Cargojet Continues its Strong Performance into Third Quarter

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 3, 2020 /CNW/ - Cargojet Inc. ("Cargojet" or the "Corporation") (TSX: CJT) announced today financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020. Total Revenues for the quarter were $162.3 million compared to third quarter 2019 Revenues of $117.4 million. Gross Margin for the quarter was $58.3 million compared to third quarter 2019 Gross Margin of $29.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR for the quarter were $78.1 million and $78.1 million respectively compared to the third quarter 2019 Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR of $39.1 million and $39.3 million respectively.

While the business conditions remain highly volatile due to continuing effects of the pandemic, the Team at Cargojet has remained disciplined in staying focused on continuing to serve its customers with the highest level of on-time performance and protecting its employees with additional safety measures. The extra-ordinary safety measures have proven crucial for Cargojet to be able to operate safely with record volumes and record hours of flying.

With back-to-back strong quarters, Cargojet generated $59.3 million in free Adjusted Free Cash Flow during Q3 and $144.8 million for the nine months ending September 30, 2020, allowing it to further reduce its overall leverage to 2.1X twelve months trailing EBITDAR.

"There is no doubt that Cargojet's Domestic Overnight Network continues to benefit from the elevated levels of e-Commerce, but we are equally focused on ensuring that we are building strong long-term growth in our ACMI and Charter businesses. We are also continuing to invest in growth opportunities while prudently strengthening our Balance Sheet with an overall reduction of $92 million in net-debt on a year-to-date basis".

"Although we have been operating at near peak level volumes for the past two quarters, it is vitally important that we do everything we can to support our customers during the upcoming holiday season. As a result, we are deploying additional resources all across our network to ensure that we play our part in delivering a successful holiday season for all our customers." said Dr. Ajay Virmani, President & CEO.

"One thing that has clearly differentiated us is our people. We are so incredibly proud of the work each one of our team members are doing on a daily basis. We see stories of heroic effort every night from ramp and maintenance staff to our pilots who are all going well beyond the call of duty and operating safely to serve our customers during these challenging times." Commented Dr. Virmani.

"We are closely monitoring the changing shopping habits and shipping trends in the domestic and international markets and spending the necessary time to understand and adapt to the new dynamics. While we face some uncertain climate in the near future, we believe the key to success will be resilience and adaptability." concluded Dr. Virmani.

About Cargojet

Cargojet is Canada's leading provider of time sensitive premium overnight air cargo services and carries over 8,000,000 pounds of cargo weekly. Cargojet operates its network across North America each business night serving 15 major cities, and selected international destinations.  Cargojet owns a fleet of 27 aircraft. For further information, please contact:

Non-GAAP Measures

"Adjusted EBITDA" and "Adjusted EBITDAR" are non-GAAP measures used by the Corporation to provide additional information on its financial and operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR are not recognized measures for financial statement presentation under Canadian GAAP and it does not have standardized meanings and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other public companies.

Adjusted EBITDA is used by the Corporation to assess earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, gain or loss on disposal of capital assets, unrealized foreign exchange gains or losses, unrealized gain or loss on forward foreign exchange contracts, aircraft heavy maintenance amortization, contract asset amortization, gain or loss on cash settled share based payment arrangement related to a financing arrangement, unrealized gain or loss on fair value of total return swap related to a financing arrangement, gain or loss on fair value of stock warrant, loss on settlement of cash settled share based payment arrangement related to a financing arrangement, gain on settlement of total return swap related to a financing, loss on extinguishment of debts, and non-cash employee pension expense, as these costs can vary significantly among airlines due to differences in the way airlines finance their aircraft and other assets. Adjusted EBITDAR is calculated as Adjusted EBITDA excluding aircraft rents. The Corporation believes that these alternative measures provide a more consistent basis to compare the performance of the Corporation between the periods. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR provide additional information to users of Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial condition and Results of Operations ("MD&A") to enhance their understanding of the Company's financial performance.

Reconciliation of non-GAAP EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR to GAAP income is provided on page 14 of the MD&A for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020.

Notice on Forward Looking Statements: 

Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements look into the future and provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on the business. Forward-looking statements may include words such as "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "should," "estimates," "expects," "believes," "indicates," "targeting," "suggests" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and entail various risks and uncertainties. Reference should be made to the issuer's most recent Annual Information Form filed with the Canadian securities regulators, and it's most recent Annual Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto and related Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), for a summary of major risks. Actual results may materially differ from expectations, if known and unknown risks or uncertainties affect our business, or if our estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. The issuer assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason, other than as required by applicable securities laws. In the event the issuer does update any forward-looking statement, no inference should be made that the issuer will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statement.

SOURCE Cargojet Inc.