Hispasat reaches a historic profit of 47 million

The Spanish satellite operator increased its net profit by 31% in 2008, reaching revenues of 137.5 million euros and an EBITDA of 80.9%. Its three new satellites, Amazonas 2, Hispasat 1E and Hispasat AG-1, exceed an investment of 500 million euros.

Historical financial figures for the Spanish satellite operator Hispasat, which closed the 2008 financial year with a consolidated net profit of 47.0 million euros, which represents an increase of 31.6 percent compared to the end of 2007. The total amount of income of the Hispasat group, as of December 31, 2008, stood at 137.5 million euros, with an increase of 7.1 percent. hundred compared to the previous year. From a geographical point of view, revenues from spatial capacity come, 68.5%, from clients located in Europe and North Africa, while those associated with clients located in America represent 31.5%. Of all these revenues, 97.3% (133.8 million euros) correspond to income from space capacity while the remaining 2.7% (3.7 million euros) comes from engineering and R&D&I projects and operational support and infrastructure services. By type of services, of the total income from space capacity obtained in 2008, 119.9 million euros correspond to the leasing of permanent space capacity, 10.5 million euros come from the broadband business line and the remaining 3.4 million euros have come from occasional uses.

From these figures, an EBITDA of 80.9 percent is derived, a figure that represents an increase of 16.1 percent over that obtained in 2004. The consolidated EBITDA at the end of 2008 exceeds 111.1 million euros, with an improvement of 10.0 percent over the EBITDA recorded the previous year (100.9 million euros) and of 89.9 percent with respect to the data from 2004.

Hispasat maintains its commitment to growth in traditional markets associated with large telecommunications operators and broadcasters in the audiovisual sector, for whom it distributes more than 1,100 television and radio channels, making it the leading operator in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets. It has also made progress in the provision of internet access and IP telephony services, infrastructures that allow the real convergence of fixed, mobile, data and video telephony networks and services. Without forgetting the business and government environment, telemedicine services, tele-teaching and communications in emergency situations, in which the Spanish operator has outstanding experience.

Now, Hispasat addresses, with a solid financial structure, and without recourse to the shareholder, its three new satellite projects: Amazonas 2, Hispasat 1E and AG-1 (SmallGeo), which will involve a total investment of more than 500 million euros. With this strategy of new launches and with the fulfillment of the rest of the objectives included in its Growth Plan, HISPASAT will double its income and generate an average cumulative annual increase in EBITDA of more than 10 percent and in the net result of 16 percent, in addition to improving its main profitability indicators. The first launch, which will take place in 2009, is Amazonas 2, at orbital position 61º West. With this new satellite, HISPASAT will double its space capacity over America, reinforce its leadership in that continent and improve operational flexibility in the region for the dissemination and distribution of top-quality audiovisual content. During 2008, HISPASAT has also begun the manufacturing process of the Hispasat 1E satellite (30º West), scheduled for 2010. Thanks to its configuration and the technological developments incorporated in its design, Hispasat 1E will allow the group to meet the growing demand associated with the development of digital terrestrial television (DTT), broadband services in fixed and mobile environments and high definition television in Europe.

With the launch in 2012 of the Hispasat AG-1 (SmallGeo) geostationary satellite, the company promotes one of the most avant-garde initiatives promoted by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the development and commercial exploitation of innovative communications payloads. The new Hispasat satellite will incorporate the new generation on-board processing REDSAT payload, designed to allow more efficient use of the satellite's power with the consequent reduction of its communication costs.