After a few weeks of uncertainty, Eutelsat clarifies its governance. The French satellite operator on Sunday appointed Danish leader Eva Berneke to the post of general manager, as the company said in a statement released on Sunday. The manager, who will take up her duties on 1er January, succeeds Rodolphe Belmer, appointed CEO of Atos in November.
An engineer by training, Eva Berneke was previously CEO of KMD, a Danish company specializing in software publishing. Previously, she had been director of strategy for Danish telecommunications company TDC. She also worked at McKinsey, first in Copenhagen, then in Paris.
The new CEO of Eutelsat “will bring unparalleled skills combining in-depth knowledge of the telecommunications and high-tech sectors at the international level, as well as a proven and successful experience in business transformation in rapidly changing markets and with strong technical and regulatory components, ”said Dominique D’Hinnin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the satellite operator, when announcing this appointment.
The end of a complicated period for Eutelsat?
“Thanks to its capacity for innovation, its exceptional portfolio of in-orbit assets and its solid financial position, Eutelsat, which is one of the world leaders in its field, is well positioned to be an integral part of the successes of the sector. space in the years to come ”, indicated the new leader of the French operator.
The arrival of Eva Berneke at the helm of Eutelsat should allow Eutelsat to turn the page after the unsuccessful takeover attempt formulated by the founder of Altice, Patrick Drahi, in early September. The satellite group, in which the State is a 27% shareholder, then rejected the offer, specifying that “the competent governance bodies of Eutelsat Communications have unanimously decided not to engage in discussions on the basis of of the terms of this proposal ”.
It should be remembered that the satellite internet market is currently experiencing a renaissance thanks to the arrival of big American names – starting with SpaceX and Amazon – and a technological revolution driven by the development of new processes to reduce the costs of putting satellite devices into orbit. However, Eutelsat’s position in the satellite internet market is far from ideal. The operator saw its revenues fall by 3.5% at the end of its 2021 financial year, which ended on June 30. Eutelsat recorded sales of around 1.23 billion euros, while its net income fell 29.2% to 347.2 million euros and the margin of its EBITDA fell by 2.4 points over one year.