France’s Eutelsat, one of the world’s leading satellite operators, expects revenue to slip to between 1.11 billion euros and 1.13 billion euros ($1.26 billion to $1.28 billion) for its five key businesses in the fiscal year ending June 30. It had previously forecast revenue to come in at 1.15 billion euros.
Eutelsat said its revenue fell 9 percent in the first six months of the year to 572 million euros, knocking its profit margin down nearly one point to 76.1.
“This has been a satisfactory first half in financial terms,” said Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke, who took the helm at the start of the year.
Eva Berneke joined Eutelsat after previously holding executive roles in Danish technology and telecom firms, which the company’s board hoped would help her lead a transition into connectivity markets amid easing broadcast revenue for satellite operators.
Eutelsat reported sales from its broadcast division, which still generates a bulk of its revenue, down over 7 percent on a like-for-like basis, while its fixed broadband business rose more than 37 percent.
Eutelsat also pushed back its forecasts on a return-to-sales growth to 2023/24 for the next fiscal year, due to delays on available capacity on its KONNECT VHTS and EUTELSAT 10B satellites.
Eutelsat, whose biggest shareholder is French state-owned investment bank Bpifrance, has been the subject of takeover speculation. Last September, the company rejected a bid from telecoms billionaire Patrick Drahi.
“The First Half has seen a number of important commercial and operational milestones, notably with the entry into service of EUTELSAT QUANTUM, strong progress on our Fixed Broadband roll-out, the cementing of our position in OneWeb and the receipt of the first tranche of our C Band proceeds,” Eva Berneke said.
