The company said that the figures of the First Half were in line with expectations, and attributed the growth to improving the Operating Verticals revenues trend in Q2.
Eutelsat Communications has reviewed the financial results for the half-year ended 31 December 2019, according to which the company reported total revenue of $689m for the first half of 2019-20.Revenues of the five Operating Verticals (ie, excluding Other Revenues) stood at $688m. Second Quarter revenues stood at $345m down 1.2% on a reported basis and by 3.4% like-for-like. Revenues of the five Operating Verticals stood at $345m, down 3.7% year-on-year and up by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter on a like-for-like basis.
First Half Broadcast revenues were down 1.6% like-for-like to $421m, reflecting notably the termination of a contract in Sub-Saharan Africa and the effect of the return of a couple of transponders in Russia. Second Quarter revenues stood at $211m down by 1.5% year-on-year and stable quarter-on-quarter.
First Half Mobile Connectivity revenues stood at $44m, down 0.6% like-for-like. The ramp-up of capacity contracts on KA-SAT and maritime business as well as the carry-forward effect of the UnicomAirNet contract on EUTELSAT 172B offset the end of a temporary wide-beam contract that occurred in FY 2018-19.
Second Quarter revenues stood at $23m, including the catch up of a negative one-off of circa 1m in the First Quarter. They were up 7.1% year-on-year and by 8.2% quarter-on-quarter.
Commenting on the First Half, Rodolphe Belmer Chief Executive Officer of Eutelsat Communications, said: First Half revenues were in line with our expectations with an improvement in trend in the Second Quarter versus the First and stabilisation in revenues quarter-on-quarter. Despite the revenue decline, we delivered an industry-leading level of profitability, with an EBITDA margin of 78%. In recent months we have made strong progress on the development of our future growth levers with the successful launch of EUTELSAT KONNECT, bringing new resources over Africa and Europe and marking a milestone in our Connectivity strategy, as well as the procurement of EUTELSAT 10B with firm commitments on a third of the HTS capacity, highlighting robust demand in the mobility market.”
Belmer added: “Looking ahead, the remainder of the year will benefit from several revenue tailwinds, notably the EGNOS payload on EUTELSAT 5 West B and the availability of incremental capacity on EUTELSAT 7C, leading us to reaffirm our revenue target for FY 2019-20 as a whole. All other elements of the financial outlook are also confirmed, notably our FY 2021-22 cash-flow target providing ample dividend cover. Moreover, by FY 2022-23, the bulk of our capacity renewal cycle will be complete, giving us increased flexibility to support cash generation and attendant shareholder remuneration over the long term.
