Eutelsat Communications has raised its objectives for 2009-10 after first half revenues increased by 9.6% to €508 million. The Paris-based satellite operator reported a 19.1% increase in backlog equivalent to 4.2 years of annual revenues. EBITDA increased by 9.7% to reach €411.6 million for the six months ending December 31, 2009.
“The strong progress of Eutelsat’s results for our first half-year once again underlines the commercial momentum of our markets. It also highlights the efficiency with which our strategy has been implemented over the last years through clearly targeted and entirely self-financed investments,” said Michel de Rosen, CEO, Eutelsat Communications.
Eutelsat is now anticipated its full year revenues will exceed €1,020 million with EBITDA hitting €795 million.
Video applications increased by 7.4% as three new satellites entered programme service and another three were redeployed. The number of TV channels on the Eutelsat fleet stood at 3,448 as of December 31, an increase of 7.1% year on year. HD channels now number over 100 following an increase of 27 over the last 12 months.