are in line with our full-year expectations. Overall, we believe our current cash position is in line with our expectations and remains strong.

關於我們的資產負債表，截至 2023 年第一季度末，我們擁有 7160 萬美元的現金、限制性現金和短期投資。我們在 2023 年第一季度的資本支出增加到 1580 萬美元，主要是由於 3 月份發射另外兩顆衛星的最終付款，以及達到某些里程碑後我們的第三代衛星生產的預期里程碑付款。這些費用符合我們的全年預期。總體而言，我們相信我們目前的現金狀況符合我們的預期，並且仍然強勁。

On another note, this morning, we're pleased to announce an amendment to our existing debt facility. The new terms extend our debt maturity until October 2026 and also reduces the level of cash interest payments, as 80% of the interest can be accrued and paid with the principal when it comes due in 2026. This amendment helps to improve our outgoing cash flow over the next two years.

另一方面，今天早上，我們很高興地宣布對現有債務融資的修訂。新條款將我們的債務期限延長至 2026 年 10 月，並降低了現金利息支付水平，因為 80% 的利息可以在 2026 年到期時計提並用本金支付。這項修正案有助於改善我們的現金流出在接下來的兩年裡。

Now, let's move on to our 2023 outlook as shown on slide 15. As mentioned earlier, we're continuing to win new contracts and expand existing agreements with US, international, and commercial customers. With this traction and momentum, we maintain our full-year revenue guidance of between $90 million to $96 million. Coupled with the operating leverage we are experiencing and expect to continue, we remain on track to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA in Q4 of 2023. Finally, we anticipate our capital expenditures in 2023 to be between $40 million and $45 million as we have stated.

現在，讓我們繼續展望 2023 年，如幻燈片 15 所示。如前所述，我們將繼續贏得新合同並擴大與美國、國際和商業客戶的現有協議。憑藉這種吸引力和動力，我們將全年收入指導維持在 9000 萬美元至 9600 萬美元之間。加上我們正在經歷並預計將持續的運營槓桿，我們仍有望在 2023 年第四季度實現正調整 EBITDA。最後，正如我們所說，我們預計 2023 年的資本支出將在 4000 萬美元至 4500 萬美元之間。

In summary, we are pleased with our financial performance in the first quarter and the continued momentum we are seeing across our business. We look forward to continue progress throughout the year.

總之，我們對第一季度的財務業績以及整個業務的持續增長勢頭感到滿意。我們期待全年繼續取得進展。

With that, I'll now turn it back over to Brian for some closing remarks. Brian?

現在，我將把它轉回給布萊恩做一些結束語。布萊恩？

Thank you, Henry. We're pleased to report another strong quarter, driven by significant demand for our high-frequency imagery and analytics from customers around the world. We are continuing to build significant multi-year backlog by winning new customers and expanding the contracts we have with existing customers. We have built a foundation that puts us on a clear path to deliver another strong year of revenue growth while providing a clear line of sight towards sustainable long-term profitability.

謝謝你，亨利。我們很高興地報告又一個強勁的季度，這得益於世界各地客戶對我們的高頻圖像和分析的巨大需求。我們通過贏得新客戶和擴大與現有客戶的合同，繼續積累大量的多年積壓訂單。我們已經建立了一個基礎，使我們走上了一條清晰的道路，以實現又一個強勁的收入增長，同時為可持續的長期盈利能力提供了清晰的視野。

Our team is laser focused on executing against a growth plan that includes the following key imperatives: first, continuing to drive long-term high visibility revenue growth by winning new multi-year subscription contracts, with a base of major government and industrial customers around the world; second, expanding our sales pipeline and customer base to an aggressive go-to-market strategy as we continue to expand our sales force and global partner network; third, continuing to deliver strong operating margins through the sale of high-margin imagery and analytics services while controlling expenses through prudent costs and capital management; and finally, continuing to invest in our next-generation space and AI capabilities that extend our competitive advantage, meet the strong market demand for our Gen-3 capabilities, and capitalize on a large and rapidly growing market opportunity for space-based intelligence solutions.

我們的團隊專注於執行增長計劃，其中包括以下關鍵要求：首先，通過贏得新的多年期訂閱合同，繼續推動長期高可見度收入增長，其基礎是全球主要政府和工業客戶。世界;其次，隨著我們繼續擴大我們的銷售隊伍和全球合作夥伴網絡，擴大我們的銷售渠道和客戶群，以採取積極的進入市場戰略；第三，通過銷售高利潤圖像和分析服務繼續提供強勁的運營利潤，同時通過審慎的成本和資本管理控制支出；最後，繼續投資我們的下一代太空和人工智能能力，以擴大我們的競爭優勢，滿足對我們第三代能力的強勁市場需求，並利用天基情報解決方案的巨大且快速增長的市場機會。

In closing, we're pleased with the progress we've made this quarter and look forward to continuing this momentum as we advance our leadership in real-time geospatial intelligence.

最後，我們對本季度取得的進展感到滿意，並期待在提升我們在實時地理空間情報領域的領導地位的同時繼續保持這一勢頭。

This concludes our remarks for the call. And we'll now take your questions.

我們的電話會議發言到此結束。現在我們將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Griffin Boss, B. Riley.

（操作員說明）Griffin Boss，B. Riley。

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Yeah, so off the bat, I was just curious if you could elaborate on the situation with your Global 7 and Global 8 satellites. I saw that you requested for an FTA with the FCC, so curious if you can -- if you're able to give us more color on that.

你好。感謝您提出我的問題。是的，所以，我只是好奇你能否詳細說明一下全球 7 號和全球 8 號衛星的情況。我看到您要求與聯邦通信委員會達成自由貿易協定，所以很好奇您是否可以——如果您能給我們更多關於這一點的信息。

Thanks, Griffin. Good morning. So just as a reminder, we are coming at this a little differently than the rest of the market. We've built an integrated constellation of small satellites that, unlike traditional architectures, were designed to deliver these high revisit imaging and analytics services, without a dependency on any given satellite.

謝謝，格里芬。早上好。提醒一下，我們的做法與市場其他公司略有不同。我們建立了一個由小型衛星組成的集成星座，與傳統架構不同，該星座旨在提供這些高重訪成像和分析服務，而不依賴於任何給定的衛星。

And this agile approach enables us to deploy capacity where and when we need it to meet customer service levels. And systems designed with significant reserve and redundant capacity and eliminates the impacts of any individual satellites that as we expect will come in or out of service over time, especially when they reached the end of their expected service life. So as we said earlier, we successfully launched two additional satellites in March. It gives us additional capacity and redundancy that's consistent with our sustainment plan.

這種敏捷方法使我們能夠在需要的時間和地點部署容量，以滿足客戶服務水平。系統設計有大量的儲備和冗餘容量，並消除了任何單個衛星的影響，正如我們預期的那樣，隨著時間的推移，特別是當它們達到預期使用壽命時，它們將投入或停止服務。正如我們之前所說，我們在三月份成功發射了另外兩顆衛星。它為我們提供了與我們的維持計劃一致的額外容量和冗餘。

With respect to the FCC filing, we will occasionally raise or lower altitudes of individual satellites as part of our normal course of operations, which can extend our mission life or deliver increased performance or support our maintenance operations.

根據 FCC 備案，作為正常運營過程的一部分，我們偶爾會升高或降低個別衛星的高度，這可以延長我們的任務壽命或提高性能或支持我們的維護操作。

Okay, great. And just to confirm, those two satellites were launched in 2020, right? So they're -- I mean, you have a three- to five-year lifespan, so they're -- I mean it's within the three years, right?

好的，太好了。順便確認一下，這兩顆衛星是在 2020 年發射的，對吧？所以它們——我的意思是，你的壽命只有三到五年，所以它們——我的意思是在三年之內，對吧？

Yeah, they're approaching their anticipated end of life in three years.

是的，他們將在三年內接近預期的壽命終點。

Okay. All right. Got it. Thanks for that. Appreciate it. And then -- so in terms of the Gen-3 capacity, I know you mentioned you have -- and you mentioned in the past, too, you have contracts in hand and capacity locked down. Can you just tell us or can you provide any more color on how much of that Gen-3 capacity is contracted right now? Is it all of it or substantial portion or just a nominal amount?

好的。好的。知道了。感謝那。欣賞它。然後，就第三代產能而言，我知道你提到過，你過去也提到過，你手頭有合同，產能已鎖定。您能否告訴我們，或者您能否提供更多有關目前簽約的第 3 代產能有多少的信息？是全部還是很大一部分還是只是像徵性的金額？

We're just getting started on selling that capacity. The $150 million contract we announced in March is for Gen-3 capability. And a number of the customers that we have today that are subscribing to our Gen-2 capacity are looking forward to transitioning into Gen-3 as that comes online.

我們剛剛開始出售該容量。我們在 3 月份宣布的價值 1.5 億美元的合同是針對 Gen-3 能力的。如今，我們擁有的許多訂閱了 Gen-2 容量的客戶都期待著在 Gen-3 上線後過渡到 Gen-3。

Okay, great. Thanks, Brian. And then -- so just last one for me, given the reaffirmed revenue guidance for the year, would we be correct in assuming that most of these new awards you're winning are more heavily weighted towards revenue generation in 2024 and beyond? Or are these contracts that you expected to win and were already perhaps incorporated in the 2023 guide?

好的，太好了。謝謝，布萊恩。然後，對於我來說，最後一個問題是，考慮到今年重申的收入指導，我們是否正確地假設您贏得的大多數新獎項更注重 2024 年及以後的收入創造？或者這些合同是您期望贏得的並且可能已納入 2023 年指南中嗎？

There's a mix. So the $150 million award is a multi-year contract. The dozen or so contracts that we announced we close this quarter will contribute to 2023 revenues, and some of that will contribute to '24 revenues.

有一個混合。因此，1.5 億美元的合同是一份多年期合同。我們宣布本季度完成的十幾個合同將貢獻 2023 年的收入，其中一些將貢獻 24 年的收入。

Okay, great. Thanks, Brian. Appreciate the color.

好的，太好了。謝謝，布萊恩。欣賞顏色。

Thank you, Griffin.

謝謝你，格里芬。

Josh Sullivan, The Benchmark Company.

喬什·沙利文，基準公司。

Hey, good morning.

嗨，早上好。

Morning, Josh.

早上好，喬什。

As far as LeoStella, what opportunities do you see to potentially help fill the line, their size dynamics, or technology inputs for the buses that maybe could open up new opportunities or what are you seeing out there?

就 LeoStella 而言，您認為有哪些機會可以幫助填補線路、它們的尺寸動態或公交車的技術投入，這可能會開闢新的機會，或者您看到了什麼？

Obviously, there's a growing market for small satellites. And with LeoStella, we have invested in next-generation bus technology that we're applying to our Gen-3 and future satellites. We see that there's an opportunity to take that capability to market for different applications beyond BlackSky.

顯然，小型衛星的市場正在不斷增長。通過 LeoStella，我們投資了下一代總線技術，並將其應用於第三代和未來的衛星。我們看到有機會將該功能推向 BlackSky 之外的不同應用程序的市場。

And then just given the proliferation of language models here, BlackSky's AI backbone, I'd be curious to understand how you view the language models, given you're the originator of the imagery data, potentially see new LMs for the intelligence community. How do you plan to hold on to the value there?

然後考慮到這里語言模型的激增，BlackSky 的人工智能支柱，我很想知道你如何看待語言模型，因為你是圖像數據的創始人，可能會為情報界看到新的語言模型。您打算如何保持那裡的價值？

Josh, could you maybe -- what do you mean by language models just so I'm clear?

喬希，你能不能——讓我清楚一下，你所說的語言模型是什麼意思？

Yeah, just as we see new, obviously, AI-enabled solutions and using your data to create those solutions, and we're seeing a lot of those products proliferate in more than early stage here, just curious on BlackSky's approach to, as the intelligence community accesses some of those AI technologies, how you're going to stay up in front and capture that value.

是的，正如我們看到新的、顯然的、支持人工智能的解決方案並使用您的數據來創建這些解決方案一樣，我們看到很多這些產品在早期階段就在激增，只是對 BlackSky 的方法感到好奇，因為情報界可以訪問其中一些人工智能技術，了解如何保持領先地位並獲取該價值。

Yeah, definitely. So we've been employing AI technology across our platform now for several years. As an example, I think where you're going is we've been applying AI to natural language processing to monitor global activity from news and social media that can automatically tip and cue collections of our satellites. This is an important capability, as we are reducing response times around emerging events and recognizing activities that are important to our customers, which is ultimately going to give them a first-to-know advantage.

是的，絕對是。因此，我們多年來一直在我們的平台上採用人工智能技術。舉個例子，我認為我們一直在將人工智能應用於自然語言處理，以監控新聞和社交媒體的全球活動，這些活動可以自動提示和提示我們的衛星收集。這是一項重要的功能，因為我們正在縮短對新興事件的響應時間並識別對客戶重要的活動，這最終將為他們帶來先行優勢。

AI is also applied in our imagery interpretation and analysis. And so we've been -- we've made significant investments in our AI team over the years. And as I outlined in our remarks, we are winning contracts, such as the EIM contract, based on the performance of our AI algorithms, so this is a key part of our future. And we built a strong set of capabilities that we believe are a key part of our competitive differentiation.

人工智能也應用於我們的圖像解釋和分析。因此，多年來我們對人工智能團隊進行了大量投資。正如我在發言中概述的那樣，我們正在根據人工智能算法的性能贏得合同，例如 EIM 合同，因此這是我們未來的關鍵部分。我們建立了一套強大的能力，我們認為這是我們競爭優勢的關鍵部分。

Okay. Thank you for the time.

好的。謝謝你的時間。

Caleb Henry, Quilty Space.

凱勒·亨利，奎爾蒂空間。

Hi, guys. Three questions from me. First, can you give any more color on the Gen-3 satellites in terms of their launch status and cadence?

嗨，大家好。我的三個問題。首先，您能否對第三代衛星的發射狀態和節奏進行更多介紹？

Morning, Caleb. As we have already commented that those Gen-3 satellites remain on track. We've secured long lead item components, and those satellites are now in production and we expect to begin launching those satellites in 2024.

早上好，凱萊布。正如我們已經評論過的那樣，那些第三代衛星仍在軌道上。我們已經獲得了長期交付的部件，這些衛星現已投入生產，我們預計將於 2024 年開始發射這些衛星。

Okay. So regarding the, I guess, spending on those in general CapEx, is BlackSky planning on maintaining a yearly spend of around $40 million with Gen-3 or does that change at all?

好的。因此，我想，關於一般資本支出的支出，BlackSky 是否計劃在 Gen-3 上保持每年 4000 萬美元左右的支出，或者這種情況是否會發生變化？

Caleb, this is Henry Dubois speaking. I mean, as we look at our CapEx, as you know, we're guiding this year to that $40 million, $45 million. We're not providing guidance beyond that at the moment. But you can work through as we go through sending up our satellites that we will have CapEx associated with that.

凱勒布，我是亨利·杜波依斯。我的意思是，正如你所知，當我們審視我們的資本支出時，我們今年的目標是 4000 萬美元、4500 萬美元。目前我們不會提供除此之外的指導。但是，當我們發送衛星時，您可以確定我們將有與之相關的資本支出。

Okay. And then last question, which is related to the BlackSky Global 7 and 8 satellites that you're seeking to lower the altitude of. Lowering that altitude presumably means that they will have a shorter lifespan. So are you anticipating that those will have their full three-year lifespan? Are you sacrificing some of that time to get a sharper resolution or some other advantage?

好的。最後一個問題與您要降低高度的 BlackSky Global 7 號和 8 號衛星有關。降低海拔可能意味著它們的壽命會縮短。那麼您預計這些產品的使用壽命將達到三年嗎？您是否會犧牲一些時間來獲得更清晰的分辨率或其他優勢？

No, as I mentioned earlier, those satellites are approaching the end of their three-year life, and raising or lowering them for improving performance is part of our normal course of operations.

不，正如我之前提到的，這些衛星的三年壽命即將結束，升高或降低它們以提高性能是我們正常運營過程的一部分。

Okay. Will they obtain a three-year life or no?

好的。他們能否獲得三年壽命？

We expect them to maintain their life expectancy.

我們希望他們能夠維持預期壽命。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Jaeson Schmidt, Lake Street Capital Markets.

（操作員指令）Jaeson Schmidt，湖街資本市場。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Just curious if you could update us on the traction in the commercial market. Obviously, it sounds like some of these recent wins are still in the government space, but any additional color on the commercial space would be helpful.

大家好。感謝您回答我的問題。只是好奇您能否向我們介紹商業市場的最新發展情況。顯然，聽起來最近的一些勝利仍在政府領域，但商業領域的任何額外色彩都會有所幫助。

Yeah. Good morning, Jason. As you know, commercial revenues are still a small part of our overall business right now. We are starting to see traction with major industrial opportunities, particularly in the monitoring of commodities and supply chain. So as that -- those type of examples, what I just outlined, and we're seeing those opportunities with other customers. And so, we're still early days, but we're encouraged by what we're seeing in terms of interest and demand.

是的。早上好，傑森。如您所知，商業收入目前仍然只占我們整體業務的一小部分。我們開始看到重大工業機會的吸引力，特別是在商品和供應鏈的監控方面。因此，我剛才概述的這些類型的例子，我們正在與其他客戶一起看到這些機會。因此，我們還處於早期階段，但我們對所看到的興趣和需求感到鼓舞。

Okay, that's helpful. And then just as a follow up, when you look at towards the end of this year, do you think the mix between US versus international is going to remain fairly stable?

好的，這很有幫助。然後，作為後續行動，當您展望今年年底時，您認為美國與國際之間的混合將保持相當穩定嗎？

Well, I think generally, you're seeing a good -- a strong revenue diversification. So we -- international revenues are now almost 25% of our overall revenues, which is up from last year. So we are seeing strong international demand, and we expect to see this diversification trend continue.

嗯，我認為總的來說，你會看到一個很好的——強大的收入多元化。因此，我們的國際收入現在幾乎占我們總收入的 25%，這比去年有所增加。因此，我們看到強勁的國際需求，並且預計這種多元化趨勢將持續下去。

Thanks a lot, guys.

非常感謝，伙計們。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

At this time, there are no further questions. I'll turn it back over to Aly Bonilla, BlackSky's Vice President of Investor Relations. Go ahead, Aly.

目前，沒有其他問題了。我會將其轉回 BlackSky 投資者關係副總裁 Aly Bonilla。繼續吧，艾麗。

I want to thank everyone for joining us on the call today. We will be participating in several upcoming conferences over the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for those announcements. And we look forward to speaking to you again soon. Have a great day.

我要感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。我們將在未來幾週內參加幾個即將舉行的會議，因此請密切關注這些公告。我們期待很快再次與您交談。祝你有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。