Eutelsat confident for current year despite video losses

Satellite operator Eutelsat is looking more confidently to the data-sunlit uplands of tomorrow after posting revenues at the top end of forecast for the fiscal full year, despite losses in its traditional broadcast business.

Eutelsat posted revenues of €1.131 billion for the year to June, down 1.8% or 5.5% on a like-for-like basis.

Adjusted EBITDA stood at €825 million at 30 June 2023 compared with €862 million a year earlier, down by 4.2%.

Video revenues decline d by 8.3% like-for-like to €704.8 million, while government services and fixed connectivity also recorded smaller downticks. However, mobile connectivity grew by 26.8% to €110.1 million.

Eutelsat said the video losses were down to the impact of the early nonrenewal of a capacity contract with Digitürk from mid-November 2022 as well as lower revenues in Europe related to volume reductions with certain resellers. They were also impacted by the effect of sanctions against Russian and Iranian channels, mainly in the second half.

Mobility was boosted by strong maritime growth and by the commercialization of the third beam of Eutelsat Quantum for a maritime mobile customer in particular.

On the downside, Eutelsat reported that its backlog stood at €3.4 billion at 30 June 2023 versus €4 billion a year earlier, with gains elsewhere failing to offset the decline in video.

The performance was solid enough to enable Eutelsat to confirm its objectives for the current and future years.

“Fiscal Year 2022-23 has been a very solid year for Eutelsat, with revenues at the top end of our range of expectations, a high level of profitability and robust Free Cash Flow Generation. From a commercial point of view we have seen strong momentum in our Connectivity verticals, confirming our strategy of shifting our business model to address these new applications,” said CEO Eve Berneke.

“Operationally Eutelsat has proven its technological credentials with a record level of satellite launches and service entries. In parallel, OneWeb, with who we are working closely to prepare our proposed combination has seen a similar commercial dynamic, with a 50% increase in its backlog since October 2022.”