SES GLOBAL reports net profit increase of 28.6% on revenue growth of 16.6%
PRESS RELEASE
Betzdorf, August 7th, 2006
Consolidated Financial Results for the six months to 30 June 2006
SES GLOBAL reports net profit increase of 28.6% on revenue growth of 16.6%
Organic growth and acquisition of New Skies drive strong first half results
HIGHLIGHTS
- Revenues rose 16.6% to EUR 710.5 million (2005: EUR 609.2 million)
- Increasing 8.1 % to EUR 657.0 million (2005: EUR 608.1 million) on a recurring, same scope (excluding SES NEW SKIES) and constant exchange rate basis
- EBITDA rose 14.1% to EUR 499.5 million (2005: EUR 437.6 million)
- Net profit rose 28.6% to EUR 215.6 million (2005: EUR 167.7 million)
- Earnings per share rose 34.5% to EUR 0.39 (2005 : EUR 0.29)
- New Skies acquisition completed 30 March, strengthening global coverage
- Industry-leading backlog of EUR 6,781.7 million (December 2005: EUR 6,489.9 million)
- Share buybacks to July 31 totalled EUR 213.3 million - primarily earmarked for cancellation as part of the share buy-back programme - with EUR 148.9 million having been spent by June 30th.
- Net debt/EBITDA stood at 3.01 - in line with the Group’s stated target - compared to 2.39 on December 31, 2005
Romain Bausch, President & CEO of SES, said,
“The first six months of 2006 were significant for the development of the SES group.
We concluded the acquisition of New Skies Satellites in order to expand our connectivity offerings as well as to strengthen substantially our positioning in emerging markets. SES NEW SKIES’ performance is ahead of plan and progress in the integration makes us confident that we should achieve the synergy target. In addition, we further increased our shareholding in ND Satcom to 100%, strengthening our services capabilities in particular in the government segment.
We also continued to grow organically our core satellite infrastructure business, as well as our services activities, at a high single-digit rate. This growth came from increased demand for satellite capacity and services in the media, enterprise and government segments in our main markets of Europe and
We also launched a digital infrastructure project in the German market which should facilitate the smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcast technology with all its attendant benefits for the consumer. For SES, this represents an exciting opportunity to develop a new, profitable revenue stream.
In addition to these value-creating growth initiatives, we continued to deliver on our share buy-back programme, with EUR 213.3 million being spent by the end of July, thereby optimising our capital structure.
In sum, the first half has been a busy and productive time for SES and our solid performance throughout supports our efforts as we focus on achieving our objectives for the balance of the year.”
For further information please contact:
| Mark Roberts Investor Relations Tel. +352 710 725 490 Mark.Roberts@ses-global.com | Yves Feltes Press Relations Tel. +352 710 725 311 Yves.Feltes@ses-global.com |
Additional information is available on our website www.ses-global.com
PRESS / ANALYST TELECONFERENCES
A press call will be hosted at 11.00 Betzdorf time today, 7 August 2006. Journalists are invited to call: +44 (0) 20 8515 2304 five minutes prior to this time.
A call for investors and analysts will be hosted at 14.00 Betzdorf time today, 7 August 2006. Participants are invited to call: +44 (0) 20 8515 2303 five minutes prior to this time. Journalists may join the call in listen-only mode.
A presentation, which will be referred to in each call, will be available for download from the Investor Relations section of our website www.ses-global.com
posted by First Space @ 8/07/2006 03:21:00 PM
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