6th Nov 2015 07:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - Satellite communications company Inmarsat PLC on Friday said its pretax profit declined in the third quarter due to higher financing costs which offset better revenue in the majority of its operating divisions.
The FTSE 100-listed group said its pretax profit for the three months to the end of September was USD84.2 million, down from USD104.1 million a year earlier, mostly due to the group booking USD21.6 million in financing costs, which compared to a USD13.0 million gain it booked a year earlier.
For the nine months to the end of September, pretax profit fell to USD250.1 million from USD272.4 million.
Revenue in the quarter rose to USD323.1 million from USD300.6 million, with increases in revenue from Inmarsat's maritime, government and aviation divisions but weaker sales for its enterprise division. Wholesale mobile satellite service revenue increased 11%.
During the quarter, Inmarsat successfully launch its third Global Xpress satellite, which it expects will drive revenue growth in coming years, and the company said it is still targeting the introduction of a global commercial service by the end of the year. It has already signed a partnership agreement with Deutsche Telekom AG, the German telecoms group, to develop the European Aviation Network, a hybrid satellite and ground network to provide connectivity to commercial airline passengers.
Inmarsat said it remains on track to hit its full-year targets, with revenue for the full year still expected to be between USD1.25 billion and USD1.30 billion. Its longer-term guidance for the Global Xpress satellites also remains unchanged.
"In the third quarter we therefore saw real progress across all three of the core elements of our strategy - L-band, GX, and aviation passenger connectivity - and we are confident that we can maintain this momentum in all of these areas of opportunity for Inmarsat," said Rupert Peace, chief executive of Inmarsat.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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