So we’re ramping up our activities there. And so that also — as a reminder, a contract that was, I’ll say, pre-COVID priced. We won that back in 2019, and it took a little while to get the order in the fall of 2022. And at this point in time, inventory is starting to show up, and we’re working on our deliveries, but that had a significant influence, if you will, on the quarter, just given that it was pre-COVID pricing with long lead times. We also had in the quarter some additional COMETs that were in the nine months, if you will, that was in the first-half of the year. We did sell off some COMETs destined for Ukraine. And while those carry higher margins, I think when you take all three of those and mix them up for the quarter, we definitely had seen our sales percentage-wise for more in the satellite and space segment, and those have traditionally lower margins than terrestrial wireless, as we discussed in the past that have more software recurring type sales and margins.
So I think it was just the confluence of those transactions that impacted the margins. Heading into Q4 and looking forward into FY ‘24, certainly with our One Comtech initiatives, and looking at where things are headed, we do expect margins in satellite and space to improve. And that’s something that we are also heavily focused on in terms of getting uplift there. So I think as we burn off, I’ll say, backlog that had suboptimal pricing and burn that off and replace it with newer items, we would expect to see a turn in the margin.
George Notter: Got it. That’s great. And then you mentioned the COMET project to Ukraine. Was that the case where those products had been written off from an inventory perspective, and therefore, you sold them and they came through a really good margin. And now we’ve got a non-repeat of that business this quarter. Is that the dynamic you’re describing?
Mike Bondi: No, no, this was not a write-off — a sale of written-off inventory. Back in 2022, we — around February of 2022 to be precise, we were tracking a pretty large order with the Ukraine as the end customer or end user of the COMETs that got postponed when Russia invaded Ukraine. That opportunity, we thought, was never lost. It was just a matter of timing as they were transitioning to fight a ground war, and they finally came back to us in the August, September timeframe to place the order, given the urgent and compelling need of the equipment, we shipped it out expeditiously. And for the most part, that was in our Q1 and Q2. There was a little bit of additional units going out in Q3, but not to the scale that it was in Q1 and Q2.
Ken Peterman: But some extension and continuation of that initial order, George.
George Notter: Got it. Okay. So it’s a non-repeat of that business that hurt you by comparison relative to prior quarters, okay. Super, that’s all I had. Thanks very much.
Ken Peterman: Thanks, George.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question will come from Asiya Merchant with Citi. Your line is open.
