: Virgin Galactic says first commercial flight still ‘on track’ for late June
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. SPCE, the space-travel company founded by Richard Branson, reported a deeper loss than expected during its first quarter and sales that came up shy of expectations, but said its first planned commercial flight was on track for late June. Virgin Galactic reported a first-quarter net loss of $159.4 million, or 57 cents a share, compared with $93.1 million, or 36 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose to $392,000, compared with $319,000 in the prior-year quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a per-share loss of 52 cents, on revenue of $1.1 million. Shares dipped 0.2% after hours. The company on Monday announced a planned launch, set for late this month, for its VSS Unity spacecraft to return to space with specialists aboard who will do a “final evaluation of the customer experience” before commercial launches begin.
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