Satellite telecoms company Inmarsat saw first-half operating profits surge 33 per cent to $220m (£138m) helped in part by higher use of its mobile voice and broadband services as a result of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.
Core satellite operations income rose 9.3 per cent to $368m (£230.77m), but the 12.2 per cent increase from satellite airtime services, to $356m, was largely due to January's $110m acquisition of Segovia. That deal pushed net debt up from $1.32bn to £1.35bn and borrowings are set to rise further after Inmarsat announced plans alongside these results to invest $1.2bn on three new satellites. The new Ka-band satellites will rollout over the next four years allowing broadband speeds of up to 50Mbps to handy iPad-sized terminals, ideal for high-speed internet for airline passengers, for example. But the predicted $500m of annual revenues will take up to three years after launch to flow through, explaining why the company is currently steering the market towards 5-7 per cent annual revenue growth until 2014.
Investec Securities is maintaining its full-year EPS forecasts at 45.8¢, rising to 54.4¢ in 2011 (2009: 33¢).
INMARSAT (ISAT) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 741p | MARKET VALUE: | £3.4bn | |
| TOUCH: | 740-742p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 831p | LOW: 491p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.9% | PE RATIO: | 30 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 210¢* | NET DEBT: | 139% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 509 | 97 | 16.0 | 12.7 |
| 2010 | 571 | 152 | 23.0 | 14.0 |
| % change | +12 | +56 | +44 | +10 |
Ex-div: 29 Sep Payment: 29 Oct *Includes intangibles of $1.15bn, or 249¢ per share £1=$1.59 | ||||
