Aviation Growth Surges for Inmarsat

Inmarsat headquarters. Photo: Matt Biddulph (Flickr)

[Via Satellite 11-09-2015] Inmarsat reported considerable growth in aviation during the company’s third quarter, outpacing other segments in new revenue. Aviation revenue increased 57.5 percent from $11.9 million during the third quarter of 2014, to $32.6 million in Q3 2015, which ended Sept. 30. This contributed to total revenues for the operator of $323.1 million, up from 2014’s $300.6 million.

Revenue increased $2.6 million for maritime to $150.2 million, $0.9 million for government to $77.2 million, and $17.9 million from LightSquared, up from $9.8 million. Enterprise contracted by $1.2 million to $39.7 million overall.

Inmarsat’s wholesale Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) revenues increased 11.3 percent to $213.7 million, and total Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) reached $180.2 million compared to $166 million in 2014.

“We delivered solid growth in the quarter, across our business,” said Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat. “In maritime, higher FleetBroadband and XpressLink revenue off-set the continuing decline in legacy services, enabling a resumption of growth. A number of new contracts in the U.S. and other government markets allowed us to report growth in our government business for the first time for several years. Enterprise experienced an Isatphone 2 manufacturing issue, now resolved. Aviation had another strong quarter, financially and strategically. 
The successful launch of I-5 F3 at the end of August means that we expect to introduce GX commercial services globally by the end of the year. This will be a key milestone for Inmarsat.”