SES Global reported a profit of 215.6 million euros in the first half of 2006, up from a profit of 167.7 million euros in the first six months of 2005, the company announced Aug. 7. Sales improved 17 percent throughout the same period from 609.2 million euros in 2005 to 710.5 million euros in 2006.
SES attributed the growth to satellite capacity demand, particularly in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and growth in services. The acquisition of New Skies, was completed March 30, also contributed to the gains, accounting for revenues of 49.3 million in the second quarter.
“SES New Skies’ performance is ahead of plan and progress in the integration makes us confident that we should achieve the synergy target,” Romain Bausch, president and CEO of SES, said in a statement. “In addition, we further increased our shareholding in ND Satcom to 100 percent, strengthening our services capabilities in particular in the government segment.
“We also continued to grow organically our core satellite infrastructure business, as well as our services activities, at a high single-digit rate. This growth came from increased demand for satellite capacity and services in the media, enterprise and government segments in our main markets of Europe and North America.”
SES Global’s backlog stood at 6.8 billion euros at the end of June, up from a backlog of 6.5 billion euros at the end of December.
