SES headquarters in Luxembourg. Photo: SES

SES reported full year 2024 revenue of 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) at the top end of its financial outlook, along with an increase in adjusted EBITDA that exceeded its projections. 

CEO Adel Al-Saleh said the 2024 financial performance shows SES’s “evolved strategy is showing results.” In conversation with investors, Al-Saleh singled out the value of SES’s C-band holdings, the opportunity for European government business, and growth in mobility. 

SES reported financials on Feb. 26. Revenue was down less than 1% compared to the prior year with growth in Networks, Government, Mobility, and decline in Media. Adjusted EBITDA of more than 1 billion euro grew nearly 1% year-over-year. 

The Networks business grew 3% year-over-year, including 6.4% year-over-year growth in Government and 7% growth in Mobility. 

In Mobility, SES saw double-digit growth in aviation and higher revenue in cruise. The operator added nearly 50 new cruise activations during the year.

Al-Saleh pointed out that while Starlink has gotten attention for increasing its fleet of connected cruises, SES’s cruise business coexists with Starlink on ships and SES’s business continues to grow due to increased demand overall. 

Fixed Data was down nearly 9% year-over-year as SES is prioritizing capacity for higher value Mobility and Government business while it on-ramps new capacity from O3b mPOWER. 

Media declined 5% year-over-year, in line with guidance.

Government Demand 

Al-Saleh said growth in government business is due to extension in both the U.S. and global government revenues. He pointed to opportunities for more business supporting global governments, noting that government business outside of the U.S. saw double-digit growth in 2024. 

Earlier this week, a Member of the European Parliament called for an assessment of how non-Starlink connectivity can be ramped up to support Ukraine. Al-Saleh said SES continues to support operations in Ukraine but does not disclose details publicly. 

“We see that there is a much bigger opportunity in front of us with the dynamics that you’re seeing in the market between the U.S. asking Europe to pick up more pace and take [on more of] the support of Ukraine. We’re very well positioned for that,” Al-Saleh said. 

“We are well established in the U.S. [government], and now are seeing the rest of the world accelerating consumption and demand for these kinds of services,” he added. 

C-Band and Intelsat Acquisition 

Al-Saleh said that SES will support the FCC’s objectives in the C-band after the FCC posted a new Notice of Inquiry in February related to making more of the upper C-band in the 3.98–4.2 GHz portion available for use. 

“The FCC’s intention is to move as fast as they can. This is the new administration’s priority in generating more revenue for the Treasury, as well as releasing some of the C-band to mobile operators. We will cooperate with them,” Al-Saleh said. 

Explaining the C-band situation of the combined company with Intelsat post-acquisition, Al-Saleh said that the combined company will have a benefit of about 12.5% more spectrum in the first 100 megahertz, versus a standalone company. Anything above the first 100 megahertz will be 100% allocated to the new SES company. 

Al-Saleh said there is “significant value” in the spectrum, but how much could be released remains to be decided. CFO Sandeep Jalan and Al-Saleh also argued that financial modeling on the Intelsat acquisition is not taking into account the value of the C-band holdings of the combined company. 

Last week, Moody’s Ratings changed its outlook on SES to negative, citing increased competition which it said could impact the business risk of the combined company with Intelsat. Investors asked Al-Saleh if SES is able to walk away from the Intelsat deal.

Al-Saleh said it is a traditional public company deal structure with no unilateral right to walk away. If one party wishes to cancel the contract it must pay $300 million plus expenses and receive agreement from the other party. He added there are adverse condition clauses that would give protection for a company to cancel and “those have not happened,” he said. 

Closing of the acquisition remains on track to complete during the second half of 2025, and the two companies have put together a detailed integration plan. 

“When you look at the value of the deal, you look at the synergies, look at the combined company — what we could do in different verticals remains intact. There’s nothing that’s happened in the last nine months that has changed,” Al-Saleh said.