Aerovironment Inc (AVAV) SEC Filing 10-Q Quarterly Report for the period ending Saturday, January 29, 2022

Exhibit 99.1

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AeroVironment, Inc. Announces Fiscal 2022 Third Quarter Results

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ARLINGTON, VA, March 3, 2022

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“The Company continued to face several challenges during the third quarter, particularly in terms of supply chain constraints, the ongoing effects from the federal government’s Continuing Resolution, and a tight labor market,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment chairman, president and chief executive officer. “However, these issues were anticipated, and we made measurable progress in addressing and mitigating such headwinds going forward. The Company’s results were largely in line with our forecast, although certain work was pushed into the fourth quarter, and we are maintaining our guidance for fiscal year 2022.

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“We’re actively taking steps to reduce costs, manage working capital, and increase operational efficiency during this challenging operating environment. This includes partnering with suppliers to improve delivery times, consolidating our facilities footprint, and streamlining our workforce. While such actions, in the near term, negatively impact both margins and working capital, they improve product throughput and overall customer satisfaction while positioning us for future success.

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“We’re pleased with our solid backlog as well as the many opportunities which lie ahead for AeroVironment. Our focus on winning the US Army’s Future Tactical UAS – FTUAS – Increment 1 serves as the proving ground for our Medium UAS systems which, if all goes well, could lead to significant contracts in the quarters to come. Given this opportunity, and expanding demand from overseas customers, I believe the Company is on the right path for better results in fiscal 2023 – including increased margins, stronger organic growth, and higher cash flow. We’re investing in leading-edge technologies that will provide for years of solid performance and the returns our investors have come to expect.”

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FISCAL 2022 THIRD QUARTER RESULTS

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Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $90.1 million, an increase of 14% from the third quarter of fiscal 2021 revenue of $78.8 million. The increase in revenue reflects higher service revenue of $27.1 million, partially offset by a decrease in product sales of $15.7 million. The increase in revenue was primarily due to revenue from the Medium Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“MUAS”) segment of $21.2 million and the Unmanned Ground Vehicles product line of $9.6 million, as a result of our acquisitions of Arcturus UAV (“Arcturus”) and Telerob GmbH (“Telerob”) in February and May 2021, respectively, and an increase in customer-funded research and development revenue of $7.7 million. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in revenue in the Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“Small UAS”) segment of $26.2 million.

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Gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $21.4 million, a decrease of 25% from the third quarter of fiscal 2021 gross margin of $28.6 million. The decrease in gross margin reflects lower product margin of $9.3 million, partially offset by higher service margin of $2.1 million. As a percentage of revenue, gross margin decreased to 24% from 36%. Gross margin was negatively impacted by $5.1 million of intangible amortization expense and other related non-cash purchase accounting expenses in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 as compared to $0.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2021. With the acquisitions of Arcturus and the Intelligent Systems Group of Progeny Systems Corp. (“ISG”), we experienced a higher proportion of service revenue, which generally has lower gross margins than product sales.

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