Eutelsat HQ

Eutelsat released its financial results for the first half of its 2019/20 Fiscal Year (FY), and First Half revenues of its verticals were down 4.9% like-for-like compared to 2018. The operating vertical revenue declines in the Second Quarter (Q2) of -3.7% were less than First Quarter (Q1) declines of -6.2% Revenue in each operating vertical declined like-for-like in the First Half of the FY. 

Broadcast accounted for 61% of Eutelsat’s revenue, and broadcast revenues were down 1.6% like-for-like in the First Half, and down 1.5% year-on-year in Q2. Only Mobile Connectivity reported an increase in Q2, with 7.1% growth year-on-year. 

The company reported sustained profitability, with EBITDA margin at 78%, despite its revenue decline, attributing this to strong “cost discipline” in the core business. Eutelsat is in the midst of a cost-savings plan called LEAP 2 which aims to generate 20-15 million euro in opex savings by June 2022, but that benefit is not reflected in this financial report. 

Eutelsat CEO Rodolphe Belmer said that first half revenues were in line with the company’s expectations. 

“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 High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) capacity, highlighting robust demand in the mobility market,” Belmer said. 

Separately, Eutelsat announced on Friday that its GEO-3 payload of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), a hosted payload aboard its EUTELSAT 5 West B satellite, has entered into service. Eutelsat 5 West B is hosting the Eutelsat-procured EGNOS payload under a 15-year agreement signed in 2017 with the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA).