The last two or three years have seen traditional satellite providers’ video business bleed as data takes a higher orbit but for SES, 2021 has seen the company’s spiralling video losses slow considerably in a steady fiscal year.
Overall, the company claimed a “solid” fiscal year delivering revenue of €1.782 billion, down 2.9% and adjusted EBITDA of €1.091 billion, a figure that it says was at the top end of the company’s financial outlook, with adjusted net profit up 69% to €323 million including benefit of lower recurring operating, depreciation, and interest expenses.
At the end of the fiscal year, video amounted to 59% of group revenue , totalling €1.046 billion represents a reduction of 4.6% year-on-year, compared with an 8% year-on-year fall in 2020. The story of the year was lower revenue from mature markets was partially offset by the growth of HD+ in Germany and a recovery in Sports & Events.
Indeed, the company said that the impact from customers ‘right-sizing’ volumes in mature markets (Western Europe and the US), lower US wholesale revenue, and the decision to reduce exposure to low margin services activities led to an overall year-on-year revenue reduction, albeit at a much slower pace of decline as compared with the trends in 2020 and 2019.
In addition, international market revenue was flat year-on-year, while revenue from Sports & Events is continuing to recover, with improved performance compared with 2020 which was impacted by cancellations and delays caused by the pandemic.
As at 31 December 2021, SES delivered a total of 8,386 TV channels, up 1% year-on-year, to more than 355 million TV homes around the world. This includes some 3,105 TV channels in HD, a sector that grew by 6% compared with the previous twelve months. In all, 71% of total TV channels carried over the SES network were broadcast in MPEG-4 with an additional 5% broadcast in HEVC. There was also continued growth in the average number of paying subscribers led to year-on-year growth for HD+ in Germany.
Looking forward, the full annualised contribution from the price increase and the introduction of new IP-based solutions, such as HD+ ToGo, launched in October 2021, and HD+ IP, launched in February 2022, into the market are expected to support the future development of the business.
At the end of the fiscal year, video amounted to 59% of group revenue , totalling €1.046 billion represents a reduction of 4.6% year-on-year, compared with an 8% year-on-year fall in 2020. The story of the year was lower revenue from mature markets was partially offset by the growth of HD+ in Germany and a recovery in Sports & Events.
Indeed, the company said that the impact from customers ‘right-sizing’ volumes in mature markets (Western Europe and the US), lower US wholesale revenue, and the decision to reduce exposure to low margin services activities led to an overall year-on-year revenue reduction, albeit at a much slower pace of decline as compared with the trends in 2020 and 2019.
In addition, international market revenue was flat year-on-year, while revenue from Sports & Events is continuing to recover, with improved performance compared with 2020 which was impacted by cancellations and delays caused by the pandemic.
As at 31 December 2021, SES delivered a total of 8,386 TV channels, up 1% year-on-year, to more than 355 million TV homes around the world. This includes some 3,105 TV channels in HD, a sector that grew by 6% compared with the previous twelve months. In all, 71% of total TV channels carried over the SES network were broadcast in MPEG-4 with an additional 5% broadcast in HEVC. There was also continued growth in the average number of paying subscribers led to year-on-year growth for HD+ in Germany.
Looking forward, the full annualised contribution from the price increase and the introduction of new IP-based solutions, such as HD+ ToGo, launched in October 2021, and HD+ IP, launched in February 2022, into the market are expected to support the future development of the business.
