KEYW HOLDING (KEYW) saw its loss narrow to $3.88 million, or $0.08 a share for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2017. In the previous year period, the company reported a loss of $15.41 million, or $0.39 a share.

Revenue during the quarter dropped 7.31 percent to $68.26 million from $73.64 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 118 basis points over the previous year period to 29.84 percent. Operating margin for the quarter stood at negative 1.86 percent as compared to a positive 6.71 percent for the previous year period.

Operating loss for the quarter was $1.27 million, compared with an operating income of $4.94 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $4.45 million compared with $8.46 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 497 basis points in the quarter to 6.52 percent from 11.49 percent in the last year period.

"As expected, KeyW delivered consistent sequential performance in the first quarter of 2017. We expect revenues to ramp up throughout 2017, driven primarily by increased affordable Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance ISR and advanced cyber training and analytics sales in the second half of the year. In addition, we’ll benefit from Sotera's revenue contribution immediately," said Bill Weber, KeyW’s president and chief executive officer. "As part of KeyW’s strategy to secure our base of business and reduce our recompete risk, we confirmed the extension of one of our largest legacy solutions programs to September 2019, totaling approximately $45 million of retained annual revenue. In addition, year-to-date as of April 30, Sotera has won more than $130 million of new solutions revenue. We anticipate the collective contribution from these activities to add significantly to combined revenue in the second half of 2017. The key takeaway is that we expect the convergence of several additional revenue sources to enable us to meet or exceed the revenue midpoint of the combined company that we offer in our updated guidance. As the integration of our two organizations progresses, we expect to finish 2017 as a stronger combined company serving our customers’ mission-critical needs.

The company has spent $2.96 million cash to meet investing activities during the quarter as against cash inflow of $9.43 million in the last year period.

Cash flow from financing activities was $84.61 million for the quarter, up 97,157.47 percent or $84.53 million, when compared with the last year period.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $119.69 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, up 275.75 percent or $87.84 million from $31.85 million on Mar. 31, 2016.

Working capital increases sharply
KEYW HOLDING has recorded an increase in the working capital over the last year. It stood at $151.10 million as at Mar. 31, 2017, up 100.11 percent or $75.59 million from $75.51 million on Mar. 31, 2016. Current ratio was at 5.26 as on Mar. 31, 2017, up from 3.02 on Mar. 31, 2016.

Cash conversion cycle (CCC) has decreased to 69 days for the quarter from 79 days for the last year period. Days sales outstanding went up to 70 days for the quarter compared with 68 days for the same period last year.

Days inventory outstanding has decreased to 16 days for the quarter compared with 30 days for the previous year period. At the same time, days payable outstanding went down to 17 days for the quarter from 19 for the same period last year.