Satellite Solutions Worldwide Group plc Acquisition of major French Satellite Broadband Provider

17 August 2015

Satellite Solutions Worldwide Group plc  has acquired Sat2Way SARL ('Sat2Way'), one of the largest and most respected providers of satellite broadband in France, with over 5,500 residential and business customers. Predominantly operating in France, Sat2Way also has customers in Spain, Switzerland and Belgium.

SSW, which already has over 1,000 customers in France, sees the territory as a key market in Europe as the French Government has incentivised the roll-out of satellite broadband as the solution for many homes and businesses, and is currently offering subsidies in many areas via their 'subvention' scheme. As a result of this acquisition, SSW becomes the second largest satellite broadband provider in France with over 6,500 subscribers and is well positioned to target an addressable market of nearly 1 million homes in France, equating to 3% of French households, which have less than 2 Mbps broadband coverage*.

Sat2Way has been acquired out of administration for €825,000 in cash for 100% of the share capital. For the eight months ended 28 February 2015, Sat2Way generated sales of €1.73 million (FY2014: €2.54 million) and an EBITDA loss of €0.36 million (FY2014: loss of €0.34 million) (all figures are unaudited). The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for SSW within the current financial year.

CEO Andrew Walwyn commented: "We are delighted to welcome Sat2Way customers and staff to SSW.  This is our third acquisition in a key European market since listing on AIM in May 2015; it underpins our growth ambitions and takes our subscriber base to approximately 20,000 customers, a 65% increase since float.

Following this acquisition, France is now our second biggest market after the UK, and we expect to expand further there in due course. France is a model case study on how Government support can rapidly accelerate satellite broadband adoption, and we are aware that a number of other European Governments in our key markets are considering similar schemes. I believe we face very exciting times ahead".