SES S.A. has announced a revenue of EUR 1,451.9m, down 3.9% at constant FX(1) as part of its financial results for the nine months ending 30 September 2019. Although revenues are less than 2018, with net profits this year being EUR 332.6m as opposed to 404.3 in 2018, the company states that the “financial performance” is “in line with SES’ expectations” and “sequential growth in quarterly revenue and EBITDA and financial outlook remain unchanged”.
YTD 2019 underlying revenue of EUR 1,433.5m (excluding periodic and other) was 3.6% lower than YTD 2018 (at constant FX). Additionally, periodic and other revenue was EUR 18.4m in the nine months ended 30 September 2019.
Video underlying revenue of EUR 904.5m (8.1% lower than YTD 2018) included EUR 300.7m in Q3 2019, which represented a decrease of 6.4% compared with Q3 2018. The YTD performance was in line with SES’ expectations and driven by lower distribution (-8.2%) and services (-7.7%) revenue, notably from the U.S. wholesale business and SES’ decision to reduce exposure to certain low-margin ‘legacy’ services contracts.
Networks underlying revenue grew by 5.1% year-on-year (at constant FX) to EUR 529.0m driven by strong growth momentum in Mobility (+14.6%) and Government (+4.8%) while Fixed Data was slightly lower (-1.4%). Q3 2019 underlying revenue of EUR 182.2m represented an increase of 5.2% compared with Q3 2018.
Net profit attributable to SES shareholders was EUR 249.9m in the first nine months of 2019.
Net debt to EBITDA ratio (as per the rating agency methodology) was 3.47 times, compared with 3.50 times at Q2 2019 and 3.43 times at Q3 2018. The net debt to EBITDA ratio is expected to be at or below 3.30 times by the end of 2019.
Speaking about the financial results, Steve Collar, CEO, commented: “For the seventh consecutive quarter, our results are in line with our expectations and with the outlook that we have given to the market, reflecting our on-going focus on execution in the core of our business. As expected, we are seeing revenue and EBITDA expansion flowing through in the second half of 2019 with strong control over costs and discretionary spending and the continued rationalisation and simplification of our business and organisation. Execution remains the focus for the rest of the year as we look to close out 2019 with a strong Q4 outturn, much as we did in 2018 and implied in our financial outlook which remains unchanged.
“In Video, we completed the combination of our infrastructure and services capabilities; launched a dedicated TV platform in Ethiopia; secured important renewals in our core neighbourhoods; and introduced new products, such as a Satellite/OTT synchronisation capability, managed cloud playout through our partnership with Microsoft Azure and the further development of our in-house orchestration platform SES 360.
“Our Networks business continues to grow with recent customer successes including important incremental business on SES-15 in support of our aero service provider customers; important business aviation partnerships with Collins Aerospace and Vista Global; our Signature Maritime Solutions now enabling connectivity in the Mediterranean; and deploying ‘life-changing’ broadband services that will allow our partners to improve connectivity in rural areas across Indonesia and Colombia.
“I am excited by the progress that we are making with O3b mPOWER and our vision for a connected, seamless, cloud-scale MEO/GEO network. We are through the critical design phase for O3b mPOWER and have secured the launch of the first seven satellites with SpaceX for 2021. Importantly, we have partnered with Microsoft to extend Azure ExpressRoute services globally across our network, with our combined customers benefiting from the reach and performance of the SES network. All of this will be enabled by an automation and orchestration platform based on Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) in partnership with Amdocs and leveraging our in-house Adaptive Resource Control (ARC) under development with Kythera to deliver unprecedented levels of flexibility and network efficiency. All of which will make it easy for our customers to get the very best service, delivered when and where they want it, at the right economics and with an unprecedented array of service offerings and enablement.
This was underscored with the recent announcement that, together with Thales Avionics, we have successfully completed seamless and uninterrupted multi-orbit inflight interoperability demonstrations, paving the way for our MEO network to enhance and disrupt aviation services much as it has in cruise.
Finally, the FCC Chairman has reiterated his belief that there will be ‘results to show in the Fall’ from the ongoing proceeding to repurpose C-Band to support the rapid and broad-based roll out of 5G services in the U.S. while protecting the 120 million TV and radio households who rely on the networks that our customers support. The C-Band Alliance is engaged proactively with all stakeholders in the U.S. to ensure that our proposal delivers a fair deal for all.”
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