Hispasat

Hispasat recorded a profit of 24.5 million euros ($33.3 million) in 2006, more than double earnings of 9.8 million euros ($13.3 million) in 2005, the satellite operator announced May 3. Revenues improved from 99.7 million euros ($135.5 million) to 120.5 million euros ($163.8 million) over the same period.

Andrew Corp.

Andrew Corp. lost $2 million in its 2007 second quarter despite record revenues of $503 million, the company announced May. 4. While revenues improved 4 percent from the 2006 second quarter, Andrew attributed the loss to higher income taxes. A year ago, Andrew posted a profit of $3.6 million.

"As we previously guided, the first half of our fiscal year has been challenging due to consolidation issues with two significant North American customers, volatile commodity costs and a number of important facility start-ups and relocations," Ralph Faison, Andrew president and CEO, said in a statement. "While our revenue growth for the quarter was modest in our seasonally weakest quarter, we are pleased that we have been able to replace reduced revenues of over $130 million to those two customers in the first half of our fiscal year with significant increases in volume with other customers and in other geographies."

Andrew also announced it plans to sell its satellite communications business, which comprised 6 percent of the company’s overall revenues for the second quarter.

Globecomm Systems

Globecomm Systems Inc. closed its acquisition of the GlobalSat division of Lyman Bros. Inc., Globecomm announced May 3.

Globecomm previously reported that the purchase price is $18.4 million, and the deal was partially funded through a $16 million loan. The wholly owned division will operate as Globecomm Services Maryland LLC.

"This acquisition solidifies Globecomm’s presence as a key supplier of end-to-end managed network services in the government marketplace," David Hershberg, chairman and CEO of Globecomm, said in a statement.

BSkyB

BSkyB added about 51,000 customers in the 2007 first quarter to bring its total subscribers in the United Kingdom and Ireland to nearly 8.5 million, the company announced May 2.

While subscriber numbers grew, there is concern about BSkyB’s churn rate, which is close to 14 percent. BSkyB says this is due to "changes in its promotional strategy."

Sarah Simon, a media equity analyst at Morgan Stanley said, "Churn remains an answered question. Having hit 13.7 percent in this quarter (in line with our estimates), we believe that it should start to fall as the number of remaining customers on discounts falls as a percentage of the subscriber base," she said in a research note. "However, this is an opinion that is impossible to prove, and until the reported figure falls, it is impossible to answer the negative comments regarding the rate of customer defections. We note, however, that underlying churn at Virgin Media is below 10 percent, while Sogecable and Canalsat both deliver churn below 11 percent. This suggests that a medium term churn rate of 10 [percent to] 11 percent may be achievable, as we forecast, for BSkyB."

There were some positive elements in the results. BSkyB now has nearly 250,000 high-definition (HD) subscribers and nearly 2.2 million subscribers to its Sky+ personal video recorder service, passing the operator’s 25 percent penetration target three years ahead of schedule.

BSkyB’s new broadband service has more than 550,000 customers, representing solid progress with more than 60 percent coverage.

Simon believes this diverse strategy in new products "validates management’s strategy" to invest in broadband and other new products. "Gross additions were up 25 percent year on year, in a quarter in which NTL Telewest rebranded as Virgin Media, with a high level of both promotional discounting, and above the line brand spend," she said. "Broadband, Sky + and HD all generated new customers for the broader Sky DTH pay-television offering, together representing drivers for over one-third of gross adds, up from 30 percent" in the second quarter.

Daniel Kerven, a media equity analyst at UBS also saw positive in BSkyB’s results. "BSkyB’s [third quarter] results smashed expectations with demand driven by the breadth of Sky’s offering and the value it can offer on voice and broadband. ARPU (average revenue per user) of 406 [British pounds] ($809.62) rose by 12 [pounds] ($23.93) on the previous quarter and benefited from an increased contribution from value added services and the phasing out of discounted TV packages. We expect churn to fall to 13 percent and for ARPU to increase to 411 [pounds] ($819.59) in" the fourth quarter.

Telesat

Telesat reported a profit of 22.9 million Canadian dollars ($20.6 million) in the 2007 first quarter, up from $21.6 million Candian dollars ($19.4 million) in the same period a year ago, the company announced May 2. Operating revenue was 121.6 million Canadian dollars ($109.5 million), a 3 percent increase from the 2006 first quarter.

In December, Telesat and Loral Space & Communications Inc. announced they would combine their satellite operations, creating the fourth largest operator in the world.

NDS

NDS reported revenues of $178 million in the quarter ending March 31, up 20 percent compared to the same quarter of 2006, the company announced May 1. Operating profits for the quarter were up 1 percent to $36 million.

NDS, which is majority owned by News Corp., supplies conditional access and middleware solutions to satellite pay-TV operators. In its core business, NDS posted a revenue increase of nearly 15 percent, which the company attributed to new customers in Europe, China and India.

MacDonald Dettwiler

MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. reported net earnings 21 million Canadian dollars ($18.9 million) on revenues of 306 million Canadian dollars ($275.5 million), the company announced.

In information systems, which includes the company’s satellite imagery operations, reported revenues of 97 million Canadian dollars ($87.3 million) for the first three months of 2007 down from 108 million Canadian dollars ($97.2 million) for the same period a year ago.