No end in sight to growth for Eutelsat and SES

Satellite operators Eutelsat and SES have both released their latest quarterly financial results.

Paris-based Eutelsat’s full-year 2009-10 figures saw year-on-year revenue growth of over €100m to €1.047bn, with record EBITDA of €827.8m, up 11.5%. Eutelsat said it had an order backlog of €4.9bn, up 24% year-on-year, and could now expect a revenue growth rate of above 7% over the next three years, with revenues expected to exceed €1.12bn in the next financial year. The company also expects an EBITDA margin of above 77% for each fiscal year until 2013.

Luxembourg-based rival SES meanwhile posted half-year revenue of €844.9m, up 4.5% year-on-year. Operating profit was €386.3m, up 4.5%. European arm SES Astra now reaches 125 million TV homes, three million more than last year, giving the operator a reach that it says outperforms cable in Europe, with 77 million satellite homes against 71 million cable homes. In Germany, SES said its HD Plus platform had seen over one million smartcards shipped to equipment manufacturers, and over 100,000 CI Plus modules sold to date.

SES said it was holding to its guidance of revenue growth of 4-5% for 2010, with a recurring EBITDA increase in line with the recurring revenue growth figure.

In its latest financials, SES said it was treating outside broadcast arm ND SatCom, which is currently for sale, as a “discontinued operation”.