The financial highlights include…
- Revenue of EUR 891.9 million
- An increase of 4.8% over the prior year, +1.4% at constant exchange rates (“constant FX”)
- EBITDA of EUR 665.1 million
- An increase of 5.3% over the prior year, +2.1% at constant FX
- EBITDA margin of 74.6% (H1 2011: 74.2%)
- Operating profit rose 2.4% to EUR 411.5 million (H1 2011: EUR 402.0 million)
- Profit of the group EUR 298.7 million (H1 2011: EUR 292.1 million)
- Earnings per A-share of EUR 0.74 (H1 2011: EUR 0.74)
- Closing net debt / EBITDA multiple of 3.07
- Contract backlog maintained at the first quarter level of EUR 6.8 billion
Romain Bausch, President and CEO, said, “SES continues on its growth track and is well positioned to develop its business in the world’s emerging markets. SES is reporting solid half year results in line with our expectations. The switch-off of analogue satellite TV broadcasts in Germany took place, as scheduled, at the end of April. The remarketing of the newly available capacity is on track, and HD channel growth is, as projected, an important driver of demand for this capacity.
“The SES-4 satellite, launched in February, completed in-orbit testing and entered commercial service in mid-April. SES-4 carries replacement and new capacity for Europe and Africa and provides full coverage of the Americas, plus a global beam to support mobile and maritime customers. High-power, regional beams provide service to Europe, the Middle East, and West Africa, as well as North and South America.
“The SES-5 satellite was launched on 9 July and is presently undergoing in-orbit testing before entering commercial service, which is foreseen to be in the third quarter. SES-5 will serve markets in Africa and in Europe.”
To read the entire financial report, access this direct “.pdf” presentation download link.
Additionally, SES announced that the number of paying households using the HD+ service offered by its…
…German affiliate HD PLUS (HD+) has increased significantly. The HDTV platform attracted more than 120,000 new paying households between April and June 2012, the most paying households HD+ has ever acquired in one quarter. As of June 30, 2012, HD+ counted 634,290 paying households. Year-on-year, the number of households paying for HD+ has more than tripled (30 June 2011: 198,020).
In total, two million households were using HD+ during the individual 12-month free trial period at 30 June 2012. This is an increase of 700,000 on the previous year. The number of active HD+ households—paying households and households using it during the free trial period—was 2.6 million as at 30 June 2012, almost 1.2 million more that in the previous year. HD+ is a platform for the reception of unencrypted free-to-air and encrypted HD channels in Germany.
