SES has reported another strong first quarter, though comparisons with the prior year are not the easiest, given 2014 transponder sales and the terms of the AMC-15/-16 capacity renewal agreements with EchoStar.
Revenues of €477.8 million were up 2.6% on the prior year, delivering a group profit of €131 mil-lion. However, revenue in Europe was down 5.3% as reported to €241.0 million, the main difference being the outright sale of four transponders to Eutelsat in Q1 2014.
The technical reach of the operator grew by 7% to 312 million homes.
Growth in International markets was the key driver, up 14% to 75 million households. Market penetration also increased in both Europe and North America.
SES’s channel count increased by 5% between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015 to 6,526 total channels. This was driven by growth of 6.8% in the number of High Definition (HD) TV channels to 1,910.
