Loral Loss Widens Due to Globalstar Deficit

Loral Space & Communications Ltd.’s first-quarter loss widened to $123 million, or 49 cents a share, from $38.5 million, or 17 cents, a year ago, on increased start-up costs for the Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. network. The loss far exceeded forecasts of 36 cents. Revenue rose 4% to $318.1 million. Loral owns a 40% stake in Globalstar, the only satellite-telephone company that hasn’t filed for bankruptcy protection or shut down. At Globalstar, losses widened to $91.9 million, or 98 cents a share, from $10.9 million, or 19 cents, a year ago. Analysts had expected a much smaller loss of 75 cents. Globalstar, which had no revenue a year ago, reported revenue of $609,000, including royalties, for the latest quarter. Globalstar could run out of cash in about five months.

Separately, VoiceStream Wireless Corp., said its first-quarter loss deepened to $203.3 million, or $1.68 a share, from $77.2 million, or 81 cents, a year ago, when there were 27% fewer shares outstanding. Sales soared to $257 million from $67.7 million. The company’s sales, general and administrative costs more than tripled. VoiceStream shares fell as much as 14% in after-hours trading. The shares had closed off $10.81, or 9.3%, at $105.25, before the earnings were released.