(AOF) – The financial director of Eutelsat Communications, Sandrine Téran, has announced her decision to leave her post by the end of November in order to devote herself to other professional projects. Sandrine Téran has been the group’s financial director and member of the executive committee since January 2017. The process of recruiting a successor has already begun. In the meantime, Sandrine will remain fully in charge.
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Key points
– Second world operator of telecom satellites created in 1977, with a market share of 16%;
– Turnover of €1.28 billion generated by 39 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 and the Middle East (22%), the 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 life of a satellite – and the 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;
– Sound financial position (debt leverage reduced to 3.05) with €1 billion in cash, including €474 million from free cash flow.
Challenges
– Strategy between now and 2025: acceleration of growth in video (rise in power of Broadband with ViaSat, and High Definition) and in connectivity;
– 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;
– Execution of the IoT strategy with ELO and IoT First, turnkey service operating on the geostationary fleet;
– Successful launch of Quantum in November 2021 and capital increase to 22.9% in OneWeb –constellation in low orbit;
– 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;
– Launch delays due to logistical disruptions;
– Impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict (6.3% of revenues from 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 at SpaceX and New Space India and suspension of the broadcasting of Russia Today;
– Maintenance of investments at €400 million per year until 2024;
– 2021-2022 objectives, confirmed after a 3.5% drop in revenue over the first nine months of the financial year, revenue of €1.1 to €1.3 billion, free cash flow €400 to €430 million and cost savings of €20 to €25 million, with the return to revenue growth being pushed back to 2023-24 due to the delay in the entry into service of Konnect VHTS and Eutelsat 10B;
– Dividend of €0.93 for 2020-2021.
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.