KVH reports strong Q4, 2018 full-year financials

Revenue gains in its fourth quarter supported a strong fiscal 2018 for mobile connectivity and inertial navigation systems provider KVH Industries, as the company released its Q4 and 2018 full-year results.

KVH reported revenues of US$43.8m for the fourth quarter of 2018, representing a 12% gain over the $39.0m in revenues reported for the fourth quarter of 2017. Product revenues of $16.8m represented a 23% jump over the previous Q4, driven by a $1.6m increase in sales of the company’s inertial navigation product and a $1.5m jump in mobile connectivity product sales.

The company also recorded gains in service revenues, reaching $27.0m for the quarter and marking a 7% year-over-year gain. Over the same period, operating expenses decreased by $0.1m to $19.0m.

“We had a strong fourth quarter with growing customer demand and increasing revenue,” says KVH CEO, Martin Kits van Heyningen. “Our VSAT shipment levels once again grew significantly, increasing more than 87% compared to last year, driven not only by our AgilePlans program which increased dramatically this quarter, but also by traditional VSAT shipments, which increased more than 80% compared to last year. AgilePlans shipments do not impact revenue in the current period, but rather are an important source of airtime revenue growth in the future.”

The strong fourth quarter revenues capped a full year of sales growth for the company. For the year ended December 21, 2018, KVH reported full-year revenues of $170.8m, representing a 7% gain over the $160.1m in revenues reported for the previous fiscal year. Product revenues showed a year-over-year gain of 11%, reaching $63.3m, while service revenues of $107.5m marked a 4% YOY gain. Operating expenses for the year decreased by $0.8m to $77.9m.