Eutelsat hit by prior year comparison, but core business stable

Satellite operator Eutelsat saw its Q1 revenues drop by 9.3% on a reported basis and 6.7% on a constant currency basis to €349 million, hit by the absence this year of fees for technical and engineering services to a third-party operator.

Underlying video revenues were down 0.8% to €223.3 million. Revenues from broadcast were up 0.5% year-on-year excluding the carry-forward impact of the termination of its TV d’Orange contract last year, with growth coming from Russia at the 36° East and 56° East orbital positions and MENA at the 7/8° West and 7° East orbital positions.

The total number of channels broadcast by Eutelsat satellites stood at 6,755, up 6.6% year-on-year. The number of HD channels stood at 1,210 versus 940 a year earlier, up by 28.7% and represented 17.9% of channels compared to 14.8% a year earlier.

Fixed data revenues were down 11.7% and government services revenues rose slightly. Fixed broadband revenues declined, while mobile connectivity revenues increased.

“First Quarter revenues were in line with our expectations. Our key operational metrics were well oriented with a further rise in HD  Fill Rate on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The Fall renewal campaign with  the US Government yielded a favourable outturn, at some 95% in value while the outcomes of Video renewals during the quarter were positive, notably with Polsat on Hotbird. Elsewhere we took further measures to optimise Video distribution with the absorption of Noorsat in the MENA region,” said CEO Rodolphe Belmer.