The FINANCIAL — SES S.A. reports financial results for the nine months and three months ended 30 September 2016.
HIGHLIGHTS
Executing differentiated, global capabilities-driven strategy to deliver return to growth
• Revenue of EUR 1,490.1 million, in line with prior period
• Reported EBITDA of EUR 1,060.9 million, 4.1% lower than prior period
• EBITDA margin of 71.2% (YTD 2015: 74.1%) and 73.5% at same scope
• EUR 495.2 million gain recognised in Q3 2016 related to consolidation of O3b
• Profit attributable to SES shareholders of EUR 824.0 million (YTD 2015: EUR 375.5 million)
• Net Debt to EBITDA ratio at 3.30 times (Q3 2015: 2.62 times)
• One third of O3b debt refinanced; on track to complete refinancing by year-end and accelerate synergies
Accelerating growth and capabilities to deliver optimal and future-proof customer solutions
• HDTV channels grown 6.1% (YOY) to 2,434 channels and expanding commercial UHD channels
• SES-9 supporting video growth in international markets, where SES now broadcasts 2,685 channels
• O3b revenue doubled (YOY) and significantly enhancing long-term profile of SES’s Enterprise vertical
• MX1 supporting distribution of over 2,500 global TV channels and expanding premium sports content
• Expanding market-leading position in aero via major long-term agreement with Thales Avionics
• Substantial contract backlog increased to EUR 8.0 billion (YTD 2015: EUR 7.1 billion)
Karim Michel Sabbagh, President and CEO, commented: “These results demonstrate that SES’s differentiated strategy is enabling the return to sustainable long-term growth, with third quarter revenue higher than both the previous two quarters (same scope).
The positive growth dynamics in global video are accelerating and MX1 is already gaining market traction, as demonstrated by the recent contract for global distribution of the English Premier League, according to SES.
Mobility growth remains very strong. The agreement with Thales Avionics for SES-17 further increases SES’s significant backlog for aeronautical connectivity and validates the differentiated approach of building customised HTS solutions.
O3b remains on track to double its revenue in 2016. This unique global solution significantly enhances SES’s product offering and long-term growth dynamics across the data-centric verticals, especially in Enterprise.
SES is focusing on significant growth opportunities in the four market verticals. In the event that the timing of these extends beyond Q4 2016, this may impact pace of growth in the final quarter, with revenues likely to be below the previous FY 2016 guidance range.
SES’s focus on delivering differentiated global solutions is significantly improving the business mix and accelerating the growth outlook for 2017 and beyond. This is underpinned by SES’s substantial contract backlog of now EUR 7.6 billion, and EUR 8.0 billion including the strong backlog from O3b and RR Media.”
OPERATIONAL REVIEW
SES’s fully protected contract backlog increased to EUR 8.0 billion as at 30 September 2016 (30 September 2015: EUR 7.1 billion), benefiting from important new business and renewals across SES’s four market verticals. The backlog includes EUR 0.3 billion from O3b and EUR 0.1 billion from RR Media.
Video: 69% of group revenue (YTD 2015: 66%)
Reported revenue of EUR 1,026.8 million grew 3.8% (up 3.5% at constant FX) over the prior period. Revenue development included the first contribution from RR Media (consolidated on 6 July 2016), which complemented growth of 0.9% at constant FX and same scope.
At 30 September 2016, SES’s global satellite fleet broadcasts in total 7,317 TV channels to hundreds of millions of households all over the world. SES’s Video business continued to benefit from the acceleration of High Definition (HD) and Ultra HD (UHD) broadcasting in SES’s developed markets, as well as the continued expansion of video platforms and capabilities in the international markets.
HDTV channels grew by 6.1% (YOY) to 2,434 channels and SES’s HD penetration increased from 31.3% to 33.3% over the same period. In July 2016, Japan International Broadcasting Inc. signed a long-term agreement for SES to broadcast NHK WORLD TV in HD across Europe. NHK WORLD (HD), a 24/7 news and information channel, was one of around 50 new HDTV channels added across Europe in the last twelve months.
SES’s portfolio of commercial UHD channels has also grown. At 30 September 2016, a total of 17 commercial UHD channels are broadcast by SES satellites (30 September 2015: one). In August 2016, Sky Deutschland launched their first two UHD channels – Sky Sport Bundesliga UHD and Sky Sport UHD.
This was followed, in October 2016, by a capacity contract for the distribution of C4K360 across North America. This new channel is targeted at young audiences and offers a range of high-end entertainment programming in UHD. SES’s UHD channel development in North America also benefits from the recently announced (in October 2016) capacity and playout agreement with TERN to deliver INsight TV UHD, as well as the launch of the Nature Relaxation UHD channel. TERN launched INsight UHD and HD channels with SES in Europe last year, and is now expanding to North American audiences as well.
On 6 July 2016, SES acquired RR Media and merged the business with SES Platform Services to create MX1, the world’s leading media services and solutions provider. MX1 already distributes over 2,500 TV channels and supports more than 120 video on demand (VoD) platforms around the globe.
In August, MX1 signed an agreement with IMG to provide content distribution services for the broadcast of English Premier League matches in HD to TV service platforms, channels and networks across the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Enterprise: 12% of group revenue (YTD 2015: 15%)
Reported revenue of EUR 181.7 million declined 15.9% (-16.6% at constant FX) over the prior period. Revenue development included the first contribution from O3b (consolidated on 1 August 2016).
On 1 August 2016, SES completed the acquisition of the remaining shares of O3b, which offers global managed services, enabled by a unique ultra-high throughput and low latency Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) global satellite constellation. The business, which recently completed its second year of commercial operations, has doubled total revenue for YTD 2016 (compared with the prior period) and has delivered positive EBITDA since May 2016. The constellation provides ‘fibre in the sky’ connectivity services to a total of 46 customers and is on track to double its revenue and generate over USD 100 million of revenue for FY 2016. Around 55% of O3b customers have increased their initial bandwidth and services requirements since O3b began commercial operations in September 2014.
Mobility: 5% of group revenue (YTD 2015: 3%)
Reported revenue of EUR 76.8 million increased 50.3% (up 48.5% at constant FX) over the prior period. The contribution from the consolidation of O3b was strengthened by growth of 32.5% at same scope, reflecting the important benefit from the commercialisation of capacity across SES’s existing global fleet for in-flight connectivity and maritime services. In September 2016, SES announced the procurement of SES-17, an optimised Ka-band high throughput satellite to be built by Thales Alenia Space and expected to be launched in 2020. SES simultaneously entered into a long-term commercial agreement with Thales Avionics to offer a new in-flight connectivity service across the Americas and over the Atlantic Ocean.
SES has enhanced its products and solutions for delivering reliable, high-quality connectivity across the maritime industry. Since entering commercial service in September 2014, O3b has expanded its commercial relationship with Royal Caribbean Cruises from two to 11 cruise ships and grown from delivering capacity-only to a fully managed end-to-end solution. This contributed to year-on-year growth of over 75% in O3b’s mobility revenue for YTD 2016. In September 2016, SES also launched the global SES Maritime+ service to deliver high-speed connectivity to maritime customers. In October 2016, O3b, RigNet and MODEC reached an agreement to provide O3b’s high throughput, low latency connectivity solution for MODEC’s Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, situated off the coast of Brazil. The O3 b solution will enable MODEC to deliver operational decisions in real time, improving production and operating efficiency.
Government: 12% of group revenue (YTD 2015: 13%)
Reported revenue of EUR 176.6 million was 10.1% lower than the prior period (-10.6% at constant FX). At same scope, revenue was 12.4% lower at constant FX than the prior year period, which had benefitted from the accelerated revenue contribution associated with the construction phase of the Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS) and Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) hosted payloads.
In August 2016, SES GS secured a contract to provide O3b’s unique high throughput, low latency managed solution for a U.S. Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) end-user. The contract also enables the U.S. government to order additional O3b services to meet further requirements. SES is expanding the range of products and services available across the global government business. In September 2016, SES launched Tactical Persistent Surveillance (TPS), the first Government+ product offering. TPS is a highly portable surveillance and communications solution, which is rapidly deployable and designed to provide enhanced situational awareness for border security, special event monitoring and disaster response missions around the world. In October 2016, SES, as part of emergency.lu, provided vital connectivity services in Haiti to support recovery efforts following the devastating impact of Hurricane Matthew.
Future capacity
By end-2017, SES will launch six satellites, which will add a total of 127 incremental (36 MHz equivalent) transponders. Additionally, SES-12, SES-14 and SES-15 will carry a total of 36 GHz of HTS capacity, which will have the revenue generation potential of around 250 (36 MHz) wide beam transponder equivalents.
O3b has procured an additional eight satellites to accommodate rapidly expanding demand, with four satellites expected to be launched during H1 2018, and the remaining four satellites expected to be launched in H2 2019. These procurements will increase the size of the current fleet from 12 to 20 satellites (including three satellites currently flying as in-orbit back-up).
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