MDA Space Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 7, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Q1 revenue grew 32% YoY to CAD 464 million with adjusted EBITDA of CAD 91 million (19.5% margin); management reiterated full-year 2026 guidance of CAD 1.7–1.9 billion revenue and CAD 320–370 million adjusted EBITDA.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company completed a successful U.S. IPO and began trading on the NYSE, raising gross proceeds of USD 341 million, and ended the quarter with CAD 544 million cash and CAD 1.2 billion total available liquidity.
  • Positive Sentiment: MDA Space cites a CAD 40 billion opportunity pipeline (including CAD 10 billion of downselected opportunities) and recent commercial/defense wins — US MDA SHIELD IDIQ selection, an MOU with Hanwha, formation of 49 North, DIA optical observatory contract, Airbus repeat antenna order, and MLS/CAD 200M DND launchpad deal — signalling strong booking potential.
  • Positive Sentiment: Several operational and technology milestones were reached, including receipt of production-ready Prime Two ASIC chips for MDA AURORA/Telesat programs, delivery of the first satellites under the Globalstar 17-satellite contract, and completion of CHORUS thermal vacuum testing ahead of its late-2026 launch window.
  • Negative Sentiment: Cash flow and investment profile tightened in Q1 as CapEx rose to CAD 88 million (Montreal production ramp) and free cash flow was negative CAD 28 millionCAD 225–275 million and expects free cash flow to be neutral-to-negative, while backlog modestly declined to CAD 3.7 billion due to program execution.
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Earnings Conference Call
MDA Space Q1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 13 speakers on the call.

Speaker 10

Good morning, and welcome to MDA Space conference call and webcast. This call is being recorded on May 7, 2026, at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at the time for you to queue up for questions. For those participating via webcast, please note that the company has included a presentation that will follow along with today's discussion. If anyone experiences audio difficulties during the conference, please press *0 for operator assistance at any time. I'd now like to turn the call over to Jim Floros, Vice President of Investments at MDA Space. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Aubrey. Good morning, and welcome to the MDA Space 1st quarter 2026 earnings call. Mike Greenley, our CEO, and Guillaume Lavoie, our CFO, will lead today's call by sharing some prepared remarks before taking your questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that today's call is accessible via webcast on our investor relations website. All our disclosures, including the press release, MD&A, and financial statements, are available on our investor relations website as well as SEDAR+ and EDGAR. I would also like to remind you that today's call will include estimates and other forward-looking information which may differ from actual results. Please review the cautionary language in today's press release and public filings regarding various factors, assumptions and risks that could cause actual results to differ. In addition, during this call, we will refer to certain non-IFRS financial measures.

Speaker 5

Although we believe these measures provide useful supplemental information about our financial performance, these measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS, and our approach in calculating these measures may differ from that of other issuers and therefore may not be directly comparable. Please see the company's quarterly report and other public filings for more information about these measures, including reconciliations to the nearest IFRS measures. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Mike.

Speaker 9

Thank you, Jim Floros. Good morning, and thank you to those joining us today to discuss our first quarter 2026 financial results. Our first quarter results reflect a strong start to the year, supported by disciplined execution and continued operational momentum. The MDA Space team delivered quarterly year-over-year revenue growth of 32% while also delivering solid adjusted EBITDA margin of 19.5%. Our Q1 performance reinforces our confidence in delivering the fiscal year 2026 guidance that we issued in March of this year. Our ability to consistently generate profitable growth allows us to continue investing in our future and was a key factor in MDA Space achieving another significant milestone in the quarter as our stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, further strengthening our profile within the global investment community.

Speaker 9

The highly successful initial public offering bolstered our financial position, providing more flexibility to pursue our growth strategies. We also continue to build strong momentum in the business and in particular with defense opportunities, as evidenced by recent commercial successes. In the quarter, we announced that we have been selected as an approved supplier by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, receiving an IDIQ contract related to the SHIELD program. We established an MOU with Hanwha Systems to explore opportunities to collaborate in the development of Korea's sovereign low Earth orbit defense constellation. We launched 49 North, a dedicated defense organization exclusively focused on delivering secure multi-domain C4ISR and mission-critical capabilities for Canada's national defense priorities outside the space domain.

Speaker 9

We announced that we were contracted by Canada's Defence Investment Agency to deliver three ground-based optical observatories to the Department of National Defence as part of the Surveillance of Space 2 domain awareness program. This is noteworthy as it is another contract to be awarded by the DIA, an agency established to speed up and modernize Canada's defence procurement and integral to Canada's first defence industrial strategy. More recently, we were able to highlight that we've been selected by Airbus for a repeat order of over 1,300 replacement antennas for the OneWeb low Earth orbit constellation extension.

Speaker 9

This repeat order is meaningful as it follows an initial order given to MDA Space in 2016 to supply antennas to the second largest constellation in low Earth orbit, underscoring our ability to win repeat orders with existing customers and the ability of MDA Space to support the full satellite constellation lifecycle from initiation to expansion to replacement. In Maritime Launch Services, where we have board representation and have seconded a member of the MDA Space senior leadership team as the VP of operations for MLS as part of our equity investment, announced a CAD 200 million agreement with the Department of National Defence for a dedicated launchpad at Spaceport Nova Scotia, providing MLS with a 10-year anchor tenant. This is a significant milestone towards establishing sovereign launch capability in Canada and reinforces Canada's commitment to having a launch site as part of the NATO launch network.

Speaker 9

Operationally, our teams continue to execute on a number of fronts. Within satellite systems, we previously communicated that we completed the critical design review of the Globalstar next generation LEO constellation, and the team continued to build on that success through the achievement of a couple more important milestones. We have started to receive production-ready Prime Two space-grade chips from our chip department, one of the key differentiating technologies behind MDA AURORA Broadband and direct-to-device satellites. These ASIC chips are the most integrated digital beamforming chips on the market for space-based antenna arrays and introduce a number of benefits for satellite operators. This significant milestone demonstrates our ability to integrate newly acquired companies like SatixFy, unlocking value. In addition, the satellite systems team successfully delivered the first set of satellites under our initial 17 satellite constellation contract with Globalstar.

Speaker 9

This marks a defining moment in MDA Space history and validates our evolution as a satellite prime contractor. Our Geo Intelligence team continues to make strides towards preparing MDA CHORUS for its expected launch window in late 2026. In the quarter, the team successfully completed spacecraft thermal vacuum testing and shipped the spacecraft back to our integration and test facility, while in parallel readying the integration of the synthetic aperture radar antenna. Our robotics and space operation team achieved a remarkable 25-year milestone with Canadarm2. For over 2 decades now, Canadarm2 has operated on the International Space Station, helping build and maintain the ISS, capturing and berthing visiting spacecraft, carrying astronauts through some of the most spectacular spacewalks. We are extremely proud of this heritage as Canadarm2 continues to operate and perform critical tasks on the ISS.

Speaker 9

As the MDA Space team remains focused on executing program deliverables, we also remain confident in our future as the strategic importance of space continues to intensify. Our CAD 40 billion pipeline is significant and includes CAD 10 billion in opportunities with either government customers that have downselected MDA Space or follow on opportunities with existing customers. It also includes meaningful opportunities over the next 5 years across each of our 3 business areas and is well-distributed between government and defense and commercial opportunities. Our satellite systems business represents the largest share of opportunities, underpinned by a significant market opportunity with 40,000-50,000 communication satellites expected to be launched between 2025 and 2034 in the market.

Speaker 9

While a portion of this market will be defined by vertically integrated satellite operators or regions that are not acceptable, China and Russia, for example, we estimate our addressable market to be between 20% and 30%, providing significant opportunity for continued growth. 5% of this addressable market has progressed into active customer pursuits with elevated bidding activity translating into CAD 30 billion of cumulative opportunities over the next 5 years for our satellite systems business, nicely distributed between commercial and government opportunities, as well as Canada, U.S., and the rest of the world geographically. We remain confident in our ability to win in this market given technological leadership through our digital capabilities, high volume manufacturing capacity that will soon be fully operational, and a mix of space mission heritage with new space agility.

Speaker 9

We continue to expect a healthy market for our robotics and space operations business as robotics and on-orbit infrastructure is fundamental to the expanding Earth to Moon economy and as space exploration becomes interplanetary. Over the next decade, the number of space exploration missions is expected to increase by 185% to 855 missions as countries pursue crewed lunar and Martian missions and other deep space exploration. This is driving an opportunity pipeline of over CAD 3 billion for our robotics and space operations business within applications such as surface infrastructure and mobility, space exploration and commercial space stations, and in-orbit servicing and logistics.

Speaker 9

Leveraging our technical leadership as a world leader in space-based robotics to develop products such as MDA SKYMAKER, our commercial robotics suite derived from Canadarm technology, further supported by lifecycle operations services and mission control centers, we are strongly positioned to capitalize in this market. The recent changes to the Artemis mission are part of a renewed focus on accelerating a return to the lunar surface and driving increased momentum for our robotics capabilities. We continue discussions with the Canadian Space Agency on redefining the Canadarm3 robotic systems that will be required to support this new and exciting phase of Moon exploration. The dual use capabilities of MDA Space were on full display at the recently held National Space Symposium in Colorado, where we launched MDA MIDNIGHT, a space control platform for defense agencies to defend and protect the space domain.

Speaker 9

This new platform is equipped with a suite of hosted payloads to detect, identify, counter, and deter threats to critical space assets and orbits in the increasingly contested domain. Leveraging the advanced robotics and proximity operations of MDA SKYMAKER with the modular bus of MDA AURORA enables our team to rapidly configure, build, and deploy this product to address emerging customer requirements. Within Geointelligence, defense and intelligence contracts and advanced Earth operation observation products are critical drivers behind the expansion of data and services solutions. As demand for Earth observation data grows, analytics services are becoming increasingly important for synthesizing data and producing actionable insights to support decision-making. This is expected to drive growth in data and services for synthetic aperture radar and optical applications from almost CAD 6 billion in 2025 to CAD 8 billion in 2033.

Speaker 9

The additional capacity and enhanced capabilities that will be made available through MDA CHORUS, including higher resolution data collection and near real-time processing, will position us well to grow within this market. In fact, we are seeing early success with nine customer contracts that have already been finalized for CHORUS, along with 32 letters of interest from customers across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America, and the Middle East. We also expect to benefit from opportunities for secure multi-domain C4ISR systems and integration opportunities within 49 North, driven by increasing demand for sovereign defense capability across land, air, maritime, and joint domains. Combining observation and C4ISR opportunities, our geointelligence business has established a robust pipeline exceeding CAD 7 billion. In summary, we are well-positioned to capitalize on expanding addressable markets and leverage multiple growth drivers to continue delivering profitable growth.

Speaker 9

With that, I'll hand it over to Guillaume to talk about the financials.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone. For my update, I will walk you through our Q1 2026 financial results. Q1 was another successful quarter and a solid start to fiscal 2026 for MDA Space as we continue to execute on our backlog, delivering strong growth in both revenue and profitability. Total revenues for the first quarter were CAD 464 million, representing an increase of CAD 113 million or 32% over the same period last year. The year-over-year increase was driven by strong performance within all 3 of our business areas. Revenues and satellite systems of CAD 313 million in the first quarter of 2026 were CAD 91 million or 41% higher compared to the same quarter in 2025. The strong showing was driven by the increased volume of work on the Telesat Lightspeed and Globalstar next generation LEO constellation programs.

Speaker 4

As Mike highlighted earlier, our team has delivered the initial batch of ASIC chips for the Telesat Lightspeed program, and the team in Montreal continues to integrate various stages of the production line. For the Globalstar Next Generation LEO program, the team has passed the critical design review stage and continues to work on assembly and integration activities on the 1st satellites. In robotics and space operations, revenues of CAD 92 million in the 1st quarter represented a CAD 14 million or 18% increase over Q1 2025, driven by higher volume of work on the Canadarm3 program as the team continues to work on building and testing engineering models for the flight design.

Speaker 4

Revenues in our Geointelligence business were CAD 59 million in the first quarter, representing an increase of CAD 8 million or 15% year-over-year due to higher volume of work on various programs, including the ISTAR program for the Royal Canadian Navy. Comparing total revenue to Q4 2025, we saw a sequential decline of 7%, primarily driven by timing of revenue recognition on our programs within our satellite systems business. Overall, our first quarter revenue was in line with our expectations. Moving to gross profit. For Q1 2026, gross profit was CAD 115 million, representing a CAD 36 million or 45% increase over the same period last year. Gross profit in the first quarter was 24.8%, which was up from 22.7% for the same period in 2025.

Speaker 4

Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was CAD 91 million compared to CAD 69 million in Q1 2025, representing an increase of 32%. This was driven by higher work volumes as we continue to convert our backlog. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 19.5% in Q1 2026 was in line with adjusted EBITDA margin for the same period last year. Adjusted net income in the quarter was CAD 51 million compared to CAD 38 million in Q1 2025. The year-over-year increase of CAD 12 million or 32% was primarily driven by higher operating income. Adjusted diluted earnings per share of CAD 0.38 in Q1 2026 was up 27% versus Q1 2025 because of the higher adjusted net income, which was partially offset by higher average diluted shares outstanding due to the recent equity issuance related to the U.S. IPO we completed in March. Moving to backlog.

Speaker 4

We ended the quarter with a solid backlog of CAD 3.7 billion, representing a small decline of CAD 300 million compared to December 31st, 2025. This was driven by continued execution of our backlog into revenue and a lower volume of orders in the quarter, which came in as expected. With our CAD 40 billion opportunity pipeline, which includes CAD 10 billion of down-selected opportunities with government customers for follow-on opportunities with existing customers, further supported by a growing addressable market, as Mike detailed earlier, we are confident in our ability to book new orders in the future and to continue to fuel revenue growth. Moving to CapEx. In Q1 2026, we spent CAD 88 million on capital expenditures, up from CAD 62 million in the same period last year, driven by investments to add high volume production capacity at our Montreal facility.

Speaker 4

This level of CapEx is higher relative to the recent quarterly trend as a result of new equipment being installed in Montreal. However, this is progressing ahead of schedule, which is very positive. With a run rate that is expected to decline as we progress through 2026, we are positioned to meet our full year guidance of CAD 225 million-CAD 275 million. Cash from operations during the quarter generated CAD 61 million compared to CAD 267 million in Q1 2025. The year-over-year decrease was primarily driven by lower working capital contributions in the latest quarter as planned. Lower cash from operations combined with higher CapEx drove negative free cash flow of CAD 28 million in Q1 2026, which compares to positive free cash flow of CAD 205 million in the same period last year. Moving to our balance sheet.

Speaker 4

We ended the quarter in a strong financial position with cash on hand of CAD 544 million, driven primarily by our highly successful U.S. IPO. An overwhelmingly positive response resulted in a significantly oversubscribed offering, allowing us to raise gross proceeds of $341 million USD. Along with available liquidity of CAD 699 million under our credit facility, we ended the quarter with total available liquidity of CAD 1.2 billion, putting us in a strong position to continue to invest in our growth initiatives. Turning to our 2026 outlook. We are extremely pleased with the strong start to the year and the momentum that we see across our business. That provides us with the confidence to reiterate our full year guidance for 2026.

Speaker 4

For the full year, we continue to expect revenues to be between CAD 1.7 billion and CAD 1.9 billion, representing a year-over-year growth of approximately 10% at the midpoint of our guidance. Adjusted EBITDA to be between CAD 320 million and CAD 370 million, representing a year-over-year growth of approximately 7% at the midpoint of guidance and adjusted EBITDA margin of 18%-20%. As I previously stated, we also continue to expect capital expenditures to be between CAD 225 million and CAD 275 million in 2026 to support another year of investments related to expanding production at our Montreal facility, as well as investments to support space grade chip development and commercial growth initiatives.

Speaker 4

Lastly, we reaffirm our expectation for full year free cash flow to be neutral to negative, driven by normal program working capital fluctuations, combined with the CapEx required to support future growth. In summary, this was a strong start to fiscal 2026, and we continue to be encouraged by the positive momentum we are seeing across our businesses. The MDA Space team continues to deliver strong financial results, and I want to recognize the hard work, dedication, and passion from all our employees across the business. With that, operator, we are ready for questions.

Speaker 10

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the 1 on your touchtone phone, and then you will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the 2. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment please for our first question. Our first question comes from Justin Liang of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Yeah. Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Mike, I wanted to ask one on direct-to-device. You've been now talking about a sort of neutral host model for MDA. I was hoping you could talk a little bit more about the traction you're seeing for this sort of offering and if there's any way to sort of size the opportunity there?

Speaker 9

Yeah. I don't think there'd be a size in the opportunity yet. Right now, it's a series of discussions that we've been pulled into, looking at the neutral host model and the technical achievability of it, which we're very positive about. The basic notion here is the, you know, ability to have a space-based network that works directly with mobile network operators and/or cell phone tower service providers around the world.

Speaker 9

To be able to have a space-based network e-extension that can operate using the MNO's existing spectrum, to be able to fill in holes in their coverage areas and/or extend their coverage areas, using, you know, without them having to relinquish control of the customer, without the customer having to roam off of the mobile phone network onto a space-based network and then back onto their network again, giving up customer information, and the like that can happen when you roam onto a space network. Folks are interested in this for sure, and talking to us actively about that around the world.

Speaker 9

These are active conversations while we also continue to develop and demonstrate the technical solutions that would enable it for customers at their request. It's very active and a positive encouragement.

Speaker 6

Got it. Maybe just as a follow-up. You know, it sounds like from at least what Amazon put out after it announced the Globalstar acquisition that it intends to move forward with your constellation build-out. It seems like they also have kind of grander visions for a bigger D2D constellation. Curious if that might also be addressable to you, and if any of that is in your CAD 40 billion pipeline. Maybe just more generally, how are you thinking about prospects with Amazon after this Globalstar purchase? Thanks.

Speaker 9

It's early days, obviously, with the Amazon announcement to purchase Globalstar. We've seen a couple of things there, like, one is the expected close of that acquisition wouldn't be till a year from now, early 2027. You know, as a result, you know, Globalstar continues to execute on its business, and Amazon continues to go through all of its procedures to be able to work through the close of the acquisition itself. As a result of that, you don't immediately engage in conversations with someone that's buying a company. You have to wait a while until they, you know, actually own it. It's been nice to see that no change to our current business, and that was as expected.

Speaker 9

That we need to get our work done, get our Thunder satellites delivered. We've recently announced that we'd conducted the first shipment of the 17 satellites, and are completing the next shipment of those, while we continue to get our Globalstar next generation constellation completed. We will remain focused on that. Everyone wants us to. It's extremely important, so that's great. Then I'm sure that as we get, as we start getting these constellations launched and the like, then we can start talking about, you know, how are things gonna work going forward into the future. We'll see if any opportunities emerge there.

Speaker 9

Certainly, we have the skill sets and the capabilities and the technology roadmaps to be able to contribute, but we haven't had an opportunity to have those conversations yet.

Speaker 6

Okay, thanks. I'll jump back in the queue.

Speaker 9

Okay.

Speaker 10

Our next question comes from Thanos Moschopoulos of BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 12

Maybe just starting off on the full-year guide. If I take the strong Q1 results and annualize them, I would end up above the midpoint of your guidance range. In terms of maintaining rather than raising your guide, is that just conservatism on your part, or are there considerations you have to think about as we go through the year?

Speaker 9

Hey, good morning, Thanos. you know, really, we're sticking to our guidance, like, CAD 1.7 billion-CAD 1.9 billion. The midpoint is CAD 1.8 billion. We delivered a strong quarter in Q1, CAD 464 million. We're very happy with that, but we expect consistent execution throughout the year, right? This is not a year of ramp up really for us. It's really a year of execution on Telesat, on the Globalstar next-gen LEO program, on Canadarm 3. you know, you can expect sort of consistent, you know, quarterly delivery, and it's gonna vary a little bit. It's not gonna be, you know, always CAD 460 million. Could be a bit lower in some quarters.

Speaker 9

Overall, you know, CAD 1.8 billion at the midpoint is a good way to think about our business and, you know, we need a bit of wiggle room to just, like, be able to deal with execution. So CAD 1.7 billion-CAD 1.9 billion remains the best estimate right now for us.

Speaker 12

Great. Mike, on Canadarm3, any further color you can provide on the discussions you're having with your customer, following the Lunar Gateway cancellation and how the program might evolve? Maybe just the timing of when we might see some decisions or announcements in terms of contract modifications there.

Speaker 9

The key thing for us is that, you know, full steam ahead on Canadarm3. The project team continues to execute as planned towards final designs of, you know, space-based robotics. There are a series of conversations that are occurring in parallel about the opportunity to potentially pivot that capability towards the lunar surface and the lunar program. That's just ongoing activity. I can't really predict, you know, when those activities might be completed, but they need to happen soon so to ensure that the full steam ahead posture on the program is driving towards the right outcome and the most desirable outcomes. That's good. We get to do both at the moment.

Speaker 9

Based on where we are in the design process, we have a lot of work to do. Everyone agrees we just need to keep getting our work done, while in parallel, a small group of executives and agencies continue to talk about, you know, how can we be the most value on the lunar surface. All those things continue at the moment.

Speaker 12

Great

Speaker 9

positive intent.

Speaker 12

Great. I'll pass along. Thanks, Mike.

Speaker 9

Yep.

Speaker 10

Our next question comes from Greg Konrad of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Hi, guys. This is Egan McDermott on for Greg. Thank you for taking our question. Maybe on backlog. It's come down a little bit on some burn-off, but you've maintained the CAD 40 billion pipeline. Is there, you know, an expected turning point given some of your near-term pursuits? How are you thinking about book-to-bill for the year given that pipeline?

Speaker 9

I think we'll definitely obviously keep working the pipeline. There's a number of opportunities that are at a quoting level of maturity that as we go through the remainder of the year, you know, customers would be in a position to make contracting decisions. In some cases, there's government customers out there that have to get through government processes. In other cases, there's industrial commercial customers that, you know, need to get through their business planning and organization activities before they're gonna be ready to move out. There, you know, there's definitely solid, mature quotes that are there that can be turned into contracts. We'll keep working that. We expect to be able to, you know, book obviously, book more business throughout the year.

Speaker 9

And we always try to strive to have a, you know, at least a 1-to-1 book-to-bill ratio. You know, we'll see how it plays out as we go through the year, but there's opportunity for that. But we'll continue to work these things. You don't always control your customer's behavior, but we are certainly doing everything possible to support their decision-making and have a lot of strong opportunities. A lot of new things coming along as well. It's been exciting in terms of, you know, not official additions to the pipeline yet, but some really exciting new conversations that have come up with people dropping by and wanting to talk about future business. It's been really good.

Speaker 2

Okay. Well, cool. Maybe just as a follow-up on that, you know, given the Airbus announcement, curious how you guys are thinking about the satellite component opportunity within the pipeline today and, you know, just the magnitude of full satellite systems versus components in relation to the satellite system segment going forward.

Speaker 9

Yeah. You know, over the last, you know, 5 or 6 years, we've certainly emerged as we've really grown and expanded. We've maintained, during all of that growth, we've maintained a strong, what we call our merchant supplier business, where we're selling satellite components and subsystems to other satellite manufacturers, or for our role on a team of multiple companies that are gonna put together a solution. That's, that's definitely been steady and solid. With us now, you know, we have a lot of expansion in the full satellite level, but with the high-volume manufacturing, it means that, you know, we're able to, both on the, on the bus or platform side of satellites and the digital payload or the, you know, the digital guts of the satellite, you know, that's all coming into high-volume production.

Speaker 9

It also means that from a subsystem perspective, you know, if someone just wanted to use our bus or someone just wanted to use our digital payload or a component of it, we're in a strong position to be able to supply that and supply it at speed and good value because of the high volume that comes from the full satellite production. There are a number of opportunities out there that have potential for us to, you know, either team with others to be able to take on a, you know, a certain program or capability and/or just supply folks subsystems to be able to support their efforts. That remains a strong part of the business, and it's good business for us.

Speaker 9

It really helps us keep the volumes up as well.

Speaker 2

Great. Thank you.

Speaker 9

Yep.

Speaker 10

We will now have Ken Herbert from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Yeah. Hi, good morning, Mike and Guillaume.

Speaker 9

Hey

Speaker 7

maybe Mike, yeah, just wanted to maybe start on MDA MIDNIGHT. Can you talk about initial customer reception there and maybe how we think about sort of the launch of that and when we could expect some more announcements around customers and potential opportunity there?

Speaker 9

It's a key moment, this MDA Midnight announcement. The market in general, as defense continues to be a recognized and important factor of the activities in space, you know, we sort of transitioned where things that were sort of historically talked about, you know, behind closed doors are, you know, increasingly being recognized as important more out in public. That's, you know, our leadership really, which we've demonstrated here by announcing a product into the market to do space control is a key part of this, of this transition or emergence of the true defense opportunity. Certainly there's a number of companies.

Speaker 9

A recent market study has identified 13 countries that are talking about, you know, space control or space control, you know, guard satellites, is another word that's often used for their country. There's definitely an emerging market there. For us to come out in public and say, you know, we've spent some time, we've got a product, we're gonna build this and fly it, and that we're out there seeking any discussions people wanna have on two fronts. One would be defense customers in terms of their interest in acquiring this capability. Then the others would be in payload providers. Folks that are building sensors or electronic warfare capability and the like, that could be placed on a space control spacecraft.

Speaker 9

Let it be known that we have a product here and that, you know, customers are gonna want different variants of it, and so we're really open for discussions on, you know, what can we do. As a result of those announcements that we made in April, there's been great pickup in conversations. The important thing from a pipeline building perspective was to, you know, lead commercial industry first, indicate clearly we have a product, say that loud and proud to the world, and then start engaging in conversations with both the 2 groups I mentioned, the defense customer and the potential payload partners. Both of those areas have been steady and have picked up since the announcement, we're strongly encouraged.

Speaker 9

In terms of when that might convert into like, you know, additional order or things like that, you know, we'll see. That'll, that'll take some time because that's, you know, we're in government procurement here. In this, in this conversation, we're trying to sell, you know, protective spacecraft to militaries. Certainly governments are more interested in sovereign capability and taking care of themselves. They're interested in doing defense procurement faster around the world, but still government procurement. We'll be working through this over the next, the next year or two and see what we can, see what we can sign up.

Speaker 7

That's great. Thanks, Mike. If I could just, you've obviously rolled out now the new chips arriving onto the Lightspeed line or the MDA AURORA line. Can you just maybe level set us on where you stand with progress there on MDA AURORA, but I guess more importantly, any change or any update in terms of the assumptions around sort of where you are on the learning curve from a cost standpoint and, you know, sort of the financial implications with this progress or major milestone on either Lightspeed or obviously the MDA AURORA program more broadly?

Speaker 9

Yeah, I think it's really exciting that we're, you know, that we've now got chips in production and deliveries are occurring, and we're able to really move forward with this, these digital satellite assemblies, which is excellent. The other good story, the other good thing I just wanna mention on that whole chip thing is that, you know, as teams complete, you know, have completed their designs and are in production now of, you know, this first version of technology that we've had following our SatixFy acquisition, it frees up the team to also look at the roadmaps for, like, version 2 and version 3 with, you know, consistently enhanced levels of capability moving forward into the future.

Speaker 9

This was another extremely important strategic aspect of that acquisition, that we get our hands on this technology, we'll be able to control our roadmaps for both the chips and then therefore the digital satellite itself. It's the overall satellite roadmap, and be able to ensure that production can scale with the size of our pipeline. All those things are working out extremely well and we're excited about that. In terms of moving into production more on these digital satellites and, you know, what are we seeing about cost? We're not anywhere near the volumes yet that would allow us to have that learning. It's we've always said that's a 2027 thing, is to say, "Okay, what are we seeing in terms of cost?" Is there scaling benefits here?

Speaker 9

Can we see the opportunities for margin expansion? That'll be at the end of 27. It's during 27 we'll build a couple other satellites at least, and that would really give us the chance to say, "Okay, we can really see what we can do here.

Speaker 7

Great. Thanks, Mike.

Speaker 9

Okay.

Speaker 10

Our next question will be coming from David Maffei of ATB Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Operator

Oh, great. Excuse me. I was wondering if you guys could give us an update on the ESCAPE program and when we might hear some news on that for you?

Speaker 9

Yeah. ESCAPE is the acronym that's used for what we announced in November of 2025, which was a strategic agreement with the Department of National Defence and with Telesat. With that strategic agreement, doing this under the new Defence Investment Agency, it allows the teams to move much quicker than historical. You still have to go through the same sort of largely the same governance process within government. It allows us to work really closely with the Department of National Defence, you know, to work through the process.

Speaker 9

You start off with, you know, working through the various options that you have there to be able to do a program like that, get down to recommended options, and then need to go and get those approved so that you can then get really moving forward on the option that you know you're gonna implement. That work is has progressed amazingly fast, amazingly well. It's been excellent through the fall and the winter. You know, as we go through 2026, we would expect to, you know, have those decisions made and approved and allow us to move on to the next phases of that, which would hopefully allow us to then, of course, talk out loud about where we're going with that.

Speaker 9

The program is solid. It's been budgeted as a, you know, CAD 5 billion-plus size program historically, and talked about that publicly. We're in there working away on it and getting it through its approval processes to formally move into the next phase or the next step, which we would expect to happen in 2026.

Operator

Do you expect that you might have some news, I'll say within the coming months? That's what Telesat has said, that there should be news on this program in the coming months. I was just wondering what the timing might be for you.

Speaker 9

You know, like, we're all in the same mix. Yeah, it just depends on how you speak. You can say in the coming months or in 26, that's the same thing to me. Yeah, it is something that's coming up as we go through the next two quarters here for sure.

Operator

Just one additional one, if I may. If the government wants MILSATCom and X-band and UHF, clearly you have to put up new satellites, new constellation. Who do you think would own this new constellation if it goes up?

Speaker 9

I don't know. Like that's all part of the options and stuff. Historically, if you look at historically, governments have owned and operated their military satellites, but there is increasing opportunities commercially that governments are starting to leverage. You know, both of these types of options are available. Obviously on the Ka-band side, you got Lightspeed there as a strong service in Canada. You just asked about though the other frequencies where satellites would have to be built. You know, historically, the Department of National Defence would own and operate that kind of a capability.

Operator

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Speaker 9

Yep.

Speaker 10

Our next question comes from Seth Seifman of JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Speaker 11

Thanks very much and good morning. I wanted to ask about the GEO business and, you know, we've seen some nice growth there over the past two quarters. You know, would you think about where we are now at this as kind of a run rate level for the business? Then, you know, as I think out about the CHORUS launch. You know, how do we think about the potential for further growth in that business beyond this year and the potential margin implications of that?

Speaker 9

I think that, it's been nice to see that business kind of being steady or even having some small single-digit growth. It's been nice to see RADARSAT-2 sales, just very, very slightly, but increasing. You know, you got a satellite that's been up there operational for 15 years, and you've got increasing sales on it. That's awesome. Not because MDA CHORUS is coming. Customers know they can build a relationship with us and have continuity well into the future, and expanded services well into the future, as MDA CHORUS gets launched and operational. With the positivity that we've seen around MDA CHORUS, I mentioned in my remarks that we've got, you know, 40, 41 different conversations that are going on right now, and 9 of them signed contracts.

Speaker 9

The remainder has letters of intent that as we approach launch and get past launch, will then convert into signed services contracts. That's all very, very exciting. With that and the expanded services that will come from higher capability satellites and the tipping and queuing relationship, you know, between a broad area surveillance satellite and a zoomed-in follower, that's gonna be It's an exciting new, like, world first commercial service in this area. People are excited about that, and we would expect to get, you know, we need to use a bunch of 2027 to, you know, get this all up and operational and working.

Speaker 9

As we go through 2027 and people get experience with these new capabilities, within their signed contract frameworks, we would expect to start to see growth as we go through the latter half of 2027 and into 2028. We should see some pickup there. It's our intent as well. You know, we do a lot of work looking at our analytics capability, exploring the opportunities for artificial intelligence to be used in doing analytics going forward into the future, in addition to our relationships with other sensor providers and other analytics companies. Looking at partnerships, you know, globally in terms of how can we make the most out of this capability.

Speaker 9

There's a number of opportunity vectors that we're gonna have to be able to expand our leadership position there in geointelligence.

Speaker 11

Great. Great. Excellent. I guess, anything to note or anything you'd say about the M&A environment and the opportunities that are out there now?

Speaker 9

Yeah. It's, it's a, it's a solid M&A opportunity environment. You know, there are opportunities around the world. There's definitely, you know, books to be reviewed that are in play around the world. You know, we engage in that always, to see, you know, to see what's what. Towards our goals of. We've always had the same 2 M&A goals. 1 would be opportunities for, you know, smaller things typically that would add to vertical integration, that would allow us to, just like we did with SatixFy, have more control over our roadmaps and/or influence over our ability to scale. We will continue to always track those types of things.

Speaker 9

You know, geographic opportunities in Europe or the U.S. that could allow us to become more present in those markets. We continue on that same pattern, and there are definitely things to talk about. That's good.

Speaker 11

Okay. Excellent. Thank you.

Speaker 9

Yep.

Speaker 10

Our next question comes from Greg MacDonald of Stifel. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Yes, thanks. Good morning, guys. Thanks. Mike, I wanted to ask a follow-on question on MDA Midnight. I'm thinking of it this way. You have a lot of expertise in robotics, obviously. Can you talk a little bit about the technical expertise in that product and in terms of what I'm really trying to get at is how difficult or easy is it for a competitor to replicate this product? Where do you stand kind of globally when it comes to this product?

Speaker 9

Yeah, I think if you look at a, you know, I guess, space control type of a capability, there's a few things that are there. You need a solid platform that's got good maneuverability. In addition to you wanna pay attention to the kind of, you know, protection of that platform to make sure that it can, you know, be slightly protected, be a bit jam proof, that type of thing. You know, we've got capability there. You need to have good sensor capabilities to be able to sense and monitor and track other assets in space, other activity in space. We have a strong sensor capability there. You need the ability from a kind of electronic warfare perspective to actively or passively or actively, you know, deter another spacecraft.

Speaker 9

If necessary, you know, get involved in proximity operations where you're, you know, getting very close to or engaging with another spacecraft. Those categories of capability exist in the market, so people can definitely, and people are, you know, obviously assembling, you know, guard spacecraft and space control spacecraft around the world. In terms of some of our unique capability, one of the things that's unique about us starts from our high volume production of MDA AURORA. A number of folks will, you know, may say, like, "I'm gonna build a space control spacecraft," and they'll kind of work away on it and build one. Our ability to grab an AURORA bus, do some, you know, some mods in terms of maneuverability and protection to that AURORA bus.

Speaker 9

Grab an Aurora bus off a high volume assembly line, and then convert that into a space control spacecraft, is unique around the world. Others don't have that high volume base. For military capability, that creates a fair amount of interest. In terms of our high-volume production satellites and getting into a phase now with MDA SKYMAKER of having standard robotics. That aspect of it is attractive to folks in the market. In terms of RPO rendezvous and proximity operations, the level of experience that we have over the decades of being involved in this is extremely high. We've got really good solutions there.

Speaker 9

Of course in robotics itself, our robotics and space operations team has like, literally within our team, millions of hours of experience, you know, developing the procedures for and supporting the grabbing of things in space. Outside of NASA, you know, we would be the most experienced company in the world in this area. That's another really strong capability in our favor. Another part of space control is also being able to provide the military with the ability to maneuver, which can involve refueling. We've, you know, we've been working on refueling for decades.

Speaker 9

You know, as far back as 2007, we flew our first demonstration of fluid transfer between two satellites back in 2007 on a mission with NASA. You know, we have had tens of millions of dollars of funded research and development on refueling and refueling interfaces of prepared and unprepared satellites. There's some strong capabilities that we have there from high-volume production, re-rendezvous and proximity operations, refueling capabilities, and robotics and maneuver capabilities, including the operation of those robotics in orbit that will be able to provide us with a distinct advantage in this market.

Speaker 3

Great. That bus integration was gonna be my second question. Thanks for that.

Speaker 9

Yeah.

Speaker 3

The second question I have for you is this just for military customers or one might assume that mega constellations might be looking to protect their satellites as well? Do you see an opportunity in the commercial side?

Speaker 9

Yeah. We haven't had that yet. Like, you're right, it's a logical thing people could think about. It is a dual use technology set though as well. Like, you know, if you have a vehicle that can sense other vehicles and approach them and interact with them and do things, you know, there is a civilian market for on-orbit servicing that exists. There's also a thing we call ISAM, which is for in-orbit, you know, service, assembly, and manufacturing. You know, there's definitely a commercial value in this configuration. We're taking it to market as a product targeted at the military and MDA MIDNIGHT as a space control platform. It is a dual use technology set, and it definitely has application.

Speaker 9

As commercial infrastructure activities continue to expand in orbit, this capability will have a commercial application as well.

Speaker 3

Great. Last, Mike, anything in the pipeline for MDA MIDNIGHT yet?

Speaker 9

I would say not really. Like, there's activities that we're driving. We always had, I think, at least one opportunity in there, but yeah. There's maybe at least one or two. I was thinking more is there like, new stuff that's suddenly come in since the announcement of it in April? I would say I don't think we've added anything since April, but we've had one or two there previously.

Speaker 3

Okay. Very helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 9

Yep.

Speaker 10

We will now have Edison Yu from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Hey, good morning. Thanks for squeezing us in. Wanted to ask you about a broader topic that has, I think, become very hot in the industry, space data centers.

Speaker 9

Yep.

Speaker 1

I'm curious, what do you think about kind of viability and also let's assume for a second that it is viable, what kind of role you would play in that ecosystem?

Speaker 9

Yeah. I think that, we're definitely seeing an increased focus in just We don't wanna just say the word data center yet, but if we say space compute. The ability to have, you know, increased levels of computing power in orbit, to be able to do things, that's definitely an increasing theme in the market. For us, now that we're vertically integrated down to the chip level, we're developing and including our own onboard processors on satellites. You know, we're You know, everything's becoming more digital. There's more levels of processing. Our roadmaps are including increasing levels of processing at the edge, we would call it, so out there on the satellite.

Speaker 9

That's gonna be applicable to all areas of our business in terms of having increasing levels of processing for Earth observation satellites, in the future, for communication satellites and network traffic management in the future, and for, you know, intelligent robotics that we were just talking about that can do servicing and other activities, in orbit. This, this notion of more onboard compute and more intelligent AI-based onboard compute, for sure that's gonna increase. There are folks that engage with us, and we talk to people about having onboard computing that can support Earth observation, communication, and other networks in space.

Speaker 9

That instead of just transmitting things to the ground like you do today and having, you know, ground-based processing environments that you could do more processing in orbit and then just send the answer down to the ground. That's an increasing trend and is causing increasing opportunities for us to look at, you know, delivering more powerful computers in orbit to support people. Those, those conversations are ongoing. When you say data centers like that, I imagine that's like, you know, there's pictures in the media and stuff like that of these football field-size objects that are like, you know, big computing parks in orbit of some kind. I have not had enough experience to, you know, really get through the viability of all of that yet.

Speaker 9

The rationale that people say it makes sense to have those may or may not really make sense. Some of the technical challenges I don't think have been fully solved. Even some of the largest proponents of a space-based data center say they think that that's a possible idea, but they're not quite sure, you know, if that can all be done. There's a lot to work out there going forward. If it ever catches, you know, we would have the opportunity to contribute.

Speaker 9

Certainly, any space infrastructure like that that's large and has to be assembled, our conversations about on orbit servicing and assembly and the application of robotics, you know, that's gonna be a strong play there, in terms of our ability to work remotely in orbit and assemble and maintain, you know, any piece of large infrastructure, whatever it is, whether it's a data center or a power station or what have you know, we would have opportunities to be engaged in that.

Speaker 9

In terms of the actual data centers themselves, those satellite structures and processing, I think we have to see how that goes to be able to answer that question in terms of like, you know, if people find architectures that are gonna work, then, you know, what do those look like? We'll just hold judgment on that for the moment until it matures a bit more.

Speaker 1

Understood. Understood. Appreciate the color. A follow-up question on just some of the activity you're seeing in Asia, in APAC. Obviously, you announced the Hanwha MOU.

Speaker 9

Yeah.

Speaker 1

I think just this week there was some news about Reliance wanting to build, you know, big LEO. Any sense on, like, maybe timing, when we could get some awards coming out of Asia, just more generally speaking and, kind of the magnitude of those awards?

Speaker 9

Yeah, I think they, you know, the certainly over the next couple of years, that's possible. Some things could move quicker than others, in those markets. In some cases, there are opportunities to just, you know, support some smaller scale things with key satellite technology to help some folks out. In other cases, as you've indicated, like, you know, you used some examples there, but there are others in terms of like, you know, larger constellation projects in the market. There you get into the, you know, the multi-billion dollar size opportunities that are, you know, larger constellations.

Speaker 9

Certainly, as you go around the world, the notion of sovereign capability is one of the single largest driving factors in the current market and the current pipeline evolutions, you know, of the last six months and certainly the next couple of years moving forward. The number of nations that want to have or want to consider potentially their own constellations for Earth observation or communication, and generally want to, you know, you know, to what extent can I just take care of myself in space and not rely on, you know, deals with other nations. That, that's such an increasing theme that it's, it's definitely causing a number of new conversations around the world. They grow, like, every month or two right now. There's, like, new ones that are coming out.

Speaker 9

You know, that's gonna create solid opportunity in all parts of the world, but including the region that you're talking about, over the next couple of years. It really just depends on, you know, in a number of cases, you know, government-linked procurement and how fast people can actually move to get it in place.

Speaker 1

Great. Thank you.

Speaker 9

Okay, thanks.

Speaker 10

Our next question comes from Konark Gupta of Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Just following up on the C3, the Canadarm3, program. I mean, Artemis has been, you know, relatively stable, I would say, regardless of what's been questioned about NASA's budget over the last couple of years. Obviously, every time the news on the NASA or the Artemis came out, and, you know, obviously investors have reacted to that. I'm just curious, you know, like, what are you hearing about Artemis going forward? I mean, I understand your contract is with Canadian Space Agency, not with NASA directly. At the end of the day, if Artemis has any implications from NASA budgets, that might, feed into your Canadarm3 program as well, potentially.

Speaker 8

Any thoughts into, you know, how sustainable you think the Canadarm3 program is regardless of the news that we hear every day?

Speaker 9

Yeah

Speaker 8

what's the opportunity remaining there?

Speaker 9

Yeah, there's a couple of things in what you're saying. In the first one on the Artemis program, it remains an extremely high focus and high priority activity. I think I saw the NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman, announce 2 new countries in the last quarter join the Artemis Accords. New countries are still coming in to the Artemis Accords to be part of the group of people that want to work together to live and work on the Moon. That focus continues to dramatically increase. The United States public focus to wanna get to the Moon and start living and working there in a bit of a timing race against, you know, a China-led consortium is an important driver in all this.

Speaker 9

There's like a sort of no holding back focus on getting to the Moon. Where you've seen NASA trim budgets in other places, you know, it's been or, you know, take, you know, stop doing certain things, it's been to massively increase their focus on living and working on the Moon. I think it's very clear that that's a dominant focus in this game. In addition to the notion that was stated by Administrator Isaacman in his ignition event that occurred in March, the focus on speed, the focus on don't polish a rock, don't make some perfect space object here. I think his phrase was that a 70% solution delivered quickly is good enough at this phase.

Speaker 9

It's important to get up there and get working and get experience, and has announced a, you know, a large, rapid pace of multiple missions, you know, to get to and land on the Moon and get going and try things out. That's a tremendous opportunity that comes from that for other nations to contribute technologies and solutions to that and to be a part of that through the Artemis Accords. You come to Canadarm3. Canadian Space Agency therefore is gonna wanna have technologies and capabilities that are part of that return to the Moon. Canada has always been a leader in space collaboration since the beginning as the third country into space with satellites after the U.S. and the USSR. Canada's gonna wanna lean into that, to make sure that they're a part of it.

Speaker 9

You know, we see strong opportunity for Canadarm3 technology and the commercial derivatives of that, which is the MDA SKYMAKER line that MDA Space takes to market commercially on the moon for the lunar surface. Again in other commercial applications for space stations and debris removal and assembly and manufacturing, a number of the things we talked about today, in other orbits such as low Earth orbit. We're very positive about the opportunity here. The good thing for us is it's full steam ahead.

Speaker 9

Keep the project team working on Canadarm3 and keep getting its work done while we do a little bit of activity to reconfigure the, you know, the final outcomes in terms of what are the exact applications that we're gonna tailor this for as we complete the project. It's a good moment. We just gotta work through a couple things.

Speaker 8

That is very reassuring. Thanks, Mike. If I can follow up on the backlog comments you made early on in the call. It seems like you're having some new discussions, and you've talked about some exciting opportunities in those discussions. Any concrete examples, even if it's early stage, you know, what kind of exciting opportunities are these? Are these out of your core or within the core and they are more like ancillary or more sort of, you know, tangential to what you do? Any examples? Thanks.

Speaker 9

Yeah, I think the, you know, I think the bigger exciting things are gonna be like new conversations around low Earth orbit constellations around the application of the MDA AURORA and high volume manufacturing, you know, to these opportunities. I think that it's just great to see like the number of those that's increasing people want to talk about is continues to grow, which is great. You know, we will fully engage in all of those and in conversations, well certainly with ones that we think have a chance of success. We do a bit of screening in our pipeline, but it's like it's positive right now. It's, there's a lot of bidding activity.

Speaker 9

The bid activity is very intense and we will continue to be fully engaged in that and, you know, make announcements or contracts when they come.

Speaker 8

Great. No, thanks. All the best with that.

Speaker 9

Okay, thanks.

Speaker 10

Thank you. Please be advised that we are at the end of our conference time. This is all the time we have for questions today. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mike Greenley for his closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

Thanks a lot. Thanks for your time, everyone, this morning. It sounds like we had to cut it off there because of time. Maybe there were some questions that didn't get asked. Sorry about that. It's excellent though that the amount of folks tracking us and wanting to talk to us and ask questions of us is increasing. We really appreciate that and, you know, we'll always take more there. We look forward to updating you on our progress on our next earning call in August of course. We will keep at it here and come back with the latest news of the day in the next quarter. Thanks again.

Speaker 10

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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