HD and Europe boost SES’s year

SES-12: one of a new generation of DTH/HTS satellites

SES saw a 5.1% increase in HD channels broadcast over its satellites in 2014 as it posted solid full-year results, with revenue up 4% to €1.919 billion and EBITDA up 5% to €1.428 billion. Infrastructure revenue grew by 3.8%.

European revenues were boosted by the sale of eight transponders to Eutelsat, as part of the comprehensive agreement in January 2014 covering the previously contested UK orbital slots of 28.2/28.5° East. Overall the European business grew by 9.1% at constant exchange rates.

During the year, the total number of TV channels broadcast via SES’s satellite fleet increased by 4.7% to 6,529, which represents 17% of the world’s total satellite TV channels. This includes an increase of 5.1% in HDTV channels from 1,793 to 1,885 broadcast by SES, representing 25% of the total market, according to the company.

“SES delivered another year of strong revenue and EBITDA growth in 2014. This reflects a series of successes in key market verticals and geographies in securing new business, as well as further serving our long-standing customers. We have continued to execute on SES’s strategic principles for delivering long-term profitable growth, and enhancing our world-leading satellite operations,” said president and CEO Karim Michel Sabbagh, who added that the company’s investment “in innovative solutions that bring together linear and non-linear broadcasting are also paving the way for the introduction of Ultra HD TV”.

“Looking forward, 2015 will be a year in which SES continues to build for future growth. The recent announcements of the SES-14, SES-15 and SES-16/GovSat programmes demonstrate SES’s commitment to generating long-term revenue growth as part of our existing investment plan. These satellite programmes will use the latest technological innovations and leverage SES’s differentiated capabilities to deliver new capacity that will optimally serve attractive market verticals across the globe,” said Sabbagh.