SES Global announced its full year results for 2006, which saw its overall revenues increase over 28 percent to 1.6 billion euros ($2.10 billion) for the year compared to 2005. In terms of its overall net profit for 2006, SES Global posted an overall profit of 435.8 million euros ($572.78 million), an increase of 14 percent compared to 2005. Kristof Samoy, a satellite equity analyst at KBC Securities, greeted the results positively. He said in a research note that “SES’s results were above our consensus estimates. There was a slight operating surprise due to the larger contribution from acquired ND Satcom and New Skies. Net profit outstripped expectations.”

SES has been busy of late: Last week, it announced a deal with GE to buy back a 19.5 percent stake in SES for assets and cash. Meanwhile, the operator is faced with the challenge of building revenue growth after the high-profile NSS-8 launch failure. Rob Bednarek, CEO of SES New Skies, has said that a post-NSS-8 plan will be in place in the next 30 to 60 days.

SES Global’s strong revenue numbers have been fueled by strong growth in the broadcasting arena. SES Astra has performed particularly strongly in 2006. The operator, which is trying to ride the high-definition television (HDTV) wave in Europe, has seen a strong increase in its overall transponder utilization rate. As of Dec. 31, out of 305 transponders commercially available in its fleet, 251 were contracted, which works at an impressive utilization rate of 82 percent. This is an increase of 30 transponders compared to 2005.