Eutelsat Third Quarter Results

11 May 2017

Eutelsat Communications reported revenues for the Third Quarter and Nine Months ended 31 March 2017.

Three months to 31 March 2017

Note: Since its First Half results on 9 February 2017, Eutelsat now publishes its revenues on the basis of five applications: Video, Fixed Data and Government Services (Core Businesses), Fixed Broadband and Mobile Connectivity (Connectivity). Please refer to the note in the appendix to H1 results release for more details.

Rodolphe Belmer, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Revenues for the Third Quarter were in line with our expectations, with a solid underlying performance in Broadcast. In consequence we affirm our revenue target for the Full Year with an outturn around the middle of our range of objectives.

During the quarter, we have made solid commercial progress, with an outcome of the Department of Defense Spring renewal campaign in line with expectations as well as the sale of new and renewal capacity at a number of our Video neighbourhoods. We have continued to maximise capex efficiencies notably with the agreement to host the EGNOS navigation system payload on EUTELSAT 5 West B and the contract with Blue Origin to further diversify our options for access to space. We have made significant headway on our strategic roadmap, with the closure of the first phase of the ViaSat partnership agreement. These elements enable us to look the medium term return to growth with confidence.”

THIRD QUARTER REVENUES [4]

Third Quarter revenues stood at €364.3 million, down 4.2% at constant currency and perimeter. On a reported basis, revenues were down 4.9% reflecting a 1.9 point negative perimeter effect (reflecting the disposal[5] of Alterna’TV, Wins/DHI and DSAT Cinema) and a 1.2 point positive currency effect.

Quarter-on-quarter, revenues were down 1.6% on a reported basis and down 2.9% on a like-for-like basis.

Unless otherwise stated, all variations indicated below are on a like-for-like basis.

Core businesses

Video Applications (64% of revenues)

Third Quarter revenues for Video Applications amounted to €228.1 million, down 4.1% year-on-year. Revenues from Broadcast were down 3.5% year-on-year with the negative impact of the rationalisation of capacity at the HOTBIRD position and lower revenues from FRANSAT more than offsetting the contribution of incremental capacity launched during the course of last year (mainly EUTELSAT 36C for Sub-Saharan Africa). Without these two negative elements, Broadcast revenues would have been slightly growing.

Professional Video revenues were down 9.1% year-on-year, reflecting continued pressure on contribution services in this application.

Revenues were down by 0.9% quarter-on-quarter. This sequential decline was fully attributable to Professional Video, with Broadcast revenues broadly stable, despite the end of the contract with Orange TV from 1 January 2017, reflecting sustained performance in emerging markets.

At 31 March 2017, the total number of channels broadcast by Eutelsat satellites stood at 6,356, up 3.2% year-on-year. HD penetration continued to rise, representing 16.6% of channels compared to 13.1% a year earlier, or 1,057 channels, up from 807 (+31%) a year earlier.

On the commercial front, a multi-year, multi-transponder contract was signed with NTV-PLUS covering the Express-AT2 satellite at 140° East to reach homes in Far East Russia and incremental capacity on the Express-AT1 satellite at 56° East to consolidate coverage of Siberia. Elsewhere, a multi-year contract with Ethiopia’s INSA agency was also finalised for a new TV platform at 7/8° West neighbourhood, while SRG SSR, Switzerland’s public broadcaster renewed a HOTBIRD transponder on a multi-year basis.

Fixed Data (12% of revenues)

Third Quarter revenues for Fixed Data stood at €42.1 million, down 12.6% year-on-year. They continued to reflect ongoing pricing pressure in all geographies, albeit at a slightly slowing pace.

Quarter-on-quarter revenues were down by 1.4%.

Government Services (12% of revenues)

In the Third Quarter, Government Services revenues stood at €45.2 million, down 3.0% year-on-year, reflecting the carry-over effect of lower renewals in the US Department of Defense Spring 2016 campaign. They were broadly unchanged quarter-on-quarter.

The latest round of contract renewals with the US administration (Spring 2017) resulted in an estimated renewal rate of approximately 85% and new contracts represented an additional three 36-MHz equivalent transponders.

Connectivity

Fixed Broadband (7% of revenues)

In the Third Quarter, Fixed Broadband revenues stood at €24.2 million, up 36.0% year-on-year, reflecting the positive effect of the entry into service in May 2016 of EUTELSAT 65 West A on which the Ka-band payload is fully leased, and resilient trends in European broadband.

Mobile Connectivity (5% of revenues)

In the Third Quarter, Mobile Connectivity revenues stood at €17.2 million, up 21.1% year-on-year, reflecting mainly the full-quarter effect of the agreement with Taqnia for the sale of four spotbeams on the High Throughput payload of the EUTELSAT 3B satellite.

Other Revenues

Other revenues amounted to €7.5 million in the Third Quarter versus €15.2 million a year earlier and €14.5 million in the Second Quarter.

Since 1 January 2017 Other Revenues no longer include revenues related to the agreements with SES at 28.5° East.

OPERATIONAL AND UTILISED TRANSPONDERS

The number of operational 36 MHz-equivalent transponders stood at 1,374 at 31 March 2017, up by 48 units compared with end-December 2016, reflecting principally the entry into service of EUTELSAT 117 West B in January. As a result, the fill rate stood at 68.2% at end-March 2017 versus 70.9% at end-December 2016, reflecting this new capacity and to a lesser extent the end of a contract with Orange TV.

Note: Based on 36 MHz-equivalent transponders excluding high throughput capacity (KA-SAT 82 spotbeams, EUTELSAT 3B 5 Ka-band spotbeams, EUTELSAT 65 West A 24 Ka-band spotbeams and EUTELSAT 36C 18 Ka-band spotbeams).

BACKLOG

The backlog [8] stood at €5.2 billion at 31 March 2017, versus €5.3 billion at end December 2016, and €5.9 billion a year earlier, reflecting natural consumption in the absence of significant renewals.

The backlog was equivalent to 3.4 times 2015-16 revenues. Video Applications represented 84% of the backlog.

NINE MONTH REVENUES

Revenues for the first nine months stood at €1,119.4 million, down 2.0% like-for-like. On a reported basis, they were down 3.3%, reflecting a 1.7 point negative perimeter effect (disposal[9] of Alterna’TV, Wins/DHI and DSAT Cinema) and a 0.4 point positive currency effect.

Nine months to 31 March 2017

OUTLOOK

Based on the performance of the First Nine Months, the group confirms its financial objectives for the current and next two years:

·         Relative to our objective of a decline in Revenues between -3% to -1% (at constant currency and perimeter) the outturn for the current year is expected around the middle of this range. For FY 2017-18, we maintain our expectation of broadly flat revenues, with a return to modest growth in FY 2018-19.

·         Following the implementation of the ‘LEAP’ cost-savings plan, the EBITDA margin (at constant currency) is expected above 76% for both FY 2016-17 and FY 2017-18 and heading towards 77% in FY 2018-19.

·         Cash Capex will stand at an average of €420 million^[12] per annum for the period July 2016 to June 2019, after taking account of future investments in Very High Throughput Satellite (VHTS) capacity.

·         Discretionary Free Cash Flow^[13] is expected to see three-year CAGR in excess of 10%, with FY 2015-16 as the base year[14].

·         The Group is committed to maintaining a sound financial structure to support its investment grade credit rating and aims at a net debt / EBITDA ratio below 3.3x.

The Group also commits to serving a stable to progressive dividend to shareholders.

FLEET DEVELOPMENTS

NOMINAL LAUNCH PROGRAMME

The upcoming launch schedule is indicated below. The launch of EUTELSAT 172B is now scheduled for 1 June.

¹ Chemical propulsion satellites (EUTELSAT QUANTUM, EUTELSAT 5 West B) generally enter into service 1 to 2 months after launch. Electric propulsion satellites (EUTELSAT 172B, EUTELSAT 7C and the African Broadband satellite) between 4 and 6 months. ² Total capacity of the high throughput payload: 1.8 Gbps.

CHANGES IN THE FLEET

In January 2017, EUTELSAT 117 West B entered commercial service,

In April 2017, EUTELSAT 48A reached the end of its operational life and was de-orbited.

GOVERNANCE

The Board of Directors of Eutelsat Communications decided to submit to the General Meeting of Shareholders which will be held on 8 November 2017 the appointment of Dominique D’Hinnin (currently permanent representative of FSP) as a Board Member. Following the AGM and subject to the approval of this appointment, Dominique D’Hinnin will replace Michel de Rosen who will step down from his functions as Chairman and Board Member of Eutelsat Communications.

Elsewhere, Yohann Leroy was appointedDeputy CEO in addition to his function as Chief Technical Officer, alongside Michel Azibert, Deputy CEO and Chief Commercial and Development Officer.

RECENT EVENTS

Financing

The option to extend by one year the maturity of the €600 million term loan and of the €200 million revolving credit facility of Eutelsat Communications, was exercised and accepted by the lenders. These facilities will now mature in March 2022.

Furthermore, ahead of the refinancing of the €930 million bond maturing in January 2020, the 7-year-mid-swap rate for an outstanding amount of €500 million has been pre-hedged at 112 bps.

The €450 million Eutelsat S.A. revolving credit facility maturing in September 2018 was refinanced at attractive terms. The new revolving credit facility will mature in April 2022 with two options for a one-year extension subject to the consent of the lenders for each extension.

APPENDICES

Quarterly revenues by Application

Proforma revenues

As a reminder, proforma revenues for FY 2015-16 were published with the H1 revenues release on 9 February 2017. They reflect:

The disposal of some businesses: Alterna TV (Video) deconsolidated from April 2016, Wins/DHI (Mobile Connectivity) deconsolidated from end-August 2016 and DSAT Cinema (Video) from end-October 2016;

A new classification of revenues on the basis of five applications: Video, Fixed Data and Government Services (Core Businesses), and Fixed Broadband and Mobile Connectivity (Connectivity).

The table below shows quarterly proforma revenues for FY 2015-16 and FY 2016-17 under the new classifications:

Reported Revenues

For information purposes, the table below shows reported revenues for FY 2015-16 and first quarter of FY 2016-17 under the former classifications.

Third Quarter 2016-17 revenues conference call