Cubic Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2018 Results; Strong Growth and Record Backlog

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced its financial results for the third fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2018.

"We are pleased that Cubic is continuing to deliver solid financial performance in fiscal 2018 as we make excellent progress on our strategic initiatives and accelerating our growth," said Bradley H. Feldmann, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Cubic reported strong growth in both sales and Adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter, while the Brisbane win further expanded our highest-ever backlog. We remain intensely focused on meeting our commitments to customers, shareholders and our talented employees."

Sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 increased 11% to $296.2 million from $266.2 million in the third quarter of last year. Sales from Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS) increased by 21% and 5%, respectively, while sales from Cubic Global Defense (CGD) Systems were flat. Foreign currency translation had a favorable impact of $2.7 million.

Operating income in the third quarter was $10.3 million compared to an operating loss of $6.8 million in the third quarter of last year. The increase was predominately driven by improved profitability at CTS. Operating income increased year-over-year despite an $8.0 million gain recognized on an equitable contract adjustment in the third quarter of 2017 in CGD Systems.  Foreign currency translation had a favorable impact of $0.4 million.

Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter was $28.2 million, an increase of 123% from $12.7 million in the third quarter of last year. The increase was primarily attributable to the same factors noted above and as described in more detail in the segment discussion below.

Net cash used in continuing operations was $32.8 million in the third quarter compared to a cash use of $45.0 million in the third quarter of last year.

On April 18, 2018, Cubic entered into a definitive agreement to sell the Cubic Global Defense (CGD) Services business. This transaction closed on May 31, 2018. In March 2018, all criteria were met for the classification of CGD Services as a discontinued operation. As such, the operating results of CGD Services have been classified as discontinued operations in the condensed consolidated statements of income (loss) for all periods presented. In the application of the accounting requirements for discontinued operations, corporate overhead is not allocated to discontinued operations. Therefore, certain corporate overhead costs that had previously been allocated to the CGD Services segment have been included in the unallocated corporate expenses amounts below. Such amounts totaled $1.3 million and $1.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017, respectively, and totaled $5.3 million and $5.9 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017, respectively.

Net income from continuing operations attributable to Cubic in the third quarter was $0.9 million compared to a net loss of $78.2 million in the third quarter of 2017. The year-over-year comparison of net income reflects significant changes in the quarterly effective tax rates on continuing operations, which was impacted by the application of the Financial Accounting Standards Board guidelines requiring the allocation of total tax expense to continuing operations, discontinued operations and other comprehensive income.

Net income from discontinued operations in the third quarter was $5.4 million compared to $56.3 million in the third quarter of 2017. The assets and liabilities of a discontinued operation held for sale are measured at the lower of carrying value or fair value less cost to sell. In the second quarter of fiscal 2018, we recognized a loss of $6.9 million; whereas, in the third quarter of fiscal 2018, we recorded an adjustment of $0.8 million to reduce the total loss to $6.1 million based upon the estimated carrying value of the net assets at the date that the sale closed.

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS):

CTS sales increased 21% to $164.6 million compared to $136.4 million in the third quarter of 2017 supported by growth in both products and services. Foreign currency translation had a favorable impact of $2.6 million.

CTS Adjusted EBITDA increased to $21.8 million compared to $1.7 million last year reflecting higher sales, lower research and development expense and operational improvements. Foreign currency translation had a favorable impact of $0.6 million.

Cubic Global Defense (CGD) Systems:

CGD Systems sales were $88.9 million compared to $89.1 million in the third quarter of 2017. While sales of air combat training systems were higher year-over-year, comparative sales were significantly impacted by an $8.0 million gain recognized on an equitable contract adjustment in the third quarter of fiscal 2017 for our littoral combat ship virtual training contract.

CGD Systems Adjusted EBITDA was $9.0 million compared to $14.1 million last year. The decrease reflects the $8.0 million equitable contract adjustment described above, which was partially offset by increased operating profits in both air and ground combat training systems.

Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS):

CMS sales increased 5% to $42.7 million compared to $40.7 million in the third quarter of 2017 due to higher C2ISR (Command, Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) sales.

CMS Adjusted EBITDA increased 100% to $4.9 million compared to $2.4 million last year, reflecting higher sales and favorable mix, which more than offset increased research and development expense.

Backlog

Total backlog increased by $1.2 billion to $3.7 billion from September 30, 2017 to June 30, 2018 primarily due to the award of contracts to CTS in New York, Boston and Brisbane. Changes in exchange rates between the prevailing currency in our foreign operations and the U.S. dollar as of the end of the quarter decreased backlog by $50.4 million compared to September 30, 2017.

Fiscal 2018 Full Year Guidance
Constant currency basis with 2017
Previously adjusted for the sale of CGD Services

• Sales: $1.135 billion to $1.185 billion
• Adjusted EBITDA: $90.0 million to $116.0 million

Conference Call and Webcast

Cubic will host a conference call today, Wednesday, August 8 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to present third quarter fiscal 2018 results.  Access the live audio webcast via: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1200926&tp_key=72a34a770f

An archive of the webcast and presentation materials will be made available on the Investor Relations section of Cubic's website at https://www.cubic.com/investor-relations/financials.

Financial analysts and institutional investors are invited to dial:

• 877-407-9708
• 201-689-8259 (international)
  
  To avoid delay in the start time, please dial in beginning 10:45 a.m. Eastern Time.

About Cubic Corporation

Cubic is a market-leading, technology provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Cubic Transportation Systems is a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services to create intelligent travel solutions for transportation authorities and operators. Cubic Mission Solutions provides networked Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities for defense, intelligence, security and commercial missions. Cubic Global Defense is a leading provider of live, virtual, constructive and game-based (LVC-G) training solutions for the U.S. and allied forces. For more information about Cubic, please visit the company's website at www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to the safe harbor created by such Act. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements about our expectations regarding future events or our future financial and/or operating performance; our expectations regarding organic growth; and the use of our technologies on a transportation contract that was awarded early fiscal 2018. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "may," "will," "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "project," "continuing," "ongoing," "expect," "believe," "intend," "predict," "potential," "opportunity" and similar words or phrases or the negatives of these words or phrases. These statements involve risks, estimates, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements, including, among others: our dependence on U.S. and foreign government contracts; delays in approving U.S. and foreign government budgets and cuts in U.S. and foreign government defense expenditures; the ability of certain government agencies to unilaterally terminate or modify our contracts with them; the effect of sequestration on our contracts; our assumptions concerning behavior by public transit authorities; our ability to successfully integrate new companies into our business and to properly assess the effects of such integration on our financial condition; the U.S. government's increased emphasis on awarding contracts to small businesses, and our ability to retain existing contracts or win new contracts under competitive bidding processes; negative audits by the U.S. government; the effects of politics and economic conditions on negotiations and business dealings in the various countries in which we do business or intend to do business; risks associated with the restatement of our prior consolidated financial statements, including our identification of material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting; competition and technology changes in the defense and transportation industries; the change in the way transit agencies pay for transit systems; our ability to accurately estimate the time and resources necessary to satisfy obligations under our contracts; the effect of adverse regulatory changes on our ability to sell products and services; our ability to identify, attract and retain qualified employees; our failure to properly implement our ERP system; unforeseen problems with the implementation and maintenance of our information systems; business disruptions due to cyber security threats, physical threats, terrorist acts, acts of nature and public health crises; our involvement in litigation, including litigation related to patents, proprietary rights and employee misconduct; our reliance on subcontractors and on a limited number of third parties to manufacture and supply our products; our ability to comply with our development contracts and to successfully develop, introduce and sell new products, systems and services in current and future markets; defects in, or a lack of adequate coverage by insurance or indemnity for, our products and systems; and changes in U.S. and foreign tax laws, exchange rates or our economic assumptions regarding our pension plans. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in our SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10‑K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10‑Q. Because the risks, estimates, assumptions and uncertainties referred to above could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

We believe that the presentation of Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and Adjusted EBITDA included in this report provides useful information to investors with which to analyze our operating trends and performance and ability to service and incur debt. Also, we believe EBITDA facilitates company-to-company operating performance comparisons by backing out potential differences caused by variations in capital structures (affecting net interest expense), taxation, variations in organic versus inorganic growth (affecting amortization expense) and the age and book depreciation of property, plant and equipment (affecting relative depreciation expense). We believe Adjusted EBITDA further facilitates company-to-company operating comparisons by backing out items that we believe are not part of our core operating performance. Items backed out of Adjusted EBITDA are comprised of expenses incurred in the development of our ERP system and the redesign of our supply chain which include internal labor costs and external costs of materials and services that do not qualify for capitalization, business acquisition expenses including retention bonus expenses, due diligence and consulting costs incurred in connection with the acquisitions, expenses recognized related to the change in the fair value of contingent consideration for acquisitions, restructuring costs, gains and losses on disposals of fixed assets, and income and expenses classified as other non-operating income and expenses which may vary for different companies for reasons unrelated to operating performance.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measurements of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as measures of discretionary cash available to the company or as alternatives to net income as a measure of performance. In addition, other companies may define EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA differently and, as a result, our measures of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be directly comparable to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA of other companies. Furthermore, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider either of them in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP.

The following table reconciles EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), which we consider to be the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. On May 31, 2018 Cubic sold the CGD Services business. The operating results of this business and loss on sale have been excluded from the figures for all periods presented. 

SOURCE Cubic Corporation