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Inmarsat plc Reports Full Year Results 2009 |
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 |
 Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT), the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, yesterday reported consolidated financial results for the year ended 31 December 2009.
Andrew Sukawaty, Inmarsat's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said,
"We finished the year strongly and continue to see good trading
conditions in all our markets. 2009 was a transformational year for our
satellite network, our service portfolio and our distribution
arrangements, giving us a strong platform to maintain our market
leadership. We are entering 2010 with a positive outlook, revenue growth
momentum and new growth opportunities ahead of us."
Inmarsat
Global results
Our Inmarsat Global business delivered growth in MSS
revenue of 10.4% for the year ended 31 December 2009. Our maritime
revenue was up 7.4% and was driven by strong take up and usage of our
Fleet and FleetBroadband services. Our FleetBroadband service has
gained widespread market acceptance since becoming globally available at
the beginning of 2009. We are also pleased with the progress of our new
FleetBroadband 150 service which has been successful in attracting new
business from smaller vessels.
The land mobile sector revenue
growth of 3.3% was mainly due to growth in our BGAN service. BGAN
revenue for the year increased by 33% as a result of growth in
subscribers and migration from older services. BGAN ARPU strengthened in
the second half of the year and reached $288 per month in the fourth
quarter. We also saw growth in revenue from our low data rate services,
showing the benefit of our collaboration with SkyWave which was
completed during the year.
Our aeronautical and leasing sectors
continued to see strong revenue growth, being up 18% and 30%,
respectively, for the year. Customer acceptance and take up of our
SwiftBroadband service have been ahead of our expectations and additions
of SwiftBroadband terminals began to exceed our established Swift 64
service in the second half of the year. In-flight cellular services for
airline passengers made good progress during the year, but remain at an
early stage in terms of revenue contribution.
Net operating costs
for Inmarsat Global were down 1.9%, contributing to growth in EBITDA of
14.8% to $495.5m.
Stratos results
Our Stratos business recorded
revenue growth of 1.0% for the year. Growth of 3.8% in MSS revenue was
offset by a decline in Broadband revenues. Although Broadband revenues
were lower year over year, the profitability and cash flow of this
division has improved. Operating costs at Stratos increased marginally
by 0.7% for the year and Stratos ended the year with growth in EBITDA of
2.2% to $100.5m.
Dividend
The dividend announced today will be
paid as a second interim dividend and will be paid in lieu of a final
dividend for the 2009 financial year. The dividend payment date will be 1
April to holders of record on 19 March 2010. Together with the interim
dividend of 12.73 US$ cents paid in October 2009, the total dividend for
2009 will be 33.36 US$ cents, an increase of 10.0% on the total 2008
dividend.
Liquidity
The Group ended the year with a strong
balance sheet and significant available liquidity. At 31 December 2009,
the Group had net borrowings of $1,319.5m, made up of cash of $226.8m
and total borrowings of $1,546.3m. Taking into consideration our cash on
hand and available but undrawn borrowing facilities of $210.0m, the
Group had total available liquidity of $436.8m at the end of the year.
During the fourth quarter we refinanced over $600m of debt that fell due
in 2012 with new debt at lower cost and not maturing until 2017. The
Group has no debt maturities in the next twelve months.
Outlook
We
believe demand from commercial and government customers is continuing
to expand, particularly for our data services. With a portfolio of
broadband services now deployed globally in all our markets, we are
further able to meet our customer needs and continue our revenue growth.
In addition, we are excited about entering the handheld satellite phone
voice market and believe this represents an attractive new growth
opportunity for the future. In view of these factors we believe the
Group can continue to deliver solid revenue growth in 2010.
Allowing
for approximately $10m of planned capital expenditure that has been
deferred from 2009 to 2010, we expect our 2010 cash capital expenditure
to be in the region of $160 to $170m, including capital expenditure for
our Stratos division and deferred satellite payments.
Other
Information
A webcast recording of our results presentation to be
held on 9 March at 9:30am will be posted to our website after the
event. To access the webcast please go to the investor relations
section of our website at www.inmarsat.com. Inmarsat management will
also host a conference call on Tuesday, 9 March at 2:00pm London time
(United States 9:00am EST). To access the call, please dial +44 (0)20
7162 0025 and enter the access code 858360. A recording of the call will
be available for one week after the event. To access the recording
please dial +44 (0)20 7031 4064 and enter the access code 858360. The
call will also be available by webcast accessible via the investor
relations section of our website.
Our Financial Reports
Our
subsidiaries Inmarsat Group Limited and Stratos Global Corporation are
required by the terms of their outstanding debt securities to report
consolidated financial results. Inmarsat plc is the ultimate parent
company of the Group. A copy of the financial report for Stratos Global
Corporation for the year ended 31 December 2009 can be accessed via the
investor relations section of our website. We expect Inmarsat Group
Limited to report full year 2009 results on or before 30 April 2010 and a
copy of these results can also be accessed via our website at that
time.
To assist analysts and investors in their understanding of
the results announced today, the following unaudited financial tables
for the fourth quarter are provided for Inmarsat Group Limited.
Source:
Inmarsat plc
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