Eutelsat appoints a new Chief Financial Officer – 24/11/2022 at 18:21


(AOF) – Eutelsat Communications has announced the appointment of Christophe Caudrelier as Group Chief Financial Officer, effective January 2, 2023 at the latest. He joins the satellite operator after having served as Operating Partner – Finance at Tikehau Ace Capital Partners. A subsidiary of Tikehau Capital, Tikehau Ace Capital Partners is a private investment fund specializing in the sectors of sensitive industries and technologies with more than one billion euros in assets under management.

“Christophe Caudrelier brings us the solid experience he has acquired as a financial director during his 30-year career serving global companies, where operational excellence and long-term investments are key factors. keys to meeting ever-changing market needs,” explains Eutelsat.

His appointment comes following the announcement made by Financial Director Sandrine Téran of her departure from the group in order to devote herself to other professional projects.

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Key points

– Second world operator of telecom satellites created in 1977, with a market share of 16%;

– Turnover of €1.51 billion generated by 36 satellites in operation, split between video for 61%, professional data and video for 14%, government services for 12%, mobile connectivity for 7% and fixed broadband for 6%;

– International diversity between Europe (26%), North Africa-Middle East (22%), Americas (10%), Sub-Saharan Africa (10%), Central Europe (9 %);

– Business model based on the generation of free cash flow via contracts of 10 to 15 years – the lifespan of a satellite – and a return to growth via video and connectivity;

– Capital held 19.8% by BPIFrance, 7.5% by the Strategic Investment Fund and 6.7% by China Investment Capital, Dominique d’Hinnin chairing the 11-member board of directors and Eva Berneke new director general;

– Financial position under control with net debt of €2.8 billion (debt leverage of 3.27) with €1.9 billion in cash.

Challenges

– Strategy between now and 2025: acceleration of growth in video (scaling up of Broadband with ViaSat, and High Definition) and in connectivity: launch of the managed services solution Eutelsat Advance / Comète project back to the growth / entry into service of substantial capacities from the 2023-24 financial year with significant firm commitments secured;

– Innovation strategy integrated into the business model;

– Structured environmental strategy between the management of the space fleet within the framework of the Net Zero Space initiative – avoiding congestion, managing space debris and reducing the end-of-life impact of satellites – and the optimization of the impact ground operations;

– Release, for the benefit of the American FCC, of ​​the C-band spectrum by the beginning of 2022, for a total amount of 507 MS;

– Execution of the IoT strategy with ELO and IoT First, turnkey service operating on the geostationary fleet;

– Visibility of the activity with an order book of €4 billion: 4 entry into service of satellites in 2023 (Eutelsat 10B, Eutelsat Hotbird 13G and 13F, Konnect VHTS) and 1 in 2024 (Eutelsat 36 D).

Challenges

– Exposure to connected TV projects from Google/Qualcomm and competition from Tesla, SES, etc.;

– Impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict (6.3% of revenues due to Russian customers, rental of the capacity of 4 satellites from the Russian RSCC, for a net value of €322 million): 6 launches planned for Oneweb from Baikonur distributed to SpaceX and New Space India and suspension of broadcasts;

– Towards a merger by exchange of shares with the British OneWeb, already 22.9% owned and valued at 3.4 billion: payment by issuing 50% of new Eutelsat shares, at a unit price of €12 / complementarity of offers ( geostationary or low-orbit satellites) in connectivity / value creation potential estimated at €1.5 billion / forecasts for 2022-2023: €1.2 billion in revenue and operating profit of €700 million;

– 2022-2023 objectives (excluding OneWeb), revenue of €1.15 to €1.18 billion, free cash flow of €420 million and cost savings of €20 to €25 million, with the return to revenue growth being reiterated for 2023-24, with the entry into service of Konnect VHTS and Eutelsat 10B, with investments maintained at €400 million until 2024.

Sector analysis Communication and Media

French players well positioned in audiovisual production

Among the independent players, the Frenchman Banijay is the world leader with an expected turnover of 3 billion euros in 2022 in a market which represents 100 billion in revenue. Mediawan (backed by the KKR fund), whose turnover amounts to 1 billion euros, is the other main French player in the sector. The market is still very fragmented because according to the European Audiovisual Observatory, the top twenty production groups were responsible for only 38% of titles created in 2020. However, experts believe that the sector has entered a phase consolidation. Thus Banijay’s stock market listing aims to enable it to better participate in this movement.



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