SES has posted revenues of €1,701.6 million for 2009, an increase of 4.4% on the previous year.
At the same time, EBITDA was up 8.1% year-on-year to €1,189.5 million, operating profit by 12% to €700.4 million and EPS by 24.5% to €1.22.
Commenting on the results, president and CEO Romain Bausch said:
“We are pleased to report that 2009 was another year of robust performance by the SES group, with continued strong demand for satellite capacity driving revenue growth. SES also built significantly on its profitable base, through acquisition and investments, to further develop the foundation for future growth. During the year, SES contracted five additional satellites, so that there are currently 12 satellites under construction. Our intensive satellite investment programme is projected to deliver over €400 million of new annual revenues in the 2015 time horizon. Further growth will come from SES’ minority investment in O3b Networks, a satellite constellation that will bring high-speed, low latency internet trunking to markets which have little or no broadband connectivity. We have, therefore, excellent growth prospects, as also reflected in the increase of the contract backlog, and we look forward to continuing to deliver value to shareholders.”
In its outlook, SES says that the number of HD channels carried by SES Astra and SES Sirius passed 100 before the end of 2009 and is likely to rise to 120 by the end of this year. It also notes that the additional bandwidth required for 3D broadcasts will drive incremental demand for satellite capacity, though this is initially likely to be on a modest scale.
Financial guidance points to recurring growth of around 5%, with recurring EBITDA increase in line with the recurring revenue growth.
Growth will continue despite the termination of analogue DTH transmissions in Germany, most of which should occur by mid-2012.
