FirstFlight, Inc. (OTCBB:FFLT), a charter management and aviation services company, today announced that its Board of Directors has decided to explore a broad range of strategic alternatives to enhance stockholder value. The Board has appointed a special committee drawn from its independent members to study these alternatives and has retained Laidlaw & Company (UK) Ltd., as its financial advisor to assist in this effort. The Board has taken this action in response to a number of acquisition opportunities and to a recent unsolicited indication of interest in the acquisition of FirstFlight.
FirstFlight previously announced record results for the nine months to September 30, 2007. Revenues rose to almost $35.1 million up from $29.8 million in the nine months to September 30, 2006. In 2007’s first nine months, revenue was composed of: $28.5 million in charter management (up from $23.4 million in the same period prior year), another $4.5 million from fixed base operations (FBO, up from $4.2 million in the nine months through September 30, 2006), and $2.1 million from aircraft maintenance, off slightly from $2.2 million in the same period of 2006.
The Company reported a net income for the first nine-months of 2007 of $183,868, an improvement from the $2.5 million net loss for the first nine month of 2006. FirstFlight’s management credits the turn around to the completion of a program to improve costs, a larger fleet of managed aircraft, a better mix of mid- to large-cabin aircraft, conversion of preferred shares and repayment of senior debt.
John Dow, President and CEO of FirstFlight said, “We engage in the aircraft charter management and aircraft maintenance businesses as well as FBO activities such as fueling and hangaring for general aviation. We believe that these markets are attractive for consolidation. At the same time, The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) pointed out last year that 30% of charter travelers have almost totally abandoned the scheduled airlines for their travel needs, in large part due to the security aggravations brought on by 9/11 and service that has declined in recent years. We anticipate that this trend is going to continue and will increase demand for our services. Indeed, we hired Marketshare Development Inc., a marketing company based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to help us continue developing our business. FirstFlight has had a year of consolidation, and we believe we are now in a position to explore ways to take advantage of these market conditions.
“Looking at our business segments individually, one can see that there are a great many opportunities, and the new committee will be involved in separating the good prospects from those that are less attractive. The charter management segment of the aviation industry where we operate is defined as those operators flying under Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 135 covering aircraft with 30 seats or fewer and up to 7,500 pounds of payload. NATA noted last year that there were approximately 3,000 holders of Part 135 charter certificates, which include 2,550 for fixed wing aircraft and 450 for helicopter operators. We are confident that there are economies of scale that can be achieved through consolidation in this highly fragmented market.
“Our FBO business operates in a similarly fragmented and diffuse market. Here, NATA said that there are over 3,000 operators who serve customers at one or more of the over 3,000 airport facilities that have at least one paved 3,000-foot runway. The vast majority of these companies are single location operators. Aircraft maintenance is similarly structured.”
Dow concluded, “We have reached an important stage in our development, and the research and deliberations of this committee in examining our strategic options will result in an active and exciting 2008.”
FirstFlight also noted that there can be no assurance that the exploration of these strategic alternatives will result in any transaction. FirstFlight does not intend to disclose developments with respect to the exploration of strategic alternatives unless and until its Board of Directors has approved a specific transaction.
Laidlaw & Co., which has been involved with FirstFlight since its infancy, possesses a wealth of industry knowledge and years of transactional experience, allowing it to raise capital and advise clients who seek efficient market access and creative solutions to their corporate financing needs. With investment banking expertise and merchant banking capital under one umbrella, Laidlaw is uniquely suited to serve emerging growth companies and satisfy special situation funding requirements.
About FirstFlight, Inc.
FirstFlight is an aviation services company. Its operations are conducted in three core segments: aircraft charter management activities, aircraft maintenance, and fix based operations. Charter management is the business of providing on-call passenger air transportation. A fixed base operation is the primary provider of services such and fueling and hangaring of private/general aviation aircraft operators. The aircraft maintenance business is conducted at FirstFlight’s FAA-certified facilities.