SES Stock price
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
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👉 More detailed insights
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Invest better with AI
StocksGuide Unlimited – full access to AI analyses
👉 More detailed insights
👉 Exclusive perspectives on opportunities & risks
👉 Clear answers to your questions
Invest better with AI
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👉 More detailed insights
👉 Exclusive perspectives on opportunities & risks
👉 Clear answers to your questions
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = €1.65b | Revenue (TTM) = €3.25b
Market Cap = €1.65b | Estimated Revenue = €3.45b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = €7.83b | Revenue (TTM) = €3.25b
Enterprise Value = €7.83b | Forward Revenue = €3.45b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net Margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high revenue per employee indicates a scalable and margin-strong business model.
- A low figure may reflect labor-intensive operations or lower value-add.
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SES — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the SES Half Year 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over the conference to Christian Kern, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, Dan. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. It is my pleasure to welcome you to SES First Half 2026 Results Call on behalf of our management team.
Before proceeding with the management presentation, we would like to inform you that the financial information contained in this document have been prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards. As usual, this presentation may contain announcements that constitute forward-looking statements, which are not guarantees for future business performance and involve risks as well as uncertainties. Also, certain results may materially differ from those in these forward-looking statements due to several factors. We invite you to read the detailed disclaimer on Slide 2 of this presentation. The presentation is also available on our company web page.
Today, I'm joined by our CEO, Adel Al-Saleh; and our CFO, Lisa Pataki, who will take you through the presentation followed by a Q&A session. Adel, without further ado, over to you, now.
Very good. Thank you, Christian. Good morning, everyone. First half of the year performance is in line with our expectations. Although Q2 performance was softer than expected, mainly due to the timing of a couple of contract awards, the fundamentals of the business remain strong supporting our confidence in the year ahead and our reiterated 2026 financial outlook. We also showed continued progress on integration and synergy capture while maintaining disciplined execution against our long-term priorities.
Let's start with Slide 3. Our vision remains clear, and we continue to deliver it. We're building a leading space solutions company, evolving beyond traditional satellite connectivity into an integrated provider of mission-critical solutions. We're delivering on our strategy and creating long-term value for our customers and shareholders by combining our multi-orbit network, extensive ground infrastructure, our software services and a broad ecosystem of partners. At the same time, we continue to invest in innovation and smart diversification.
A clear example of this strategic execution is our role in the IRIS2 program. IRIS2 is Europe's secure sovereign constellation, which reflects both our commitment to innovation and smart diversification into high-value sovereign connectivity solutions. IRIS2 D Mondon negotiations are in final stages. As part of our sustained financial strength and vision is our focus on synergy delivery, where we're making excellent progress and our disciplined financial management and execution. C-band clearance incentives give us a clear path to delever, strengthening our balance sheet. Now let me share with you further -- I will share with you more details of IRIS2 and C-band clearance in the following slides.
Moving to Slide #4. I'm giving you an update on IRIS2 program, Europe's Secure sovereign Constellation. IRIS2 is a strategically important program for SES and a cornerstone of Europe's future secure and sovereign space infrastructure. As the largest European government space and defense initiative to date, the program aligns strongly with our long-term strategy and through its balanced public-private partnership structure, Rouable1 negotiations are now in the final stages.
SES is working very closely with the members of the Space Rights Consortium and the European Commission to validate key terms and conditions, including project costs, supply chain arrangements and technical requirements for the design, delivery and operation of the highly secure, resilient multi-orbit network. SES, along with its consortium partners, will build and operate Europe's secure space network through a constellation of LEO satellites and 18 MEO satellites delivering secure pole-to-pole coverage. The program is well underway and targeted operations will start in 2030. The IRIS2 program is complementary to our next-generation MEO steel road map, strengthening our position at the center of Europe's secure connectivity ecosystem for decades to come.
Now let's move to Slide #5 to discuss the upper C-band clearance in more detail. The FCC published its report and order for the upper C-band clearance on July 24. It establishes transition deadlines of December 2030 and June 2031 for repurposing 160 megahertz of the upper C-band spectrum for wireless services in the contiguous United States. The reported order adopts a framework for the upper C-band clearing that is similar to the one we adopted for the lower C-band transition. Specifically, satellite operators will receive reimbursement for all reasonable costs to clear the 160 megahertz and to maintain sustainably the same service for its C-band customers. and total incentive payments of USD 6.3 billion, of which approximately USD 5.6 billion are allocated to SCS contingent on successful on-time spectrum clearing. Specifically, we'd have to clear the top 75 partial economic areas in COU.S. -- by December 30, 2030, and the remainder by June 30, 2031.
We have developed a compelling solution that enables us to protect our C-band customers by transitioning them to a new hybrid Ku and C-band solution, augmented by terrestrial recovery network that will provide them with sustainably the same service as they enjoy today. Similar to the lower C-band clearing program, reasonable and necessary upper C-band transition costs will be reimbursable through the clearing house, meaning these costs are not expected to impact our long-term capital allocation and leaving the full amount of incentive payment as the potential economic benefit upon successful execution.
In 2026, C-band-related Capex are expected to be between EUR 100 million to EUR 150 million, fully reimbursable over time. We remain fully committed to working cooperatively with the FCC and all stakeholders as the process progresses to clear the spectrum and transition our customers to equivalent services in the Ku band with a time line set by the FCC. The proposed framework significantly derisks the upper C-band program and provides SES with a clear deleveraging path by providing greater clarity on the implementation time line of 2030, 2031. The reimbursement mechanisms, the technical approaches that may be considered reasonable and the incentive payments for time to clearing. We have already begun taking steps to meet the FCC's deadlines by engaging with the satellite manufacturers to order long-term lead items.
Consistent with our financial policy, C-band proceeds would first be prioritized towards deleveraging to our net leverage target of 3.0x EBITDA or below further strengthening our balance sheet. Beyond that, at least the majority of future exceptional cash flows will be prioritized for the shareholder returns, in line with the capital allocation framework we have consistently communicated.
Moving to Slide #6, which gives us a brief update on the execution of the Meosphere program. Meosphere is another pillar of our long-term strategy with software-defined payloads at the heart of its differentiated architecture. Today, I'd like to give you a glimpse of our new Luxembourg Space campus facility, where we will develop and manufacture the payloads and to the assembly integration and test of the spacecraft. Operations are progressing very well with the first production hole dedicated to electronics assembly on track to be fully equipped and operational by mid-August. That's in a couple of weeks.
On July 13, we successfully began production of the first printed circuit boards and box assemblies for our onboard processor unit, making an important milestone in the industrialization of these advanced technologies. We expect to begin installing critical test equipment and chambers in the second hole during August as well. This hole will house our testing and qualification capabilities, enabling us to validate and certify payloads, antennas and bus performance to the highest standards. These holes are part of our pilot line, which will be foundational to the development of the mother fab, i.e., the brand-new manufacturing facility, which is 15,000 square meters that we're building in Kukershire in the south of Luxembourg.
With the development progressing smoothly, production and testing of our Pathfinder 2 payload is expected to commence in mid-September. A reminder to everybody that Pathfinder 1 is already flying in space undergoing planned in-space testing. This pilot line facility will play a central role in the development and manufacture of our innovative high-capacity payloads for Meosphere and IRIS2, while also supporting the assembly, integration and test of our next-generation satellites. By bringing these critical capabilities in-house, we are strengthening our technological leadership, building on our vertical integration strategy, accelerating innovation cycles, reducing costs and building the foundations for future growth in secure and high-performance connectivity solutions. Meosphere is targeted for operation by 2030 and designed to significantly boost our MEO network capacity. Meosphere is complementary to the IRIS2 constellation.
Now let's move to Slide #8 and our first half 2026 business highlights. These results are shown on a reported basis with H1 2026 being fully consolidated with Intelsat. The figures are compared year-on-year to H1 2025 SEF stand-alone reported numbers on a constant FX basis. In a few minutes, Lisa will also share like-for-like comparisons. H1 2026 performance is in line with our expectation despite a softer-than-anticipated Q2 following a strong start in Q1. H1 2026 revenue was EUR 1.602 billion, up 72% year-on-year, driven by Networks growth of 89% year-on-year, again, on a reported basis. H1 2026 adjusted EBITDA of EUR 725 million was up 47% year-on-year with a margin of 45.2% on a reported basis.
Capital expenditures for first half 2026 were EUR 444 million, with full year 2026 still expected to be front-loaded while we continue executing on planned CapEx synergies. H1 2026 adjusted free cash flow of negative EUR 130 million, reflecting the timing of the investments and supporting future growth. In H1 2026, we secured EUR 1.2 billion of renewals and new customer contracts, with the majority coming from our growth segments. This has supported our gross backlog of EUR 6.4 billion.
Q2 softer-than-expected performance was driven by timing of a couple of awards. One of these awards were received very late in the quarter from our government and defense customers. And others in Government and Defense and aviation we're working to secure in the second half of the year. Aviation continued to see some timing differences between the onboarding and decommissioning of airline customers as well as lower ESA kit shipments in Q2. These were mainly driven by seasonality and are expected to ramp up in subsequent quarters.
In addition, continued pressures in fixed data and ongoing structural declines in media also contributed to softness in Q2. With solid performance in Q1 and softer Q2, our overall H1 performance remained in line with our expectations. During the first half, we focused on securing commercial wins and strategic contracts that are expected to contribute to growth in the second half of the year, providing greater visibility for our performance for the remainder of 2026.
Let me walk you through our second half drivers on Slide #9. We will enable our second half priorities through focused and disciplined execution across all functions. Let me start with Governance and Defense. As a reminder, U.S. government those cuts have impacted our year-on-year business first half performance and are now largely behind us. We have secured the U.S. Space Force Protected Tactical SATCOM global contract award called PTSG as a prime, which will provide incremental revenue in H2 versus H1. The award of the U.S. Space Force blanket purchase agreement further enhances the revenue opportunity pipeline.
In addition to these 2 large contracts, we secured several additional contracts in Europe and the U.S. that will contribute in the second half of the year. And finally, IRIS2 Randable1 is in its final stages. Overall, we expect solid revenue in the second half of the year for our government and defense business. In mobility, in aviation, the solid commercial momentum continues, having secured around 200 in new sales in the first half of the year, which will support second half ramp. There's also one particular larger contract delayed from Q2 that we now expect to materialize in the second half of the year. We will also continue installing our growing ESAB backlog.
In media, prior year Brazilian customer bankruptcy-related headwinds are now largely behind us. Several multiyear contract wins and renewals secured during H1 will support H2 performance, including contract renewals well beyond the next decade. Business remains on track with the previously expected mid-single-digit annual decline for the full year, implying a stronger second half performance. In Fixed Data, market conditions remain challenging despite restructuring actions we have taken. We are successfully retaining key customers, maintaining a disciplined focus on customers and segments, which building a bridge towards future capabilities. In the near term, we do not currently anticipate a significant change in the trends.
I'm pleased to confirm that we continue delivering on our synergies planned in the first half of the year, achieving a reduction of 16% year-on-year in staff costs and overall OpEx was down 9% year-on-year, with synergy delivery expected to produce further results through second half of the year. With this backdrop, we reiterate our full year 2026 outlook supported by stronger second half revenue profile and continued cost discipline.
Let us now turn to Slide #10 and our key customer renewals and strategic wins throughout the first half of the year. I mentioned a few of them already, but let's start with media. Satellite remains the most efficient and reliable platform for large-scale content distribution. During the first half of 2026, we secured several important contract renewals, including the extension of our long-standing relationship with ARD beyond the next decade and a new multiyear agreement with ABP network covering India and South Asia. We also renewed an important direct-to-home agreement in India with DISH TV, extending direct-to-home contracts with Sky Mexico and concluded important extensions in the U.S. for domestic and global distribution with some of the largest U.S. broadcasters. Overall, these key contract renewals are not only supporting second half performance and long-term visibility of our media business, but also reinforcing the continued value of satellite for premium content distribution. I'm also proud to announce that SES enabled live coverage of the Open Championship, a Royal Birddale distributing IMG's Golf World feed to more than 50 broadcasters across Europe, Americas and Asia.
In Government and Defense, demand for secure, resilient and mission-critical communications continue to underpin performance. This was demonstrated by the selection of SES Space & Defense, the prime mission execution for the U.S. Space Force PTSG program, as I described earlier, and secured an award under the U.S. Space SST 5-year BPA for managed Ku-band satellites, which encompassing FlexMove, Flex Government Secure and FlexAir solutions. So this is overall encompassing with all of our capabilities. These wins demonstrate the increasing relevance of our solution and our trusted position with sovereign governments and defense customers.
In aviation, commercial momentum remains strong as we expanded our footprint with both existing and new airline customers having added around 200 new aircraft to our pipeline. During the first year, we added Viva, Avianca and LATAM Airlines to our served aircraft portfolio, further validating the attractiveness of our multi-orbit electronically steered antenna solution and reinforcing our position as a leading in-flight connectivity provider serving millions of passengers around the world. In Maritime, performance was in line with expectation as we continue to execute the restructuring of our wholesale business while navigating the anticipated competitive headwinds.
We remain a leading provider of maritime connectivity and during the first half of the year, secured important renewals, including Ottavio Global, demonstrating the continued value of our services and the strength of our long-standing customer relationships. In Fixed Data, we continue to execute our transformation program we described in the beginning of the year while navigating the anticipated market headwinds. We remain focused on serving high-value enterprise network and global energy customers by leveraging our global infrastructure and differentiating multi-orbit capability, bridging towards future network capabilities. Throughout H1, we signed important strategic partnerships that will drive future revenue streams, for example, with Sharp in Japan and TIM in Brazil. With this, I'm going to hand over to Lisa to discuss further details of our H1 2026 financial performance.
Thank you, Adel. Good morning, everyone. Before I turn to our first half 2026 financial performance, I'd like to remind you that the press release available on our company website includes supplementary financial information with like-for-like revenue per vertical and adjusted EBITDA at the group level as if the Intelsat transaction had consolidated from the 1st of January 2024. As always, our IR team remains available to address any questions you might have.
Let us now turn to Slide 12 for our financial highlights. In the first half of 2026, the company reported revenue of EUR 1.602 billion, resulting in a growth rate of 72.4% on a reported basis compared to the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, with constant foreign exchange rates, first half 2026 revenue was down 5% compared to the first half of 2025. This outcome was largely as expected with some softness in Q2, as Adel mentioned, driven by the timing of awards won in our Government and Defense business, which was received late in the quarter and a couple of others in government, aviation and media that we still expect and will contribute to growth in the second half.
Mobility remained a key source of strength in the first half. Aviation performance benefited from the favorable contract restructuring in Q1, which will improve network utilization and support future commercial momentum as previously reported. This is partially offset, as we expected, by timing differences between the onboarding and decommissioning of airline customers as well as lower ESA shipments. As we look to the second half, we expect ESA shipments to increase each quarter. And importantly, we continue to secure new wins, adding about 200 sales in the first half.
In Government & Defense, as previously discussed, the first half comparison to prior year was impacted by the effects of dose-related reductions on the U.S. government business, which were implemented in the first half of 2025. Global Government and Defense delivered a solid first half. We continue to see demand for our secure space-based solutions supported by several strategic awards, driven by increasing defense budgets in both the U.S. and in Europe. Within Fixed Data and Media, performance was broadly in line with our expectations. Both businesses continued to experience volume declines during the first half. Media was still impacted by the Brazilian customer bankruptcy in the first half when compared to the prior year, while broader industry dynamics remain consistent with our expectations. Trends are expected to improve in the second half on the back of major contract renewals.
Adjusted EBITDA in the first half of 2026 was EUR 725 million, showing growth of 47% year-over-year on a reported basis with a margin of 45.2%. On a like-for-like basis, first half 2026 adjusted EBITDA was down 6.2% compared to the same period in 2025. This included the favorable contract restructuring in aviation in Q1 2026 and lower operating expenses resulting from our integration activities. These partially offset the following underlying headwinds.
In Aviation, the prior year included a contract modification from Intelsat legacy in Q2 2025, making it a difficult comparison in Q2. Additionally, as previously discussed, there continues to be some timing differences between the onboarding and decommissioning of airline customers. In Government & Defense, margin compared to prior year was impacted by timing impacts due to contract rationalization in the U.S. government business, primarily driven by those reductions as previously discussed. We expect solid growth in the back half of the year, supported by several recent awards as well as a strategically important award for Protected Tactical SATCOM Global or PTSG. In addition, as mentioned, IRIS2 [indiscernible] is making progress.
As we have discussed before, mix continues to impact the overall company margin, driven by declines in the media and fixed data verticals. With both businesses having been subject to market-specific headwinds, we are seeing early signs of stabilization in media and expect a more favorable trajectory in the second half. Importantly, our synergy realization remained solid in the first half and helps mitigate the impact of business mix. We delivered a 9% reduction in total operating expenses with a 16% reduction in staff costs.
Looking ahead to the second half, we expect growth in both revenue and earnings, driven in large part by our government and defense business, both from recent U.S. and European awards. Our media business is expected to improve year-over-year in the second half with recent awards after quarter close contributing to the improvement. In Aviation, we expect stronger ESA shipments in the second half and additional awards to drive both revenue and earnings. With clear visibility into the second half growth pipeline, we are reaffirming our full year 2026 financial outlook.
Moving now to Slide 13 to give a more detailed view on the financial performance of our vertical segments. Media's first half 2026 revenue of EUR 571 million, accounting for 36% of total revenues increased by 46.5% versus prior year on a reported basis, offsetting structural declines. On a like-for-like basis, media was down 10% year-over-year, reflecting ongoing structural declines due to capacity optimization in mature markets and the Q1 impact of the Brazilian customer bankruptcy. Despite these pressures, media remains a highly profitable and cash-generative business. Commercial momentum remains solid with approximately EUR 402 million of renewals and new business secured during the first half, contributing to a backlog of EUR 2.9 billion and providing strong long-term revenue visibility.
We continue to see resilience in key segments such as free-to-air, free-to-view and sports and events, while recent long-term renewals, including the extension with ARD through 2039, and expanded long-standing partnership with Caracol Television and a multiyear agreement with ADP Network reinforce the strength of our customer relationships and the enduring value of satellite distribution. Looking ahead, we expect a more favorable trend in the second half as the impact of the Brazilian customer bankruptcy eases and recent commercial awards drive improved performance. With a book-to-bill above 1.0 in Q2, we are off to a good start to the second half.
Moving to Slide 14 and the Networks business. Networks first half 2026 revenue of EUR 1.018 billion, representing 64% of total revenues were up 89% on a reported basis compared to the prior year. On a like-for-like basis, Networks revenue decreased by 1.5% versus the prior year with growth momentum in Mobility and Government and Defense, partially offsetting fixed data declines. In Mobility, we saw first half revenues of EUR 421 million, 169.9% higher on a reported basis and up 5.1% on a like-for-like basis year-over-year. This growth was driven by Aviation, including the favorable contract restructuring in Q1.
As I mentioned, we continue to secure new customers and expect a strong second half with significant ramp in ESAB deliveries. Government & Defense first half '26 revenues of EUR 381 million were up 41.9% year-over-year on a reported basis. On a like-for-like basis, Government and Defense grew 1.9% year-over-year, driven by strong demand in global government, particularly in Europe, partially offset by year-over-year impacts to the U.S. government business resulting from those reductions, which materialized after the first half of 2025 and the timing of U.S. government contract awards. We expect recent awards to contribute to growth in the second half of the year, including PCSG. And additionally, we expect several new awards like IRIS2.
As we discussed, the IRIS2 [indiscernible] is progressing well and nearing completion. As I mentioned, demand for secure and sovereign connectivity across Europe remains strong. driven by increasing geopolitical priorities and government investments in resilient communications infrastructure. Lastly, in our fixed data business, revenues in the first half 2026 totaled EUR 216 million. This represented a growth of 89.3% year-over-year on a reported basis. On a like-for-like basis, revenues declined 16.6% given the competitive headwinds in this business.
In the first half, we continue to see commercial momentum from our Network segment, driven by continued demand for space-based solutions with a gross backlog of EUR 3.5 billion, underpinned by EUR 825 million of new business and renewals in our Networks segment. Importantly, backlog has grown by EUR 200 million since the end of the first quarter from EUR 3.3 billion to EUR 3.5 billion, which provides confidence in the ramp we expect in the back half of the year.
Turning now to Slide 15 for a detailed view of our capital allocation priorities and our debt maturity profile as of June 30, 2026. Our combined like-for-like adjusted net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio stands at 4.4x versus 4.1x in the previous quarter, reflecting mainly timing effects of cash flows and lower 12-month trailing adjusted EBITDA. The net leverage ratio includes cash and cash equivalents of EUR 703 million, excluding EUR 215 million of restricted cash, which is related to the SES-led consortiums involvement in the IRIS2 program.
We continue to benefit from a debt profile with a weighted average cost of around 4.2%, approximately 72% of debt at fixed interest rates and an average maturity of roughly 5 years. This structure provides strong protection against market volatility, supports financial flexibility and enhances visibility over our funding requirements. Our capital allocation framework remains disciplined and unchanged. We are focused on reducing leverage and strengthening credit metrics over time. while preserving ample liquidity and maintaining flexibility to address future financing needs as they arise. During the period, we continued to proactively manage our debt maturity profile.
In the first half of 2026, we repaid approximately $1.2 billion of debt principal, including our EUR 650 million senior bond and $525 million of deeply subordinated securities. This included approximately EUR 208 million repaid in the second quarter, largely related to the call of our perpetual NC26 hybrid bond, which took place on May 27, 2026. These actions, together with our continued access to diversified funding sources, position us to address upcoming maturities, pursue refinancing opportunities when attractive and support the execution of our strategic objectives.
Consistent with what we have previously communicated and our disciplined capital allocation framework, the usage of the net proceeds post CBR payments related to the C-band report in order will first be directed towards further deleveraging with the objective of reducing net leverage to 3.0x or below. As previously stated, once the company meets its net leverage target, at least a majority of future exceptional cash flows will be prioritized for shareholder returns.
Now turning to our cash flow performance in the first half. SES generated positive adjusted net operating cash flows of EUR 522 million, excluding EUR 186 million of payments in connection with the IRIS2d restricted cash and EUR 30 million related to restructuring and outflows associated with the implementation of mergers and acquisitions. This represents an increase of EUR 42 million compared to the same period last year. Adjusted free cash for the first half was negative EUR 130 million, reflecting the timing of capital expenditures primarily related to our mPOWER satellites expected to launch in Q3 as well as the timing of collections.
It is worth specifically noting that shortly after the close of Q2, the company received EUR 205 million as an upfront payment from a global government customer. In the first half, capital expenditures totaled EUR 444 million. And as a reminder, our CapEx profile for the year is front-end loaded due to the timing of cash flows for our mPOWER satellites, as previously mentioned. We continue to execute our CapEx plans with discipline. As you will recall, in Q1, we canceled 2 GEO satellites that did not meet our IRR thresholds. We remain aligned with our CapEx outlook of around EUR 700 million for the year, excluding C-band. C-band-related CapEx for 2026 is expected to be around EUR 100 million to EUR 150 million. And as mentioned previously, it is important to note that C-band CapEx is reimbursable over time.
We are disciplined with regards to our investments to drive strategic growth in the business while continuing to deliver on planned CapEx synergies and fleet and ground infrastructure optimization. In addition, we continue to make progress in our O3b mPower insurance claim, having collected USD 15 million equal to roughly EUR 13 million this quarter, bringing the total proceeds to USD 218 million to date. As SES evolves from a traditional satellite operator to a space solutions company, we are increasingly delivering integrated networks, services and end-to-end solutions that expand our addressable market and create long-term revenue opportunities. This transition is driving a change in our revenue mix with a greater proportion of development, integration and equipment-related revenues in the initial phases of customer programs.
While these activities typically carry lower margins upfront, they establish the foundation for recurring higher-quality service revenues over the life of the contracts. We remain focused on executing our verticalization strategy, capturing integration synergies and allocating capital in a disciplined manner to support sustainable long-term growth, profitability and cash generation. I'd like to thank our employees and partners for all of their hard work in the first half and continued dedication to meet our financial goals for the year. With that, I'll hand it back over to Adel for his closing remarks.
Great. Thank you, Lisa. Let's go to Slide 17. We're confidently reiterating our full year financial outlook for 2026.
Performance in the first half reflects a strong Q1 and a softer-than-expected Q2. As mentioned in previous results call, we had expected to see some quarterly variation driven by well-understood dynamics. Importantly, the key drivers underpinning our outlook remain firmly in place, and we expect a stronger second half of the year, supported by continued commercial momentum across mobility and government and Defense with important contracts secured in H1 and the contribution from new customer deployments ramping through the remainder of the year.
Media declines are expected to improve as we'll no longer have the Brazilian customer bankruptcy headwinds and are anticipating meaningful long-term contract renewals. We continue to execute with discipline across the business. Integration and efficiency initiatives remain on track and we continue to deliver our synergy objectives while maintaining a strong focus on operational execution and customer service. As such, we reiterate our full year 2026 outlook of stable revenue and stable adjusted EBITDA year-on-year.
At the same time, capital expenditure remains well controlled and aligned with our strategic priorities, supporting the future growth while preserving financial discipline. Hence, we reiterate our 2026 capital expenditure forecast of around $700 million, including IRIS2 and the first stage of Meosphere at euro-U.S. dollar exchange rate of $1.20. We continue building our capacity and expect O3b mPOWER satellites 11, 12 and 13 to launch in Q3 2026.
I'd like to conclude today's presentation with Slide 18. Our priorities remain clear: disciplined execution, operational excellence and long-term value creation. Looking ahead, we remain confident in a strong operational delivery in the second half of the year, supported by continued commercial momentum. Our focus remains firmly on execution, delivering our synergy targets, maintaining capital expenditure discipline and positioning the company for sustainable growth.
As I mentioned earlier, FCC's report and order for 160 megahertz C-band clearing in the U.S. provides us with a clear path to deleveraging and sustained financial strength. IRIS2 is a landmark European secure connectivity program and is highly complementary with our meosphere initiative. Together, with the launch of the last O3b mPOWER satellites expected in 3Q 2026, these investments represent a step change in capability and reinforce our innovation and verticalization strategy.
Finally, we're pleased to announce that SES will host a Capital Markets Day in Luxembourg on December 9, 2026. This will be a unique opportunity to take you on our transformational journey to space-based solutions company. showcase the increasing innovation and verticalization of our technology value chain and share our road map for sustainable growth and shareholder returns. We remain confident in our future, focused on execution and highly committed to delivering value to our customers and our shareholders. With this, we're ready for your questions.
[Operator Instructions] The first question is coming from Akin Dasani from JPMorgan.
2. Question Answer
My first question is just to better understand the phasing of the H2 growth that you're alluding to. Adel, as you mentioned, Q1 was better than expected, Q2 was softer. But I guess that volatility maybe makes it a little bit difficult for us to understand how to think about the shape of H2. So could you maybe help us understand when we think about the mid-single-digit revenue and EBITDA growth you need to achieve in H2, how should we think about the phasing of that Q3 to Q4? Is it more back-end loaded, front-end loaded? What are the key puts and takes just to help us more concretely understand on numbers where we should come out? So that's the first question.
And the second question was on the C-band process. Your comments are very helpful in terms of helping us understand prioritization of deleveraging and then capital return. But I guess the challenge is the capital from this is not likely to come to SES for another 5 years. So there's quite some time before we have visibility on that actual money coming in and then obviously you utilizing that capital in the ways that you've committed to. And I guess at the same time, the industry has maybe had a bit of a checkered history around utilization of capital and pivot into M&A. So I wondered if you could maybe help us understand what you can do to give us more concrete visibility around that capital. Is there anything you can do to commit earlier and do something that would give us, let's say, more visibility rather than having to wait the full 5 years before we know exactly what ends up happening.
Okay. Very good. Thank you for the two questions. Let me tackle the first one, and then we'll go to the C-band conversation. Look, you've been following us for a long time, right? We do have this seasonality in our quarters, right? And they are driven by contracts that we sign renewals that we do. And the contracts, we have variation of contracts, right? There are contracts that yield revenue almost immediately when we sign them because customers pay us upfront and we have milestones upfront. And there are contracts that take time, right? I mean we sign up to a contract, we deliver certain milestones. It takes a little bit of time. And then we have a milestone where we get paid and we can recognize the revenue and the profit associated with it. So this is what makes our quarters a little bit seasonal, right, when you think about it.
Now the way you should think about second half is the big ramp driven by a couple of defense contracts will happen in fourth quarter. right? So fourth quarter will be a bigger quarter than Q3. We know that. We already know that. We mentioned the contracts. PTSG, we keep talking about it. And PTSG was 0 first half of the year. It's going to be a significant number for us in the second half of the year. And it will ramp gradually in Q3 and then really go through a big boost in the fourth quarter because of the milestones that we have, which we are very confident in. But the same thing with IRIS2, right? As we conclude Bone 1, which we anticipate to happen quite quickly, we're very happy, by the way, with the progress with the Commission and the European Space Agency.
It's been a while, right, as we've been working on it. And the reason it took a while is we took our time. We were very diligent, us and our partners, the European Commission, the European Space Agency. We're all committed to do it, but we needed the time to make sure that the terms are right, that the costs are spread correctly, that the contributions from the private sector and the public sector are balanced correctly. And now it's going to ramp. So all the revenues that you've seen were more preparations for this point in time, and it's going to start ramping because we're going to start delivering the project milestones that we're staffed to do and ready to go, right? So think about it like that, right?
Q3 will be a good quarter, but the Q4 is going to be where we expect the ramp to have. So I hope that's helpful in how you should think about that. There is a big contract, we mentioned it already in Aero that we're not going to rush, right? And then one thing about SES, we don't rush out contracts, and I don't want to be disrespectable to the community that's on the phone, just to make a quarter, right? We let them fall where they need to fall as long as we get what we need to get in order to be comfortable with the value and the quality of the contract. So that contract that I'm talking about could skew either Q3 or it could skew Q4 even further, right? So just a heads up for that one.
Now look, on the C-band, so a couple of things. So first of all, look, this is a really good outcome. We have worked very closely with the FCC. I mean I am impressed with the speed at which FCC really worked through this. I mean everybody was expecting this report in order to be sometime in fourth quarter. The speed, the determination, the focus that FCC put in it and they're very balanced approach. I mean they understood what they needed to do in terms of creating value in the U.S., but they understood we were a key stakeholder that we needed to partner with them to make it happen.
So we are satisfied both with the number -- with the incentive numbers, with the scheme of reimbursement. It has improved versus last time. And we expect the speed to continue to be better than where it was in the first clearing. But it's not 5 years, it's 4 years, right? 2030 is 4 years from now, right? If you count that we're at the end of 2026 already. Our confidence is high, Akhil, in being able to meet the deadlines. And I want to be also clear that the targets that FCC set were targets that we worked with them on, right? It wasn't kind of unilateral or independent assessment. We work together with FCC and other stakeholders to figure out what's the most logical way to do this.
And there are opportunities to accelerate. But I think it's too early, Akhil right now to declare those. I let the project run. We're going to set up the clearinghouse by the end of the year. The auction with the mobile operators used to happen in the first half of 2027. Let those milestones progress. And then we'll see, right, whether we can -- we're able to do. Now one thing we did do very quickly, right, as soon as the reported order came out is contract the manufacturing of the satellites. We have to launch 7 new satellites in order to be able to do the clearing, and that is the longest lead item in the whole transition, right? So we contracted immediately in order to make sure that we've got the long lead items locked up that we have -- we selected the manufacturer we're negotiating very aggressively for months before that and waited for the report and order before we go ahead and contractually go for it.
So we are very happy with that, right? And we've got very strong partners who know how to do these satellites, who have done it before. We selected technologies that are existing technologies rather than something that needs to be invented. And that gives us a lot of confidence, right? And the last item I want to say here on expense reimbursement, I mean, the FCC made it very clear in the report and order, they want to minimize interest expense. Minimizing interest expense means you have to accelerate the clearing house approvals for expenses. That's what it means. That's what that language says, right? So the clearinghouse has a clear instructions from the FCC that the process needs to be a lot more efficient, and that will minimize our need to go ahead and get financing for those expenses and be able to claim them faster and optimize our balance sheet going forward.
And look, our experience from the last clearing, we've got -- I don't remember the exact number, but we got the vast majority of the expenses we needed to claim. There were no expenses that were less stranded for us, and we expect the same thing to happen this year. So Akhil, I hope I went a little long here, but I hope that was insightful and I answered your questions.
No, it was extremely useful. I mean just one very quick clarification. I mean it's maybe a bit early to comment on this, but I guess just to see if there's any thoughts you have around it. Could there ever be value or a rationale for maybe collateralizing the incentive payments that you're due to receive -- because obviously, it's a very large number relative to the value of the group. There's obviously a huge amount of value being created here. Could that make sense to pull forward access or use of that capital?
Only if it makes financial benefit to our company and our shareholders. So again, too early to declare. But if we can find a way where we can accelerate it and have a net benefit for the company, we will explore it for sure. But let us get through the first milestones first, right, which are very critical for the next 6 months, the next 9 months, which is what we need to focus on.
The next question is coming from Aleksander Peterc from Bernstein.
I just have a few. So the first one, again, on C-band. Could you just help us understand if you're actually working actively on an accelerated clearance that would move the proceeds a little bit to the left or in your favor? Is that something that is being worked on actively with everyone at all protagonists -- and could you see also any sweeteners from operators? Is that something that you envisage same thing as you had, I think, with Verizon in lower C-band if you do a bespoke fast clearance? That will be my first question. And the second one on Iris2. How close are we to run one? Is this a third quarter event? Or could it drag on a bit? And if you could help us understand to what extent that will drive your H2 balance as well that you are modeling currently?
Thank you, Alex. Look, on the C-band, we absolutely want to clear it as quick as possible. It's to our event, right? There is no incentive for us to be later. So we are -- I mean, we're supposed to submit the whole transition plan to FCC by the end of the year, which we will. And part of that is trying to go as fast as we can. As I said, answering Akhil, the longest lead item is always the satellite, right? So we now have them now contracted. We've got the teams running very hard. We've got three partners that are working on the satellite. So we spread it in order to spread the risk, right, and make sure we have a little bit of competition. We have incentive for early delivery of these satellites that we have agreed with our partners. And like I said, we selected prudently selected technologies that we have high confidence in and not something that needs to be invented or new space, if you will.
So yes, the answer to the first question, we absolutely want to do it as fast as possible, and we will do everything we can to accelerate that. Second part of the first question, will the operators and mobile operators want to accelerate and sweeten some of the incentives, et cetera? Too early to tell. I mean I know that just talking to AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and understanding their public plans around 5G and 6G deployments, this is a very valuable spectrum, right? They all want to accelerate their deployments. There's a lot of important economic growth associated with the spectrum for the U.S., which is why FCC started this the full process. So we don't know yet, and we don't have anything specific from them, but we're open. So if they listen to these transcripts, we're open to the conversation.
But let's see, Alex, like I said to Akhil, let's just -- let's not get ahead of ourselves, right? I mean the objective and the alignment of interest are very clear. We want to do it faster, as fast as we can. The deadlines that FCC has set are reasonable and agreed with us. It's not something that was forced on us. It's something that we work very closely with FCC to come up with these deadlines. And it's in everybody's interest to get it done as quick as we can. So let's leave it at that. No, Alex, we're very, very close. I mean -- and you should be able to gauge this with my comments. I mean when we did the first quarter announcement, we were in the midst of these difficult terms and conditions negotiations, and I was very cautious about declaring victory or signaling that it's closed. I am very optimistic, right?
I mean the commission did an incredible job in keeping the focus working. I don't know if you've all seen it, but Poland came into IRIS2. I mean that's a big deal, right? Poland, I think it's public, right, how much money they put in. They decided to put in EUR 430 million towards Nos in the program, right? And the commission signed that agreement with Poland, and we signed our MOU with Poland that goes beyond IRIS2 and collaborating together around building space capabilities for Poland. So we are very, very close. We are not weeks away. We are days away. Right, Alex. So let me leave it at that way before I set the commission because they are the customer and they are the ones who decide when to announce things. But we are very optimistic and supportive of this program.
That's great. Can I just have a very quick follow-up on launches. We hear that SpaceX is retiring Falcon 9 in favor of Starship and will progressively retire it. What does this mean for your launch plans and for the industry at large? Is there any disturbance in the process that you anticipate? Or is it going to be smooth?
Alex, look, we all got spoiled, to be honest with you, over the last few years having this reliable vehicle to access space, right? So we've all benefited and you all remember that SES was the first commercial operator to be on a Falcon 9, and we were the first commercial operator to be on a reusable Falcon 9. So we have a deep partnership with SpaceX and so on. So we're watching this very carefully. We don't know -- we don't have any specifics yet on what the plans are. But we've secured the required launches that we need both for the C-band satellites, the C-band clearing, that's secure. We also secured the early stages for IRIS2 and for our Meosphere launches. The industry needs to evolve quickly. We need -- in addition to SpaceX that has helped the entire industry over the last 5 years, we need others to increase their cadence. So we're working with [indiscernible]. They are a very good partner. There are others who are coming to market.
So I think the launch market is going to see an incredible evolution over the next 5 years. And we'll see how Starship goes, and we're all eager also to be customers of Starship. So let's see how that evolves. But I'm not worried about the launch capabilities, but it is not as straightforward, if you will, as it was before. You got to work on it, you got to secure it. You got to have the balance sheet to be able to get it locked up, and we're in a fortunate position to have that. So that's how we see it.
The next question is coming from Paul Sidney from Joh Berenberg.
Just 2, please. Just going back to the first question we had on the call, the rebound in H2. I was just wondering, is this revenue already contracted? Or does it rely on contracts being signed over the next few weeks and months? And I'm guessing the answer to this question is no. But is it possible to break down the elements that you've picked out that will boost H2 in monetary terms? Can you give us a feel for the euro amounts for the PTSG contracts, for example? And just secondly, a real big picture question. Post SpaceX IPO and the additional disclosure that we've got on the company, has anything surprised you in terms of addressable markets or SpaceX's capability? Just anything that struck you from the additional disclosure we've got on SpaceX would be really helpful.
Thank you, Paul. So on the -- we tried in my section of the presentation and give you -- and Lisa as well reinforced it, what are the drivers of H2. So we will not give you an individual line item, right? That would make sense. But if you think about how much of it is contracted and how much of it is to be contracted, majority of it is already contracted, right? So things like PTG as an example, the reason we keep bringing that up is because it's a significant contract ramp-up in the second half of the year and other government and defense contracts, these are all done. right? And like I said, we have -- and in the Capital Markets Day, we'll go much deeper in explaining the profile of the company going forward, right?
And I tried to explain that we have various contract structures that some will recognize revenue really quickly, some require milestones to get there. Some are existing and continuing delivery of the complex. So majority of the contracts for the second half are contracted. But there are a couple of swingers that sit in there, like the Aero contract that I kept talking about IRIS2. IRIS2 is as soon as the contract is signed, it is going to generate the next milestones and the next work that we need to deliver before the end of the year. So majority are contracted. There are a few that need to close.
And media, by the way, done a great job of all renewals. So they're pretty much done, right, in terms of what needs to happen for the second half of the year. That's why we feel pretty good about media business getting to the profile that we keep talking about, which is mid-single-digit decline kind of a business, which means second half will be stronger, right, than what you've seen in the first half.
Look, in terms of SpaceX disclosure, I wouldn't say there were a lot of surprises for us, whether it's in their V3 constellation for Starlink or their launch strategy and what they want to do. Clearly, we don't have as much interaction with them on AI and what they're trying to do with AI and so on. So that was learning for all of us in the industry. But Starlink and SpaceX is quite focused on providing this incredible broadband capability for the customer base that we are all serving already. So no, there wasn't new revelations for us. But we wish them success in certain areas because we are huge partners in those areas. And we watch them very carefully in others because they're a very strong competitor. And we are very -- despite all these disclosures, we are very confident in what we're building, a multi-orbit solutions company and not pivoting ourselves to go against Starlink in LEO capabilities that is not an easy battle to win, right? So we were very comfortable that the strategy that was disclosed still reinforces our confidence in our strategy as we go forward. I hope that's helpful, Paul.
The next question is coming from Roshan Ranjit from Deutsche Bank.
I've got 2 questions, please. And it's just, I guess, going back to the operational performance and the terminal -- the ESA terminals. Adel, you mentioned in the press release, you say you're now over 600 tails flying. I think the Q1 number was around 600. Is it fair to say despite the delays, there were some installs during Q2 firstly? And just added on to that, how should we think about the ramp-up of the service revenues that these terminals should be generating? We've been talking about the installation and the revenues associated with that. But I think at the beginning of the year, we had, I think it was American Airlines. We had the Japanese airlines contract. Should we think about the service revenues only coming in once all the fleet has been kicked out? Or is it a more gradual ramp-up? And my second question is around C-band and possible to get some visibility on the tax rate we should think about on the proceeds given that there was a divergence between Intelsat and SES during Auction 1.0.
Yes. So I'll take this. Thanks for the question, Roshan. So on the operational performance for aviation, Q2 was a lighter install quarter than Q1 in terms of the ESA and antennas, but that was largely as expected. So we do expect the ramp to continue to grow in about Q3 and Q4. The good news is that, again, as you install these, they do enter into service. I'd say probably not such good news is that we are kind of in a dynamic where we're managing the offboarding of certain airlines that we've lost while we're onboarding some of the airlines that we have won. And so there is still a bit of a gap there in terms of service revenues as you start to compare things to prior years. But that's a little bit where we're at on the ESA and antennas.
From a C-band perspective, on the tax rate, myself and the tax teams, we are working diligently on how we structure the C-band program so that we can optimize taxes as much as possible. I don't think it's any surprise that the Intelsat tax rate on their C-band 1.0 proceeds was much lower than the SES, but we're working on that. I think Christian and the team have guided about 10% as the tax rate to use. We think that that's a good rate to use. And as we make more progress, we'll inform you appropriately.
And let me just add, Lisa, it's a reflection of consensus of 10%. So SES hasn't guided really on this tax rate. So the market is using the midpoint of that tax rate, which is the best assumption based on CN 1.0.
The next question is coming from Ben Rickett from New Street Research.
I have two question, please, again, on the H2 recovery. So firstly, you seem to be suggesting that there will be some one-off revenue recognition on the IRIS contract closing. Are you able to quantify that one-off revenue just to help us with sort of trends? And then second question on sort of OpEx. So you're highlighting that OpEx was down 9% in H1. It wasn't clear to -- are you saying that is all synergy recognition, it's quite a big number. And how should we assume that then evolves into H2? Could that 9% be even greater in H2 as you realize more of the synergies?
Thank you, Ben. Look, on H2 recovery, and I want to highlight, so we do not -- we did not take any one-offs for IRIS2, just to be clear, right? IRIS2 contract -- existing contract that we signed at the end of 2024 was in effect as we were going through the delivery in 2025 and 2026. So the revenue we recognized through those years where services and milestones we were delivering to the IRIS2 existing contract. Rand one was designed to validate the technical capabilities, the schedules and close out some of the terms that were open from the original contract. It's a variation contract, variation to the original contract, that's what we're signing in to be clear, right? So there were no one-offs. And what will happen with IRIS2 as we pass Wandevou, there will be a significant ramp of IRIS2 revenues going forward because we no longer work in the pre-rev1 scope. We work now on a 10-year-plus contract. that we need to build to build ourself. And so Lisa, do you want to.
Yes. Let me just add a little bit just on the -- just to give some clarity on the revenue recognition for IRIS2, and the same is going to be true for PTSG. So these are going to be percent complete contracts where revenue will be recognized on a cost-to-cost basis. So as Adel mentioned, when we exit the Rondevous1 phase, we will have performance obligations to deliver hardware and software. As we baseline those milestones, we'll start to recognize revenue as we execute on the contract. It's very similar to what you're going to see in traditional aerospace and defense companies where their prime contractors on long-term construction contracts.
And so as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, the mix of the business, especially in the second half and as we kind of go forward with programs like IRIS2 and PTSG, you're going to see a shift. because the mix and the profit rates are somewhat different when we execute on those programs. But again, those are great programs for us to have. They're franchise programs for us to get a foot in. They help supplement some of the Capex for us, and they're overall very good for us becoming a space solutions company going forward.
And Ben, you guys have done a lot of work, right, on the model of SES and et cetera. What Lisa just said is really important, and we were major on it in our Capital Markets Day, right? We are pivoting the. So when we say we're going to become an industrial space solutions company, we're doing it, right? I mean so in the past, so if you think about Empower, right, the way Empower worked is we set, designed the satellite, and then we paid Capex to somebody else to build it. That's how it's worked. right? And then it took us a while to get -- so we had a lot of cash upfront and then it took us a while to get to our revenue when the constellation was running. The model now is shifting to something different, where people pay us to build our own satellites, right?
We do invest in these, but there's a big subsidization happening from outside customers that either want to call on the constellation with us or fund us for these constellations. And that has the revenue profile, as Lisa just described. So we're seeing a much better use of cash. And as we go forward, we're not -- by the way, we don't -- we're not thinking of becoming an industrial player to start building satellite for somebody else. We're building them for ourselves for us, right, for countries that come to us and say, build it for us and then manage it for us, run the network for us going forward. You will see a shift in these kind of -- and PTSG is an example of that. IRIS2 is an example of that. We'll be announcing other things before the end of the year and beginning of next year, contracts that are very similar in nature, which is a big pivot and an important pivot for the company going forward.
Look, on the OpEx, look, our OpEx lines have multiple lines. And also keep in mind that as we take out people, I mean, we have reduced significant amount of people in the company, and we took out a lot of costs from non-staff-related OpEx. Those 2 are high double-digit decline year-on-year. in CMD, we will show you the data at the end of the year when we do our full year 2026 results, we will share our accomplishment for our synergies execution. However, look, we're also hiring people, just to be clear, to deliver IRIS2, to build up our factory, Meosphere, and that all sits in the OpEx number, right? So that's why you don't see the big paydown that we see underneath the covers, which we will share with you guys as we close the year going forward. And in the second half of the year, we expect that trend that we just described in terms of staff and non-staff-related synergies to be the same run rate, double -- high double-digit decline year-on-year. That's what we're expecting. That's what is happening in our P&L.
That's really helpful. And can I just check, in Q1, you have that sort of EUR 81 million one-off. There's nothing similar to that coming in, in H2? Well, we have this big contract that we keep mentioning, right?
So there is a potential of that. It's not that size. It's not the level. But as we said before, Ben, I mean, we do have these -- these one-offs are normal way of -- I mean we had them in 2025, and they were not insignificant. And by the way, we're suffering in 2026 year-on-year compares because of these one-offs, right? But we don't typically talk about them because we feel -- first of all, we need to disclose them to the market because they are not insignificant in their nature. However, they are part of our business. That's how it's run, right? And you can go back multiple years and you see that every year, there is a few of those things. And sometimes in the following year, they're negative because you're trying to compare to them, and they're positive in a sense if you're doing them more than what you did the prior year. I mean one of the big ones to remind you guys is in Maritime, right? Maritime, we had a large contract that we restructured in 2024 that had an impact in '25 and '26 on compares. We don't talk about it because we see it as a normal part of our business.
[Operator Instructions] The next question is coming from Terence Tsui from Morgan Stanley.
I had a quick clarification on the timing of the C-band proceeds. I think at the last clearing process back in 2020, '21, the proceeds for the satellite industry started about a year after the auction. But for the upper C-band now, it seems like it's going to be a bit -- the timing of the payments will be later than that. So can you just explore a bit, has anything changed to expect or to drive the FCC moving towards slightly later timing of the payments compared to last time around? And then secondly, around the capital allocation priorities. You mentioned, obviously, the priority to deliver and then return at least the majority of C-band proceeds prioritized for shareholder returns. But what about the remainder? I assume some will be set aside for some growth initiatives. Does this involve potentially more Capex? Or would you even explore potentially some M&A...
Terence, let me start with the C-band and then Lisa, you can jump in on the capital allocation. Look, on the C-band, you're absolutely right. The prior clearing had 2 phases that were different the way they described the C-band. Why is that? I mean, the commission wants to accelerate the clearing this time. I mean they want to do it faster than what happened last time. So they put a lot of emphasis on getting to at least 70% of the U.S. population to be cleared by end of 2030, which means that large areas in con pit in the United States. So it's a little bit different philosophy than where the Chair and the FCC staff thought about it, which is what you're seeing it in how it is described. On the other hand, they work very hard on improving the efficiency of expense reimbursement, right? So they kind of try to make it more balanced, right, to make sure that people are not having to finance things and the U.S. government doesn't have to pay the interest rates, right, which is beneficial for us.
And that's why when Akhil and then after that, Alex, were asking the questions, right, our incentive is to -- natural incentive what the commission wanted to put on us, which is working, is to make it faster as soon as we can. And that's what we're working on, right, to make it successful. But it is different, right? You're absolutely right. In terms of capital allocation?
Yes. So in terms of capital allocation, again, there's no change in our financial policy. So we are committed to delivering to about 3.0x or below, and then we will return excess cash to shareholders. And just maybe just to give a little bit of color around that. In our midterm modeling, we have modeled the Capex that we need for growth. It's already included into that financial policy. So we feel very confident that our shareholders will participate in any earnings that come from the C-band.
Right. And look, the contracts we've talked about before, right, and we'll disclose more as we sign them, right, do have cash injections into the company, right? So like I said, the profile is changing from us having to front up all the Capex into a model that where customers are participating in the investments and contribution of this cash way before the constellations are ready. So look, I get this question all the time because I was the one who showed up in 2024 and used the proceeds to acquire another company.
So I asked this question all the time, do you have other ideas to do that? And we keep reiterating over and over again. We made it very clear. Our priority deliver. Look, we've done the big move, right, which is now generated and we didn't discuss -- I feel very good about the Intelsat transact because of the C-band announcement, reinforcing it even further. We are getting billions more than what we would have gotten on a stand-alone company. So that looks good, and it's a good thing for the company in terms of creating scale and being able to drive the growth of the company going forward.
We now have the scale. We're now able to shift into a strategic pivot that we keep describing, becoming more of a space solutions company that's verticalized. And we have modeled all of the cash requirements to do that. If we're going to do an M&A, if there is one, and there isn't one on our road map right now, it will not be large. It will be about can we accelerate our ASIC skills? Can we accelerate our manufacturing capability? Those are the type of things that we may think about.
And I want to be clear, again, reiterate, there's nothing on the road map right now that we will look at M&A. And we will not use the money we're getting from C-band to do that M&A. We're going to use the C-band money to deliver and any excess of that money is going to be going to our shareholders in various means. Dividend, right? We already talked -- we already signaled to the market that as soon as we get to our 3.0 or below, we will start looking at increasing our dividends. to our shareholders. We feel very confident in doing that because we have the funding required to go forward. We just need to deliver first is what we need to do, right?
And then we need to be able to afford the investments from our cash generation and our customers' contributions as we go forward. That's how the model is built, right? And that's what we're executing.
There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to Christian Kern for any closing remarks.
Thank you, Gaia, and thank you for all participants for joining us today. Thank you for an excellent Q&A. And if there are any further questions, please contact the IR department are able to help and speak soon. Take care.
Thanks for joining today's call. You may now disconnect.
SES — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
H1 results roughly in line; FCC upper C‑band order and IRIS2 progress de‑risk financing and support reiterated 2026 outlook.
📊 Quarter at a Glance
- Revenue: €1.602bn (reported +72% YoY; like‑for‑like -5% at constant FX and pro‑forma Intelsat consolidation)
- Adjusted EBITDA: €725m (reported +47% YoY; like‑for‑like -6.2%); margin 45.2%
- Free cash flow: Adjusted FCF -€130m (timing of CapEx and collections)
- CapEx: H1 €444m; FY guidance ~€700m (ex‑C‑band); C‑band CapEx €100–150m in 2026 (expected reimbursable)
- Leverage: Like‑for‑like net debt/EBITDA 4.4x (vs 4.1x prior quarter)
🎯 What Management Says
- Strategic pivot: SES is evolving from satellite operator to integrated space‑solutions provider combining multi‑orbit network, ground infrastructure and software services to capture higher‑value, mission‑critical programs.
- IRIS2 focus: SES is near final agreements to be a prime/partner on Europe’s sovereign IRIS2 secure constellation (LEO + 18 MEO satellites), targeted operations from 2030.
- C‑band outcome: FCC’s upper C‑band order allocates ~$6.3bn incentives (≈$5.6bn to SCS contingent on clearing); SES sees reimbursable transition costs and a clear deleveraging path.
🔭 Outlook & Guidance
- Full‑year view: Reiterated 2026 guidance — stable revenue and stable adjusted EBITDA year‑on‑year.
- Capital plan: FY CapEx ~€700m (ex‑C‑band); C‑band CapEx €100–150m (reimbursable); O3b mPOWER launches and Meosphere investments continue.
- Capital priority: C‑band proceeds to be used first to reduce net leverage to ~3.0x; once target met, majority of exceptional cash earmarked for shareholder returns; main risks are timing of awards, media/fixed‑data headwinds and execution on C‑band deadlines.
❓ Analyst Q&A
- H2 phasing: Management expects H2 to be back‑end loaded with Q4 delivering a material uplift driven by PTSG (U.S. Space Force) milestones and IRIS2 ramp; most H2 uplift is already contracted though timing swings remain.
- C‑band timing & monetization: FCC set clearing deadlines (Dec‑2030/Jun‑2031); SES contracted long‑lead satellites and may explore acceleration or collateralization only if it delivers net shareholder benefit; market assumption for tax on proceeds ≈10%.
- Synergies & OpEx: H1 OpEx down ~9% and staff costs down ~16%; management expects further synergy capture in H2 while also hiring for Meosphere/IRIS2 execution.
⚡ Bottom Line
- Investor takeaway: Results match management’s plan and the FCC C‑band decision plus IRIS2 momentum materially lower execution and funding risk. Near‑term cash and margins are impacted by investment and mix shifts as SES transitions to a space‑solutions model; priority is deleveraging to ~3.0x before material shareholder returns. Capital Markets Day (Dec 9) should provide further detail.
SES — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the SES First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Now I will hand the conference over to Christian Kern, Head of Investor Relations. Please, sir, go ahead.
Thank you, [Gaya]. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. It is my pleasure to welcome you to SES Q1 2026 Results Call on behalf of our management team. Before proceeding with the management presentation, we would like to inform you that the financial information contained in this document has been prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards.
As usual, this presentation may contain announcements that constitute forward-looking statements, which are no guarantees for future business performance and involve risks as well as uncertainties. Also, certain results may materially differ from those in these forward-looking statements due to several factors.
We invite you to read the detailed disclaimer on Slide 2 of this presentation. The presentation is also available on our company web page. Today, I'm joined by our CEO, Adel Al-Saleh; and our CFO, Lisa Pataki, who will take you through the presentation, followed by a Q&A session. Adel, without further ado, over to you.
Thank you, Christian. Good morning, everyone. Q1 2026 was a solid start to the financial year for SES. Our performance in the quarter reflects disciplined execution across both networks and media, reinforcing confidence in our strategy and our 2026 financial outlook, which we are reiterating today.
These results are driven by our clear vision to position SES as a leading multi-orbit space solutions company, delivering resilient high-performance connectivity to the world's most demanding customers.
Let's start on Slide #3. Today, I want to begin by briefly reminding you of our vision and strategy for the company. We're building a space solutions company that is an integrated full-service provider, combining multi-orbit networks, our extensive ground capabilities, software and services and supported by an open and inclusive ecosystem of partners to meet the mission-critical customer needs.
The way we deliver on this ambition is by anchoring our strategy on 4 strategic pillars. Pillar #1 is Sustained Financial STRENGTH through focused execution, disciplined capital allocation and strong cash generation with a resilient balance sheet supporting long-term investments.
Pillar #2 is VERTICAL Customer solutions. We want to continue to focus on high-priority verticals, government and defense as the priority vertical, Aviation and Maritime, Fixed Data and Media with solutions tailored to customer missions. We'll focus on the areas where we can provide differentiated value to our customers.
Pillar #3 is Investment in INNOVATION. Through innovation across our operations, we're building a continuously evolving modular network, software-defined satellites, hosted payloads to secure sovereign networks. This positions us well to advance differentiation through performance, scale and resilience. Achieving this vision requires greater ownership of our supply chain. That is why we're transitioning and focusing our efforts on verticalization.
And our fourth pillar, smart diversification, selective expansion into new areas and pockets of growth that reinforce our capabilities with leveraging partnerships and ecosystem models to accelerate growth and reduce risk. Hosted payloads for new missions and hosted payloads for new missions and direct-to-device with Lynk Global are good examples of Smart DIVERSIFICATION.
Moving to Slide #4. The next major steps in our journey, which is meoSphere. As you're aware, meoSphere is our recently announced next-generation MEO network, which will drive a step change in SES's capability, competitiveness and future growth. This next-generation network will be scalable, high performance, adaptable and designed to support multiple missions, meeting dynamic customer needs and expanding them.
Let me highlight some key features of the meoSphere. First of all, Flexible & Modular Space Segment. The design will have a transparent and regenerative payload, enabling real-time dynamic capacity allocation. We'll have flexible multiple payload designs supporting multiple missions on a single satellite.
Optical and RF communication for high-throughput resilience and future interoperability. The satellites will be configurable size, weight and power, also known as SWAP to accommodate additional and evolving missions with true global portable coverage at 8,000 kilometers above earth, which is the near orbit.
High scalability with incremental satellite deployments as customer needs and demand evolve and designed to offer governments sovereign operations and slices of the network. Digital Orchestrated Operations, that means global [ virtualized ] ground network for resilience, efficiency and rapid service provisioning, it will be 5G compatible architecture, enabling seamless integration with terrestrial and nonterrestrial networks.
And of course, advanced service orchestration, enabling dynamic routing, multi-orbit integration and end-to-end service management. And finally, Compact Easy-to-deploy Terminals. We will have small, easy-to-deploy designed for rapid installation and mobility use cases terminals, high-performance form factors.
We'll have a 50x 50 centimeter terminals delivering up to 1 gigabit per second peak forward throughput and ultracompact 25x25 centimeter options for space and weight constrained environments. We will have diverse antenna choices to match mission and platform requirements.
And finally, single user interface and true plug-and-play operations, simplifying deployment and day-to-day operations. meoSphere is targeted for operation by 2030 and designed to significantly boost our MEO network capacity. SES will pair its own software-defined payloads being developed and manufactured in Luxembourg with an initial 28 high-power satellite buses developed by K2 Space, representing the first phase of the meoSphere rollout.
This initiative is included in our previously announced and today reiterated CapEx outlook, we will continue executing our rigorous financial discipline. Together with K2, we are derisking the development of the network by having multiple what we call Pathfinder missions with SES payloads, of which the first has recently been successfully deployed and is now being tested in orbit.
Let us now move to Slide #6 and our Q1 2026 business highlights. As a reminder, we closed the Intelsat acquisition on July 17 last year. These results are shown on a reported basis with Q1 2026 being fully consolidated quarter. The figures are compared year-on-year to Q1 2025 SES stand-alone reported numbers on a constant FX basis. In a few minutes, Lisa will also share like-for-like comparisons. We have delivered Q1 2026 performance according to plan, representing a solid start to 2026.
Q1 2026 revenue was EUR 847 million, up 80% year-on-year, driven by Networks growth of 106% year-on-year. Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA of EUR 404 million was up 57% year-on-year with a margin of 47.7%. Capital expenditure for Q1 2026 were close to EUR 320 million, with full year 2026 expected to be front-loaded while we continue executing on planned CapEx synergies.
In Q1 2026, we secured EUR 306 million of renewals and new customer contracts, with the majority coming from our growth segments. This has supported our gross backlog of EUR 6.2 billion, which continues to be impacted by a weaker U.S. dollar and intercompany eliminations.
Overall, Q1 2026 delivered a solid start to the financial year, with performance materializing as planned and in line with our expectations. As a combined company, we are executing with discipline while navigating a mixed operating environment. We're delivering on our synergy plans, achieving a reduction of 20% year-on-year in staff costs in Q1, and that is on a like-for-like basis.
Overall, OpEx was down 9% year-on-year. We continue facing some near-term headwinds, most notably in parts of Fixed Data and in Media. In Fixed Data, we took decisions to restructure the business to address competitive dynamics and to position the business on a more sustainable footing.
In Media, we delivered to expectations. Year-on-year decline is still impacted by the Brazilian customer bankruptcy. We expect performance to stabilize in the second half of the year. Multiyear contract renewals in Media, such as the recently announced decade-long contract renewal with ARD in Germany, underpin key customers' commitment to satellite broadcasting and support the strong cash-generative nature of the business. In addition to ARD, we're in the middle of important contract renewals with dates well past 2030. At the same time, our other business units continue to perform well and deliver growth. Networks remains the primary growth engine of the company and continued momentum across mobility where aviation stands out and government, underpinned by strong demand for our differentiated multi-orbit solutions.
Let us now turn to Slide #7 and our Key Customer Renewals and Strategic Wins this quarter. Q1 delivered solid commercial momentum across our verticals. We remain a trusted partner to customers in more than 130 countries, reflected in our strong customer base and continued momentum.
In Media, we continue to secure long-term renewals with leading customers, including ARD, as I just mentioned, as well as International Judo Federation, DISH, Airtel and ESPN with some contracts extending well beyond 2035, supporting the strong cash generative profile of the business and contributing to greater stability as we move into the second half of the year.
Government performance remained strong, led by our global government activity and our involvement in IRIS2 project. The IRIS2 program is in the middle of Rendez-vous 1, nearing completion. We will share more details in due course. During the quarter, we also extended the EGNOS GEO-1 satellite service agreement with the European Union Agency for Space Programs, and it was through 2030, ensuring the continued delivery of high-precision, high reliable navigation services for aviation, maritime and other critical users across Europe.
These wins reinforce SES's in high-priority mission-critical programs and underscore the strength of our differentiated space-based solutions. In aviation, we now have nearly 600 aircraft flying with our multi-orbit ESAT inflight connectivity system, delivering fast, dependable Internet access to millions of passengers every day.
Demand for multi-orbit electronically secured antennas continues to accelerate, highlighted by the new commitments in the quarter, including more than 40 long-haul aircraft from Japan Airlines as well as Saudi Airlines with open orbits. We also reached an important milestone with Boeing towards factory line fit across all aircraft models, scaling our aviation footprint. Our backlog of East installations, we continue to make great progress equipping the aircraft of American Airlines, Air Canada and Avianca, which will underpin future growth and profitability.
Despite ongoing competition, the market continues to accommodate multiple players with clearly differentiated offerings. In Maritime, we remain a leading provider of connectivity at sea, supporting passengers and cruise across a wide range of maritime use cases. Despite ongoing competition pressures, we continue to see long-term renewals in the cruise segment.
In Q1, we secured additional renewals with key customers like MSC Cruises, Carnival and Merino, reflecting confidence in our platforms. In fixed data, we took decisive actions to navigate ongoing market headwinds and reposition the business for the future.
At the same time, in the quarter, we delivered important customer renewals such as Orange, Petrobras, emergency.lu, AMN and many others, reflecting the ongoing value of our services to key enterprise and network customers as we continue to serve 8 of the world's top 10 mobile operators and numerous global energy companies.
Overall, these wins reinforce the strength of our customer relationships and our differentiated multi-orbit value proposition. With this, I now hand over to Lisa, who will go through further details of our Q1 2026 financial performance.
Thanks, Adel. Good morning, everyone. Before turning to our Q1 2026 financial performance, I'd like to highlight that the press release available on our company website includes supplementary financial information with like-for-like revenue per vertical and adjusted EBITDA at the group level as if the Intelsat transaction had consolidated from the 1st of January 2024.
To reflect internal changes, we have updated our vertical reporting structure to better align with our operating model and leadership responsibilities. We continue reporting on our 2 primary businesses, Media and Networks. Within Networks, we now report government, Fixed Data and Mobility with Mobility encompassing both Aviation and Maritime.
To support this change and provide greater transparency, our Q1 2026 press release includes additional supplementary disclosures showing these vertical splits on a like-for-like basis going back to Q1 2024. We hope you find this enhanced disclosure helpful for your modeling of the combined company by vertical.
We appreciate your engagement as always. And as usual, our IR team is available for any questions that you might have on this topic. Let's now turn to Slide 9 for our financial highlights. The first quarter of 2026 marked a solid start to the year with reported revenue of EUR 847 million, resulting in a growth rate of 80.5% year-over-year on a reported basis when compared to the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, with constant foreign exchange rates, Q1 2026 revenue was up 3.1% compared to Q1 2025. This was primarily driven by growth in Mobility, particularly in aviation as well as in government, partly offset by ongoing headwinds in Fixed Data and Media.
In Mobility, Aviation performed well, supported by demand for our multi-orbit solutions. This business has also benefited from a planned contract restructuring, which enabled us to recover and redeploy capacity to higher demand customers. This improves utilization with continued strong interest in our open orbit offering.
In Fixed Data, we are taking decisive actions to navigate the competitive headwinds that are behind the continued declines. And within Media, the decline was driven by structural headwinds and the impact of the Brazilian customer bankruptcy. Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA was EUR 404 million, showing growth of 57% year-over-year with margins of 47.7%.
On a like-for-like basis, Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA was up 5% compared to Q1 2025, driven by the Aviation contract restructuring and lower operating expenses resulting from our integration activities. These gains were partially constrained by the same underlying near-term margin headwinds driven by what we previously discussed.
In our aviation business, we installed over 100 electronically steered antennas in Q1 2026, and there are nearly 600 aircraft now flying with the multi-orbit system. As noted in prior periods, this equipment revenue is initially margin dilutive before transitioning to higher-margin service revenue following installation.
The quarter also included some expected impacts from timing differences between the onboarding and decommissioning of airline customers. In government, we continue to have some timing impacts due to contract rationalization by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as DOGE, and some postponements of large contracts, in part due to the U.S. government shutdown in late 2025.
These government impacts are largely timing related with several awards expected to materialize later this year and drive growth in the second half. And finally, we have seen company revenue mix change due to structural pressure in Media and challenging conditions in Fixed Data. We remain focused on stabilizing Media and restructuring Fixed Data through disciplined value-driven capacity allocation. With the expected solid Q1 2026 performance, we are also reaffirming our 2026 financial outlook.
Let's now move to Slide 10 to give a more detailed view of the financial performance of our vertical segments. Media's Q1 2026 revenue of EUR 285 million, now accounting for 34% of total revenues, increased by 42.9% over prior year due to inorganic growth offsetting structural declines.
On a like-for-like basis, Media was down 11%, driven by structural declines of capacity optimization in mature markets and the impact of the Brazilian customer bankruptcy.
Q1 2025 was the final quarter in which the Media business recorded revenue for the Brazilian customer. Despite ongoing structural decline, Media remains a highly cash-generative and profitable business. In Q1 2026, we secured close to $100 million in renewals, including with several key customers extending well beyond the next decade.
I should also highlight a recent announcement after the quarter closed, whereby SES secured an important long-term renewal with the German broadcaster, ARD, with a commitment of service through 2039. These long-term awards reinforce the confidence our customers have in our reliable service and solutions as well as providing SES with strong revenue visibility.
Free-to-air, free-to-view and sports and events continues to be resilient. Satellite remains the most efficient and reliable distribution platform in many remote and underdeserved regions.
Moving now to Slide 11. Our Networks business now comprises over 66% of total revenues. On a reported basis, Networks revenue more than doubled compared to the prior year. On a like-for-like basis, Networks revenue increased by 13% versus the prior year, reflecting the growth momentum of the Aviation and Government segments. Within Networks, the Mobility segment, as mentioned, now comprising Aviation and Maritime, achieved revenues of EUR 259 million, 2.7x higher on a reported basis and up 37.6% on a like-for-like basis year-over-year.
This growth was driven by our aviation vertical and includes the continued adoption of our ESA multi-orbit solution, now with close to 600 tails benefiting from it. We will continue the rollout of ESA installations, which will then generate subsequent service revenues, driving future growth in this competitive market.
As mentioned, aviation performance also benefited from a planned strategic contract restructuring, which accounted for EUR 81 million in Q1 2026, allowing capacity recovery and redeployment from a highly contended North American satellite to higher demand uses.
Our Maritime vertical continues to perform to our expectations with some restructuring happening in the wholesale Maritime business, yet we continue to benefit from important customer renewals and new wins in our cruise and commercial shipping businesses. Our Government segment delivered revenues of EUR 189 million in Q1 2026, up 50.7% year-over-year on a reported basis.
On a like-for-like basis, government grew 8.8% year-over-year, driven by solid performance in global government. This is due to rising demand for secure, resilient connectivity and defense-related applications. This was partially offset in the quarter by budgetary pressures in the U.S. government business, including contract rationalization linked to DOGE initiative in 2025.
We expect this impact to ease with growth anticipated in the second half of the year. The IRIS2 program continues to progress through Rendez-vous 1 with more details to be shared in due course. Geopolitical developments, including the conflict in the Middle East are driving increased demand for secure communications capacity.
With proven multi-orbit capabilities and a strong history serving U.S., European and allied governments, SES is well positioned to capture this potential uplift and support future growth in this vertical as we deploy our next-generation MEO constellation meoSphere.
Lastly, in our fixed data business, revenues in Q1 2026 totaled EUR 109 million. This represented a growth of 79% year-over-year on a reported basis. On a like-for-like basis, revenues declined 16.9%, reflecting ongoing competitive headwinds. In response to this competitive environment, we have taken decisive actions to restructure the business, including a sharp focus on customer and capacity prioritization.
As such, we expect progress as the year unfolds. We continue to see a solid backlog driven by continued demand for our multi-orbit solutions underpinned by $210 million new business and renewals in our Network segment with customers such as the European Union Agency for the Space Program, Japan Airlines, Carnival and Petrobras driving expansion across our verticals.
Turning now to Slide 12 for a detailed view of our capital allocation priorities and our debt maturity profile as of March 31, 2026. Our combined like-for-like adjusted net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio stands at 4.1x versus 3.9x in the previous quarter, reflecting mainly timing effects of cash flows and debt refinancing and lower 12-month trailing adjusted EBITDA.
This includes cash and cash equivalents of EUR 874 million, excluding EUR 306 million of restricted cash, which is related to the SES-led consortiums involvement in the IRIS2 program. Our debt portfolio remains well structured with a weighted average cost of around 4.2%, approximately 70% of debt at fixed interest rates and an average maturity of roughly 5 years, providing resilience, flexibility and clear visibility into long-term planning.
Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged with a continued focus on deleveraging and improving credit metrics over time while maintaining sufficient liquidity to meet upcoming obligations. Our balance sheet and access to capital markets provide flexibility as we consider future financing actions. During the period, we actively managed our maturity profile. We now have approximately EUR 750 million due for the rest of the year, having repaid debt principals of around EUR 979 million, including a EUR 650 million senior bond and a EUR 327 million tender offer relating to our EUR 525 million hybrid.
Regarding the remaining EUR 198 million balance on the hybrid notes, we have recently issued a notice of redemption and as such, we will be redeeming the outstanding securities on May 27, 2026. In March, we have successfully raised EUR 650 million with our new SPACE Hybrid offering, which was 5x oversubscribed, demonstrating strong investor demand.
This new EUR 650 million SPACE Hybrid benefits from an innovative structure, achieving 100% Moody's equity credit while sub-investment grade, providing a balanced solution between credit reinforcement and capital efficiency. This instrument allows us to strengthen our balance sheet and leverage reduction targets as well as preserve liquidity headroom and address near-term maturities. In order to be consistent with prior periods, we have considered this instrument as 50% equity credit in our net leverage calculation.
We continue to make progress in our O3b mPOWER insurance's claim, having collected EUR 10 million -- sorry, USD 10 million equal to roughly EUR 9 million this quarter, bringing the total proceeds to USD 202 million to date. We will continue to provide updates as the final settlement negotiations progress.
As we continue to invest in our next-generation MEO capabilities and focused GEO replacement to support our Media and government customers, we remain highly disciplined in capital deployment, ensuring every investment aligns with our strategic priorities.
Q1 2026 capital expenditures totaled EUR 319 million, primarily reflecting some timing shifts related to the O3b mPOWER satellite program. During the quarter, we continued to execute on our CapEx plans with discipline. We continue to rationalize our midterm CapEx plans and have decided to cancel 2 GEO satellites that do not meet our IRR thresholds. As Adel mentioned, we expect CapEx to be front-loaded in 2026. We remain fully aligned with our CapEx outlook for 2026 as we deliver on our CapEx synergies and work towards fleet and ground optimization.
Following a successful Annual General Meeting on April 2, we continue to deliver on shareholder returns and paid a 2025 final dividend of EUR 0.25 per A share and EUR 0.10 per B share on April 16, 2026. As previously stated, once the company meets its net leverage target, at least a majority of future exceptional cash flows of the combined company will be prioritized for shareholder returns.
Overall, our focus this year remains firmly on cash generation, balance sheet strength and disciplined execution with a clear and credible path towards deleveraging and long-term value creation. With that, I'd like to hand it back to Adel for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Lisa. On Slide 14, we are reiterating our financial outlook for 2026. Following a solid first quarter performance in line with our expectations, we expect to see some quarterly variations driven by well-understood dynamics. As the year progresses, we expect government revenues to ramp up as U.S. contract signings effects ease and demand for sovereign connectivity solutions continues to grow.
In Aviation, we expect margin support from conversion of equipment revenue into service revenues. Media declines are expected to improve as the impact from the Brazilian customer bankruptcy washes through. And in Fixed Data, the restructuring is expected to improve performance. With these well-controlled dynamics and execution on track, we're fully committed to delivering our full year outlook of stable revenue and stable adjusted EBITDA.
We continue to fast track our CapEx synergy delivery. 2026 capital expenditures at euro-U.S. dollar exchange rate of 1.20 are still expected to be around EUR 700 million, including IRIS2 and the first phase of meoSphere. O3b mPOWER satellite 9&10 entered service in late February, providing much needed capacity. The launch of Satellites 11, 12 and 13 continue to be on track for the second half of 2026.
We're very pleased with the progress of Pathfinder 1 mission. Our meoSphere agile development is enabling us to identify and address design issues early on. Overall, the mission is performing well, and we're excited to see it continue and deliver on its objectives.
On the C-band, there are no material updates since our reply comments to the FCC's notice of proposed rulemaking, which was in February. We remain fully engaged with the FCC and continue to expect an FCC ruling in the second half of 2026. We'll keep you updated as the process progresses.
I would like to conclude today's presentation on Slide #15. Our 2026 priorities remain clear and focused. We're focused on customer needs through our vertical solutions, our flawless integration, sustained financial strength and relentless operational execution with synergy delivery.
We're scaling differentiated multi-orbit network solutions, growing through customer-driven innovation and building a best-in-class team grounded in responsible business practices. Together, these priorities position SES to deliver sustainable growth and attractive total shareholder returns. With this, we're now ready to answer your questions.
[Operator Instructions] We have the first question coming from Alexander Peterc from Bernstein.
2. Question Answer
So I just have 2. The first one is on the nature and the mechanics of the aviation EUR 81 million in the first quarter as it's quite sizable, close to 10% of your revenue in the quarter. I'd just like to understand to what extent this was a one-off Q1 event? And as I understand it, it wasn't previously flagged, but correct me if I'm wrong. So I just wanted to know to what extent this was baked into market expectations.
And then the second question I would have is on your strong progress on OpEx reduction, down 9% like-for-like year-on-year, which was stronger than I expected. I'd just like to understand if this is entirely synergy driven and how we should think about the trajectory of your OpEx reductions in the remainder of the year?
All right. Great. Thanks, Alex, for the question. So I'll start and then hand it over to Adel. So first of all, on the aviation contract restructuring, you did hit it. This was planned in our guidance that we had given when we gave the full year results back in March. So really no surprises in terms of how we thought through the year in terms of planning. This is actually quite a favorable contract restructure for us. We did not have to do it.
But the reality is that this unlocked capacity on one of our most valuable satellites that we're able to redeploy to other customers. So it's quite a good deal for us. We're very happy to have gotten that over the line. And just the way the revenue recognition works, we did need to take that upfront in Q1, but it's a good overall deal for us. And again, it was included in the guidance.
In terms of your question on the OpEx reduction of 9%, we're obviously quite pleased with how we've been progressing in terms of the integration and the synergies. We've discussed a lot on previous calls that we've taken the integration quite seriously. We have accelerated as much in terms of headcount reductions and reduction of consulting costs and acceleration of our IT systems and environments as much as we possibly could, knowing that the mix of the business really does impact our overall EBITDA, hence, why we've kept our guidance at stable, stable year-over-year. So it is quite important to us that we're actively working through the synergies, and we're quite happy with our progress thus far.
The next question is coming from Nick Dempsey from Barclays.
I've got 2. So first of all, just coming back to that EUR 81 million benefit in Q1. So am I right in thinking that, that would naturally have landed in your revenues in Q2, Q3 and Q4, the EUR 81 million, but it's all landed in Q1, but you've freed up some capacity. So by reselling some of that capacity, you might be able to mitigate some of the EUR 81 million of year-on-year headwind that lands in Q2, Q3 and Q4. Am I thinking about that right?
And my second question, just regarding your plans to cancel a couple of satellite projects, which will clearly help your CapEx. Does that have a negative impact on your expected revenue growth over the coming years compared to what you were thinking before?
Yes. So on the EUR 81 million, so we will continue to have revenue streams throughout the year. In fact, we'll end up allocating more of that locked up capacity to other customers. So it's overall a good thing for us. If we would not have canceled the contract, it would have gone longer than just this year. So that EUR 81 million would have been spread over several years.
But this actually gives us more optionality to repurpose that satellite capacity on our open orbit solution. So we're actually quite happy with how that played out. And again, just to reiterate, this was planned in the guidance this way. On the cancellations for the satellites, just to reiterate, we have 2 synergy kind of workflows. One is cost reduction from operating expenses and the second one is on CapEx. And we've spoken about the need to rationalize the fleet of GEO satellites, both from the ground and the spacecraft in the sky. So we've taken some pretty hard decisions on which satellites we need in our fleet, which satellites can use life extension vehicles and therefore, which satellites we no longer need to procure.
And so that was baked into our CapEx guidance when we gave the guidance at the full year. We just needed to really work through which satellites we're talking about and how we were really going to optimize that.
The next question is coming from Roshan Ranjit from Deutsche Bank.
I've got 2 as well, please. And perhaps just following up on the contract restructuring. And again, please correct me if I'm wrong. If my math is correct, if I take out the EUR 81 million from the aviation revenue stream, that would then suggest year-on-year growth down 5% on a like-for-like basis in Aviation. Firstly, is that correct?
And secondly, why is the reason for that given the kind of ESA installs that we've had? And maybe tied to that, the customer that is returning the capacity, are they looking at alternative constellations? Or is it just that they are not in that business anymore?
And secondly, Adel, I think you recently met with the FCC Chair given the comments around kind of U.S. and European satellite capacity and infrastructure. Anything you can share about those discussions and how that fits in with the, I guess, EU draft commentary around European capacity?
Yes, sure. So again, on the contract restructuring, keep in mind that we have contract restructurings that occur as normal business practices. So if you look at the first quarter of 2025, we did also have contract restructurings in the Maritime business. So if you look at mobility overall and you remove those 2 items, Mobility would have been up about 4% year-over-year. But you are right. If you strip out the EUR 81 million and you just look at that, you would be down 5% year-over-year on the revenue.
But again, we had planned it this way. On the ESA installs, quarter-over-quarter, so Q1 '25 to Q1 '26, we actually did more ESA installs than we had last year. And I think if you recall, we really started to ramp up ESA installations in the second half of 2025. Those installations are very margin dilutive.
So as we install those, it is a hit to our margins. And then when those airlines go online, we're starting to see good results from the service revenue. So that's a good thing.
And then just your last point on why did the customer want to relieve the capacity on the satellite that resulted in the restructuring. They are just interested in a different business line. This isn't a direct-to-airline type of arrangement that was restructured. So it was just simply a third party that wanted to get out of that particular business. They had capacity that was allocated solely to them, and now we're able to use that capacity for multiple customers.
Yes. Lisa, just -- I mean, you've handled the EUR 81 million now multiple times and multiple questions. Emphasizing the last point that Lisa made. This is not an end customer airline. This was a reseller, right, or an integrator, if you will, that no longer wants to be in that business or at least they're restructuring their focus and looking at different ways.
So it was an opportunity for us to take capacity back and redeploy it. And Roshan, it's not as simple as removing EUR 81 million from the quarter. It's quite complicated because there was a commitment to continue to drive that revenue from that contract in the quarter. We're able already to deploy some of that capacity to other customers, et cetera. So we -- as Lisa said, we see it as a very, very good deal for us. We wanted to get back a lot of that capacity because it's a very well high throughput satellite position on top of North America, and it will drive additional growth for us going forward. So it was a good deal for us.
Look, on the FCC meeting, I mean, we've disclosed what the meeting was all about. And the discussion with the FCC continues to be very constructive on multiple fronts. Clearly, the C-band cooperation that we have with FCC to enable them to execute what they would like to execute continues to progress.
Like I said, there's not much more to disclose. We're expecting the ruling to come in, in the second half of the year, which is very imminent here now coming up, which is good news for us. And by the way, we have now demonstrated, and I hope many of you have seen this, a very credible solution for our Media customers as we transition C-band [down], right, to move them to a Ku plus solution.
And if you have not seen that, by the way, I would encourage you to look at some of the public posts that we've done through the NAB -- from the NAB show as well as on our websites and some of the publicly available information on what that solution looks like, including in our SEC filings.
So we are very excited about that. Excited about C-band, excited about having a solution for our clients. And many of our large customers in North America are supporting our solution, the way we go forward. So that's the FCC. Now regarding the different regulatory frameworks, look, SES is uniquely positioned, right, because we have big presence on both sides of the Atlantic.
We work very closely with the Commission on -- European Commission on their future regulatory frameworks. And we're a good example of a company that works in both North American and the European theater like to have rules and regulations that enable our growth. So we lobby both sides of the Atlantic to make sure that whatever new rulings or new acts are being put in place that they're keeping in mind the global nature of our business. And we have a lot of ears listening to us and taking our advice and shaping the laws as they go forward. I hope that answers your question.
The next question is coming from Ben Rickett from New Street Research.
I had 2 questions, please. So the first one on government revenues, that was quite strong in Q1, up 9%. Are you able to quantify how much of that was IRIS2 revenue? Then sort of a related question, you said that you expect to see new U.S. government contracts coming in H2. Is there a risk though that those contracts don't materialize? And do you think you'll still be able to hit the guidance if they don't materialize?
And then my second question was on Lynk and OmniSpace. Given the interest in direct-to-device, I just wondered if you could talk a little bit about what your relationship is with those companies and the combined company, what your shareholding is? And also would you be prepared to commit additional capital to the company to fund their constellation?
Sure. All right. So on the government side, we do have revenue in the first quarter for IRIS. It's just shy of about EUR 40 million. And that's taking us. We're still going through the Rendez-vous 1. On the U.S. government side, so we have -- you can probably all tell that the second half is back-end loaded in terms of revenue.
And some of that is due to the government, in particular, in the U.S., where we have 2 contract awards that we expect to conclude in the second half. So that's all baked into the guidance.
Yes. Just to add to that, Lisa. Look, in our business, you got to win contracts, right? So it's not that we're suddenly reliant on a particular contract to happen. We have a multiple -- a pipeline of very attractive deals. We're hoping to win all of them, but we're not counting on winning all of them, right? So if you look at our forecast, it's a balanced forecast with puts and takes, and we're very confident in what we have committed to the marketplace in terms of stable, stable.
And as I said and Lisa highlighted, we'll have a little bit of variation quarter-to-quarter, right to explain that some of these variations are because of the nature of these contracts as they either wind down or come on board, translation of equipment revenue to service revenue where the revenue will come down, but the margin will increase as a result.
So all these dynamics have put in our forecast, right? And as we look at it. And first quarter is a tick mark. Now we got to close the second quarter, and we've got to go to the second half when we are done with the second quarter. So that is how we see it and how we will execute according to that.
Now in terms of -- then your specific question, what happens if they don't materialize? As I said, we have enough in the pipeline to have a trade-off of things that happen, things that get delayed and things that potentially could come in earlier, right? And we believe we're very balanced in the way we're forecasting.
Like in terms of your question on Lynk and Omnispace, I mean that is -- that's part of our diversification strategy. It's a very exciting partnership. The partnership is quite extensive, right? So we have invested in the company. I don't remember, Lisa, if we disclosed it, so I'm not going to disclose it on this call.
Included in the CapEx outlook.
It's all included in our CapEx outlook in the past, what we spent and in the future. But the other -- but the relationship beyond that, right? We really like their technologies because their technology can go to the website and look at it. It's quite unique in the way they approach direct-to-device and their patent portfolio is quite interesting because they were the founding fathers, if you will, of the direct-to-device activities.
We also see a multi-orbit combination of a LEO constellation like this one direct-to-device with NEO as a backbone to support that infrastructure and support that constellation. We've already made proof of concepts and demonstrated it where we initiate a voice call to a direct-to-device Lynk satellite connected to NEO and deliver the signal somewhere else in the world very, very quickly.
And basically, what that allows Lynk to do is not to invest as much capital they need to in the ground infrastructure where they will be using our ground infrastructure right in order to deploy their services. In addition to that, we help them in running their satellites and maneuvering their satellites due to the extensive capability we have in TT&C.
And then finally, spectrum. Both companies Lynk and Omnispace and SES have very valuable spectrum around the world. And I'm not going to get into the details what that is, but we are looking at how we can help them leverage the spectrum that we have in order to create better services for this kind of service. So a very exciting opportunity for us, and we're looking forward to building it up and progressing.
And you're not able to say what your ownership stake would be in the combined business?
I don't think that's disclosable, right? So it's not significant for all. When Lynk and Omnispace do combine, they're in the verge of getting their final regulatory approvals. It's up to them to disclose who their shareholders are and what the position is.
The next question is coming from Paul Sidney from Berenberg.
I have 2 as well. Apologies going back to the revenue question. But if we look over 2026, I appreciate that the quarterly phasing is very complex. You've got the contract restructuring, capacity redeployment potentially. But with Media stabilizing in the second half, the momentum you have in government aviation installs coming online, are you more confident now than you were 3 months ago on that top line performance?
And second question, just around IRIS2. You've been working on the project for some time now. I guess about the confidence. How much more confident are you in the success and capability of the project now compared to when you first agreed to be part of the process? And any update on any other countries joining the project and when we can expect through one?
I'll start and then Lisa, please help me when you think it's appropriate. So look, on the revenue, we were very confident as we started the year. We've done a lot of work on the visibility. And you got to keep in mind that we have a very unique or good business model where we had visibility to our revenue up to 80% of the year when we start the year, because of the long-term nature of the contracts that we have, right?
And some of our businesses have more like 60% visibility, like Fixed Data, where they have to win a lot more in the quarter, but other businesses have greater than 80% visibility like our Media business, right? So we have the balance of the portfolio that gives us visibility.
But clearly, delivering a good Q1 gives us more confidence, right, of course. But I have to emphasize that we were quite confident when we gave the guidance, and we -- it's 4 quarters, and we delivered the first one, and we're going to deliver a quarter at a time. So confidence is good. We never take anything for granted, though, right? You got to keep driving and keep closing these deals in the aerospace.
Look, our deals are also not about just the year, right? A lot of our deals that we're talking about secure our business in the future years, 2027, '28, '29. That's why we're very focused on it. So yes, I mean, that's -- Paul, that's kind of my view. Look, regarding IRIS2 and our confidence and what's happening there, look, there is an unwavering commitment from the European Union, European Commission to make IRIS2 a reality.
And it is a sophisticated, complicated project with multi-orbit capabilities and things that we need to invent and evolve. And that's why Rendez-vous 1 needs to take its course. We believe Rendez-vous 1 will be completed in the next weeks, if not maybe a month or 1.5 months.
That's up to the European Commission to decide when they decide when Rendez-vous 1 is complete. But we're making good progress. And as I said always, the only way we can participate in IRIS2 if it makes sense to us financially for us and for our shareholders. And we have our clear red lines defined.
We know what we need to do. And if we meet them, then it's going to be successful. And if we don't meet them, then we need to make a hard decision as a company. But the project is a great project with a lot of support and a lot of commitment from all of the stakeholders in there. So that's where we are, Paul now.
And just any other countries looking to join the project or joined recently that we may have missed?
Well, you've got -- I mean, you've got all of the European Union members that are automatically part of it because of this capacity.
Yes, I was probably thinking more about the U.K. -- U.K.
Yes, I mean there's active discussions between European Commission and allied nations, and they'll be announcing them in due course. But there is big interest in this project on a global basis.
The next question is coming from Geoffrey d'Halluin from BNP Paribas.
I will have 2 questions, please. The first one is related to the questions on the OpEx savings. I guess you are aiming to save EUR 210 million of savings on annual run rate. I just wanted to know how much did you deliver so far at end of Q1 if you can share that number with us? And the second question is related to FX. Would you mind to remind us how much is the sensitivity to the business on U.S. dollars, euro rate? So that means EUR 0.01 of moves, how much is it in terms of revenues and in terms of EBITDA would be helpful, please.
Yes, sure. So on the FX sensitivity, let's just baseline for 2025 full year results, the average exchange rate was about EUR 1.12. For Q1, the average was EUR 1.18. So you can find in the slides in the appendix, we've kind of broken out what the exchange rate impacts were.
So it's in there for revenue and adjusted EBITDA. sorry, and then OpEx savings. So yes, EUR 210 million on the annual run rate savings. So we're obviously progressing ahead of schedule. We said that we'd be able to complete that within 3 years. We are progressing way ahead of schedule on that. We haven't disclosed the actual numbers, but obviously, you can see in a 9% overall reduction that we're progressing quite well there.
The next question is coming from Nick Dempsey from Barclays.
Sorry to jump back in with another one, but just something you said before about IRIS2's contribution in the first quarter of EUR 40 million. So first of all, is that the only contribution you expect from IRIS2 this year, but it's all landed in Q1? Or should we expect more through the other quarters?
And secondly, was there -- if there was nothing from IRIS2 in government in Q1 '25, the ex-IRIS2 number is down quite a lot even when I capture FX. What's driving that exactly?
Yes. So really on the government side, what's driving a decline right now it's on the U.S. government. So if you look at Q1 '25, you did not have the actions in the department those effects. They weren't in '25. Those didn't happen until late Q2, kind of Q3 time frame. So Q1 '25 from a U.S. government perspective was actually quite robust. So that is where the decline is in terms of the government.
Our global government business in contrast is actually performing quite well, double digits. The other thing, I think, to keep in mind, too, is that the U.S. budgets for the addressable market that we serve are quite good. So we continue kind of as Adel mentioned, as we start bidding on these programs or have even bid on these programs, the style of the programs are different.
But there is ample budget in the U.S. that we're looking to tap into in the second half. So really, the U.S. government is kind of driving the decline in government if you strip out IRIS.
Yes. As Lisa was saying, it's contract timings, right, that we're seeing right now, Nick, right? And the double-digit global government growth is without IRIS2, to be clear. Now we're not going to disclose what our assumptions are for IRIS2 for the rest of the year, but the project has different scenarios, right, scenario with continuation, scenario without continuation after Rendez-vous 1, and we kind of build the most likelihood case in our forecast, which we will not disclose at this point in time.
So there's no -- you can't say if there's nothing else expected for the year or something else expected for the year...
Look, the way we planned it out is that we will be working on the IRIS program. So that's the way that it has been based. Obviously, we're in the Rendez-vous 1right now. And as Adel was mentioning, there are several outcomes in terms of how we progress on it. We don't have the answers on that yet.
I think it's important to highlight as well that the nature of IRIS2 as it exits Rendez-vous 1 will be different than prior to Rendez-vous 1, right? Because post Rendez-vous 1, you're going to be executing a contract agreement that you signed with the commission. Prior to Rendez-vous 1, we're working on the preparations and the execution of everything that's leading to the final agreement with the commission.
That's why it's a little tricky to disclose everything and tell you what it looks like. But as Lisa said, right, we're assuming the things we'll continue to do in IRIS2.
There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to Christian Kern for any closing remarks.
Thank you, Gaya. Thank you participants for your good set of questions. We hope we have addressed all those comprehensively. And if there are any follow-ups, please come through on the usual channels to the IR team. We are more than happy to help. And again, thank you for being part of the call today, and have a good day. Take care.
Thank you, everybody.
Goodbye.
Thanks for participating in today's call. You may now disconnect.
SES — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
SES delivered a solid Q1, reiterated 2026 guidance, accelerated integration synergies and advanced its meoSphere MEO roadmap.
📊 Quarter at a Glance
- Revenue: €847m (reported +80.5% YoY; like‑for‑like +3.1% — like‑for‑like = constant FX, pro‑forma Intelsat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: €404m (+57% YoY) with a margin of 47.7% (adjusted EBITDA excludes certain non‑recurring items)
- CapEx: €319m in Q1; full‑year ~€700m at $1.20/€ (front‑loaded)
- Backlog & wins: €6.2bn gross backlog; €306m of renewals/new contracts in Q1
- Cash & debt: €874m cash (excl. restricted €306m); like‑for‑like net debt/EBITDA ~4.1x
🎯 What Management Says
- Multi‑orbit focus: SES is positioning as an integrated multi‑orbit space solutions provider, prioritizing government, aviation, maritime, fixed data and media verticals
- meoSphere rollout: Next‑gen MEO (meoSphere) targeted for operation by 2030; initial plan: SES payloads + 28 K2 satellite buses and pathfinder missions to de‑risk development
- Capital discipline: Active CapEx rationalization (cancelled 2 GEOs), accelerated OpEx and headcount synergies and a new €650m SPACE hybrid to improve credit metrics
🔭 Outlook & Guidance
- 2026 outlook: Reiterated “stable revenue, stable adjusted EBITDA” for 2026
- Drivers: Government revenues expected to ramp in H2 as U.S. awards materialize; aviation margins improve as equipment converts to service revenue; Media and Fixed Data to stabilize via restructuring
- Risks: FX translation, timing of U.S. government contracts and IRIS2 Rendez‑vous 1 outcome, FCC C‑band ruling (expected H2 2026)
❓ Analyst Q&A
- €81m aviation item: A contract restructuring recognized in Q1 was included in prior guidance; it freed high‑value satellite capacity for redeployment and was presented upfront per revenue recognition rules
- OpEx synergies: OpEx down ~9% like‑for‑like and on track toward the targeted €210m annual run‑rate savings, but management didn’t disclose exact run‑rate achieved yet
- IRIS2 & timing: Q1 included ~€40m of IRIS2 activity; further contribution depends on Rendez‑vous 1 outcomes and contract awards timing
⚡ Bottom Line
- Investment view: Q1 validates SES’s strategy: Networks (aviation/government) are growth engines, integration synergies are real and balance‑sheet moves improve flexibility; near‑term headwinds (FX, timing, Media/fixed‑data pressure) are acknowledged but management maintained 2026 guidance.
SES — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome to the SES Full Year 2025 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]
I will now hand the conference over to Christian Kern, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Gaya. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. It is my pleasure to welcome you to SES Full Year 2025 results call on behalf of our management team. Before proceeding with the management presentation, we would like to inform you that the financial information contained in this document have been prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards. As usual, this presentation may contain announcements that constitute forward-looking statements, which are no guarantees for future business performance and involves risks as well as uncertainties. Also, certain results may materially differ from those in these forward-looking statements due to several factors. We invite you to read the detailed disclaimer on Page 2 of this presentation. The presentation is also available on our company web page.
Today, I'm joined by our CEO, Adel Al-Saleh; and our CFO, Lisa Pataki who will take you through the presentation, followed by a Q&A session. Adel, without further ado, over to you.
Great. Good morning, Christian. Good morning, everybody. Thank you. Good morning. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us. Look, I'm going to start our presentation before we get into the results for a little bit of an overview of the direction of travel of our network. You probably heard us talk about our next-generation MEO in different events, and I thought it would be probably important to talk to you as analysts, investors, colleagues on this call to repeat the message and maybe clarify the direction of travel that we have as a company.
So if we go to Slide #3, especially given the latest events over the weekend, I want to emphasize that our largest vertical or market opportunity is the defense sector. And what we've seen over the last several decades, a dramatic shift in the defense and how defense users set communications to enhance their capabilities. So if you rewind back between 2010, really the function of SATCOM was basically strategic long-haul pipes. So important communication links between the command center and the theaters of operation.
During that period, the dominated technology was GEO, right, with very large terminals with limited bandwidth and early steps into communication on the move. If you fast forward into 2010 and 2025, space evolved into a contested theater as adversary begin to build counterspace capabilities. So militaries had to adopt a different approach. Specifically, they started thinking about hybrid architectures, combining commercial military capabilities that are looking at different for bids, looking at different throughput. But from predominantly the networks remain silo.
So the LEO network would be siloed from the MEO, from the GEO from the different application and so on. But that began to evolve very, very quickly, especially in the last 3, 4 years.
Now if you look at 2026 going forward, it is now very clear. That space is a war-fighting domain. It is no longer a contested domain. It is a war-fighting domain, requiring superiority across all orbits. This domain is now looked at the same as they look at air, Navy's, cybersecurity, et cetera, et cetera. So the applications using states have become to evolve dramatically.
So if you look at the complexity of what is being done today, it's dramatically different than the past. I'll give you a couple of jobs. So in the past, being able to capture images across earth and deliver them to the right hands to be able to make decisions is changing into continuous observation of earth, real-time image processing on this fleet to be able to issue comments. Missile Defense Systems missile tracking like Golden dumbs and European space defense agencies that is absolutely now a requirement, and not just predicting the launch of the missile, but actually being able to acquire that launch from the beginning all the way of strike in a persistent way. And then sharing that information across multiple domains within the defense and the arms.
And the third -- last example I'll give you is this control center -- the command centers are becoming extremely complicated, extremely diverse connecting many different aspects of data from space from the ground to be able to compile it and be able to deliver the right level of intelligence to the folks that are in theaters. These kind of command complications require an integrated network. It requires more sophisticated capabilities in order to deal with it going forward.
So if you go to the next slide, that dynamics that I just described is really shaping our direction of travel as a company. And although the slide is a little bit complicated, we're hoping to do it in a build slide, I'm going to try to explain it too. So the first layer of states continues to be this proliferated LEO capabilities, right? And that will continue to grow. SES is not in proliferate LEO domain. We use partners to access LEOs when we need it in order to provide services to our clients. We will have our own micro LEO capabilities like quantum key distribution when we launch that constellation, but we predominantly use that as a partner network.
If you look to the next layer with the light green layer, that's our MEO layer. And you got to keep in mind that MEO although pictorial looks like it's between GEO and LEO -- it's actually very close to LEO. It's much further away from GEO that it is from LEO, which gives it that unique capability to cover earth with less satellites, but also have an attractive latency period, which is about 130, 150 millisecond.
Our focus as a company is to continue to build that backbone of the network. And I'll come back to that in a second. And if you think about GEO, our focus in GEO will be on very specific applications where GEO continues to be the superior medium to be able to transfer data or connect people like meet the distribution of very specific governmental applications. So why do we like MEO, MEO is the backbone for us of this network. The future is going to be connecting all these networks to optical links. That's what we develop. So we'll be able to talk to LEOs, we'll be able to talk to GEOs. We'll be able to take talk to earth. We'll be able to talk between our constellations, but also connect to other constellation to move data.
It provides a high-speed backbone capability and a very attractive, resilient layer to the network that without it could be weakened. So this mesh network combined with our ground infrastructure, which is one of the largest ground infrastructures in the world gives us that an edge and a differentiating capability to provide that multi-orbit service to our customers.
So if you go to the next page, now I want to talk about what are the design principles as we evolve this meoSphere network. So first of all, when we think about MEO and the new name of the network will be meoSphere, we think big, we don't think small. We think big satellites, we think satellites that could do multiple things. We want more power on these satellites in order to accomplish some of the things that I'll talk about in a second.
We also believe it's very critical, we take control over some of the supply chains that are critical for innovation and control of our destiny. So therefore, we will be doing more vertical integration as a company, creating this new layer of resilience and new layer of a backbone in space. This network will be ideal to be able to connect to the different networks to create that backbone that I keep talking about, which just opens up multiple partnerships that we have today to enhance this partnership further, but actually new partnerships for people who want to enhance their networks to drive these capabilities. It enables multi-orbit resilience for sure, right? We will be able to move signals from one layer of the network to the next layer between satellites in order to make sure we avoid jamming and we avoid direct attacks, which is happening, ladies and gentlemen.
It also is ideal for the critical -- for the mission-critical applications, because the next level of satellites are going to have a combination of commercial and military capabilities requiring security to be built in beyond what we currently have. Mixing the military capabilities that we currently have in our military satellites with the commercial capabilities to give us that ability to drive these important missions. And the last point is really important. With the size of the satellite, with the flexibility of the settlement, we will be able to do multi-mission capabilities. The platform will always have the capability of having a communication as the foundation of the capability. But actually, there's the additional missions, the additional capabilities that the satellite will provide is a growth opportunity for us.
So what are these missions? So if we go to Slide #6. These are some examples of missions that we can host on our satellites on our meoSphere capability. Number one data, space data relay. This is something you remember, we talked about demonstrating when we did a project with NASA and Planet Labs using RF at that point in time with not optical lines to be able to move data from Planet Labs earth observation satellites to meoSphere -- to the MEO layer and then delivering it to our customers wherever they want to deliver real time, which reduced the time of getting the signal to the right people and demonstrating that we can actually move those very, very quickly in real time.
The next generation of our meoSphere will have these optical links within the satellites. The other potential hosted missions will be missile warning and missile tracking. I described that. Being able to build sensors on these satellites to capture capabilities to capture things that are happening on earth.
The third area, an example is being able to slice the network to provide governments a sovereign network slice of the overall network, giving them control and giving them the sovereignty that they're looking for. Of course, military communication channels and all that, like expand, KA military bands, UHF, that's something we'll be able to do in these satellites as well, space situational awareness, again, not just tracking an object, but being able to connect the intelligence across space and deliver it with AI to decision-making systems to be able to track everything that's happening around us in space, and combine that with our partners. Imagine the ability to combine our space situational awareness data with, for example, Starlink situational awareness, which they announced creates an incredible intelligence available for space.
And of course, the last one is the P&T capabilities that will require over to have more accurate positions within space and within the earth. So these are some important government missions that we will host on ourselves, and we see incredible demand for these capabilities. Our government customers are excited about this next generation of MEOs that we will be launching very, very soon.
So if you go to the next page, obviously, we're working on getting this project off the ground, and we're thinking about it in a very different way compared to the traditional way of a waterfall development of creating requirements and then waiting for 5 to 7 years to be able to launch the constellation. We're going to do it in a different way.
So first of all, this is going to be an iterative phased approach as we build up this capability. We're not going to do everything in one go. That's number one. Number 2 is we're going to use space to actually test the capabilities as they evolve. So instead of waiting and just testing in the labs and on the ground, we'll be launching missions to start testing portions of our design as it becomes available. And I'm happy to deliver, I think we announced it earlier that our first test flight is going to be Pathfinder 1 at the end of March 2026 to the next couple of weeks, launching our bus as well as some of the payload capabilities already to be able to test it. And we have that scheduled every year until we get to a point where we're comfortable with the production of the final systems.
It is also going to be a very disciplined milestone-based investment approach, both based on demand we're getting from our customers as well as the investment will continue to be putting and building up and scaling the capability. And all of this is going to be done with a very disciplined approach based on data, and our customers' reactions. We're going to be leveraging new space capabilities and our deep experience to drive innovation. SES is well known with many first in the industry, many innovations that we have driven, combining that with new space capability, their agility, their speed and their ways of development is going to be very, very helpful as we go forward.
And of course, this investment that we're going to be deploying is contained in our CapEx guidance. We see meoSphere as an important evolution of the company, and we see IRIS2 being the first phase of meoSphere. And we'll talk a little bit more about IRIS2 a little bit later in the debt.
So let me just end this section by going to Slide #8. So what we're doing, obviously, is we're sticking to our strategic focus of multi-orbit capability. By building this next-generation MEO in a very different way than what we've done in the past, partnering with new space capabilities and leveraging the experience we have across the world. We're taking control of the supply chain, to make sure that we capture our IP and our strategic advantage and keep it within the company. And with this approach, we're driving towards our north star, which is building and evolving the company to advanced space solutions company with defense being a very important vertical within that solution capabilities.
We drive solutions beyond communications, while communication continues to be a very important component of the overall portfolio. And of course, controlling supply chain and customer relationships is a very important point that we need to keep driving. So that's what I wanted to share with you before we get into actually our financials and what we're doing.
And now let's get into the financials. Let's go to Page 10. So on this slide, we summarize our full year 2025 business highlights and financial performance. With the closure of the Intelsat transaction on July 17 last year, these full year 2025 results are shown on a reported basis, with Intelsat contributing roughly 22 weeks to the combined company. On the reported basis, we delivered 2025 financial performance within our financial targets with lower-than-guided capital expenditures.
2025 revenue of about EUR 2.6 billion was up 34% year-on-year, with growth in all verticals. 2025 adjusted EBITDA, of course, of EUR 1.2 billion was up 19% growth year-on-year with a margin of 45.4%. Capital expenditure of around EUR 560 million were lower than guided, demonstrating faster-than-planned execution of our CapEx synergies. We generated EUR 229 million of adjusted free cash flow, another year of positive cash generation.
Over the last 12 months, we have secured EUR 1.8 billion of renewals and a new contract -- new customer contracts, with the majority coming from our growth segments. This has supported our gross backlog of EUR 6.6 billion which has been impacted by the weaker U.S. dollar and intercompany eliminations. 2025 is a milestone year for SES, with major progress and a step change in SES's scale, having combined 2 major companies with multiple platforms. We've been working on various scope changes, intercompany eliminations and some different accounting conventions. So this has been a rather complex reporting year.
With the financial performance in the second half of 2025, below our initial expectations for the first year of the combined company, we're facing these challenges head on and are building a stable foundation for future growth. In terms of like-for-like financial trends, revenue was down 1.6% year-on-year and adjusted EBITDA declined around 12% year-on-year. These like-for-like trends are due to key business factors that are unchanged from what we've previously discussed. Lisa will cover those in more detail.
Let's go to Page 11. Across our businesses, we integrated operations, continue to innovate and supported customers at scale as one SES. We are a trusted partner to customers worldwide in over 130 countries as evidenced by our strong customer base and notable wins in 2025.
Starting with our media business, now operating at greater scale following the Intelsat acquisition. We serve more than 2 billion people around the world and nearly 700 million households with a strong cash generation profile. We're securing long-term renewals well into the next decade. And despite industry headwinds, our strategy is clear: defend and optimize high-value neighborhoods by leveraging our industry-leading reach, while expanding in market growth segments like sports and events.
In 2025, we signed close to EUR 450 million in renewals and new business, including a multiyear agreement with Sky, RTL, ORF, Telecom Serbia, Warner Bros Discovery, Dish Mexico, Arqiva, PGA Tour and QVC. We're winning new businesses by leveraging our combined satellite and ground network, including a major new media customer in North America. We launched our new free-to-air free to new offerings in Mexico and Spain, opening new markets with our compelling channel offerings.
Let's now shift to our government business. We continue to see strong and growing demand for our resilient secure communication solutions from government customers around the world. We built a government solutions business of scale on both sides of the Atlantic, being a true space partner to over 60 government organizations, including European and U.S. agencies. We're well positioned to tackle the sovereign capabilities with governments now demand with multi-orbit networks. I just described it a few slides ago.
With space and defense budget increasing both in the U.S. and among NATO allies, we view the government vertical as one of the strongest growth levers over the next few years. For example, the IRIS2 program continues to progress well through [indiscernible], reinforcing SES as the European Commission's trusted partner for its flagship sovereign connectivity network.
IRIS2 will become Europe's multi-orbit network of choice and supports the future expansion of our differentiated multi-orbit architecture, enabling profitable growth from 2030 onwards. Another important milestone was the announcement that SES and Luxembourg government will develop and launch GovSat-2, the second satellite under the Lux GovSat public private partnership. We also extended a long-term posted payroll contract with Australian Defense Force. The French Neighbors aircraft carrier, Charles de Gaulle utilized SES O3b mPOWER services during that CLEMENCEAU 25 mission.
In the U.S., we secured important new contracts, including being selected as 1 of 5 companies on the U.S. Space Force's $4 billion protect tactical SATCOM global PTSD IDIQ contract and a strategic award from the defense innovation unit for secure integrated multi-orbit networking. These strategic wins highlight our commitment to innovation and growth in the government sector.
Turning to Aviation. Millions of passengers rely on SES multi-orbit multi-band connectivity that delivers reliable, consistent performance in the air and on the ground. We're winning new airline customers around the world who are choosing SES because of our clear differentiators. These include our electronically steered antenna solution we call ESA which uniquely enables access to GEO and LEO orbit delivering broad coverage, low latency on unmatched resilience. We also offer multiband flexibility across both Ku and Ka bands, and solution tailored for both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft.
Our flexible commercial models further strengthen our value proposition. In 2025, our aviation business was supported by important customer wins and ramp-up in equipment installations. 16 airlines have committed to our multi-orbit ESA solution on more than 1,000 aircraft with many awards secured in recent months, including American Airlines, Air Canada, Avianca, Jal, Skymark, Royal Brunei and others. While competitive pressure from legal providers remains, the market continues to support multi-providers with differentiated offerings.
Shifting to maritime. We are the leading provider of connectivity at sea, keeping passengers in cruise connected, informed and competitive and fast-moving world. We're confident in our maritime platform, which position us well despite facing pressures for some partners moving to LEO solutions. Our strategy is focus, defend and rationalized supported by selected investments. Our direct maritime business remains strong and resilient despite mega LEO's entry into the market. We secured renewals with multiple major cruise lines and continue to serve 5 of the 6 global leaders.
In 2025, we supported the largest cruise fleet transition from GEO to SES cruise empower and continue to see strong demand for example, from MSC Virgin and other major cruise lines. Our Flex maritime platform performs well and connects over 13,000 vessels across the world.
Finally, our fixed data business. Fixed data saw intense competition in 2025. We have taken several actions to transform the business and focus on areas where we have market-leading offerings and the right to win. Our fixed data business serves 8 of the world's top 10 mobile operators and numerous global energy companies. We expanded digital inclusion in Brazil with Telebras and made meaningful progress in Africa, expanding 200 Africa mobile network sites reaching 500,000 people.
We won additional business with Orange across multiple countries and closed our first SES Intelsat combined fixed data deal in chat. In recognition of our impact in Africa, we're honored with a changing lives award at Africa Texas for connecting schools in South Sudan and Uganda. As you can see, we're creating a stronger, more agile, more competitive SES, one built to lead across orbits, markets and technologies.
Let's go to Slide #12. This slide highlights our fast-track synergy progress and integration efforts. We began delivering synergies from day 1. The integration of the 2 businesses is well on track. The organization design and structure is complete. Leadership is in place on all levels of the company, and the new operating model across the combined business is established, enabling faster decisions and clear accountability as one company. Leveraging these operational changes, we're progressing well with fast tracking our initial synergy plan.
On OpEx, we're crystallizing synergies more rapidly and are taking well to -- and tracking well towards the EUR 210 million annual run rate target. Both labor and nonlabor savings are already flowing through, with contracts rationalized, office footprints consolidated, automation scale, procurement efficiencies captured and IT consolidation progressing to plan, always delivering these efficiencies with utmost care and transparency to support our teams as we align on the needs of our scaled business operations.
On CapEx, we're also fast-tracking the annual synergy run rate of EUR 160 million. We're confident to achieve this target sooner than initially planned. To focus on our growth priorities smarter asset use, nonreplacement of certain satellites as well as rationalizing of networks and ground infrastructure. Already in 2025, we're able to save around EUR 100 million in CapEx versus the midpoint of our guidance.
Our labor costs were down 7% on a like-for-like basis in 2025, accelerating the decline in fourth quarter. As you can see, we're executing with discipline and precision on our synergy targets. This positions us well to unlock the full value of one SES.
With this, I'll hand over to Lisa, who will share with you more details of our 2025 financial performance.
All right. Thank you, Adel. Good morning, everyone. Before I begin my remarks on the financial performance of the combined company, I'd like to remind you that our full year 2025 press release, which can be found on our company website includes supplementary financial information with like-for-like revenue per vertical and adjusted EBITDA at the group level as if the Intelsat transaction had consolidated from the 1st of January 2024. We hope this additional disclosure helps you better understand the underlying performance of the combined business and complement your financial modeling going forward.
Let's turn to Page 14 for our financial highlights. Overall, as Adel mentioned, both revenue and adjusted EBITDA were in line with the outlook we provided last quarter. I'll start by walking through our company results on both a reported basis as depicted throughout the presentation as well as on a like-for-like basis at constant foreign exchange rates for comparison purposes.
Reported revenue was EUR 884 million for the fourth quarter and EUR 2.6 billion for the full year, resulting in a full year growth rate of 33.9% when compared to the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, with constant foreign exchange rates, full year 2025 revenue was down 1.6% compared to 2024. We saw lower revenue in our fixed business as well as in media, partially offset with growth in our aviation and government businesses.
As previously discussed, the fixed data business has been facing a challenging competitive environment. And within media, the decline was driven by structural headwinds and the effects of a Brazilian customer bankruptcy. On reported adjusted EBITDA, Q4 was EUR 358 million, resulting in a EUR 1.2 billion for the full year 2025, showing growth of 19.1% year-over-year with margins of 40.5% for Q4 and 45.4% for 12 months.
On a like-for-like basis, full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA was down 12.1% compared to 2024, consistent with the outlook we provided on our last earnings call. The decline was driven by a few factors in line with what we've previously discussed. First, within our Aviation business, we delivered over 450 electronically steered antennas in 2025, which is an important milestone for this business, and it's worth mentioning that we have another 600 ESAs still to be installed. This revenue is initially profitability diluting before enabling higher margin service revenue after installation.
Additionally, as expected, we did see some impact from timing differences between onboarding and decommissioning certain airline customers. Next, the Intelsat IS-33e anomaly, which occurred in the fourth quarter of 2024, resulted in higher third-party capacity costs in 2025 as affected customers were retained. And in government, we had some timing impact mainly due to the U.S. budget delays at the start of last year, contract rationalization by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as DOGE and some postponements of large contracts in part due to the U.S. government shutdown in late 2025. The good news is these awards are merely timing issues and several are expected to materialize this year, underpinning our confidence in future growth.
Lastly, with structural declines in media and difficult market conditions within the fixed data business, margins are impacted by the change in overall company mix. We expect the decline in media to improve going forward. And on fixed data, we are focused on restructuring the business by securing the most value additive deals supported by disciplined capacity allocation.
Moving now to Page 15. I'll discuss in more detail the top line financial performance of our vertical segments. Media's reported full year 2025 revenue was EUR 977 million for the year, up 7.9% over prior year as inorganic growth more than offset anticipated segment contraction in this business. On a like-for-like basis, media was down 12.6% driven by structural declines with capacity optimization in mature markets, standard definition channel switch off in the full Q2 to Q4 impact of a Brazilian customer bankruptcy.
Despite the year-over-year decline, the Media business ended the year with a solid backlog of EUR 3 billion and serving close to 2.3 billion viewers worldwide. As the company's largest segment, Media carries strong margins, resulting in solid cash flow. In 2025, this business closed on roughly EUR 450 million of new business and long-term renewals, which span into the next decade, reinforcing customer confidence in our solutions. It is important to note that although global TV viewing is evolving and linear consumption is structurally declining, we expect the trend in our media business to improve. Free-to-air, free-to-view and sports and events remain resilient, while satellite continues to provide most efficient and reliable access in many remote regions.
Moving now to Page 16. Our networks verticals comprised about 60% of total company revenues for the full year 2025, with reported revenue up 55% year-over-year. On a like-for-like basis, networks revenue increased by 6.6% versus the prior year, representing the fourth consecutive year of growth for networks driven by increases in both the aviation and government segments. Within networks, the government business had revenues of EUR 726 million for the full year up 47% over 2024.
On a like-for-like basis, government grew 17.3% year-over-year driven by demand in European global government and the IRIS2 program. This growth was partially offset by timing impacts and budget cuts within the U.S. government portion of the business, as I mentioned earlier.
As we look ahead, we expect growth in both the U.S. and global government segments, driven by rising demand for our secure multi resilient and sovereign solutions, particularly mesosphere. Geopolitical tensions and shifting defense priorities, especially in Europe, are accelerating government investment and sovereign space capabilities and robust communications infrastructure, with proven multi-orbit solutions and a strong track record serving European, U.S. and Allied global governments, SES is well positioned to capture the surge in demand.
Our aviation business continues to show solid growth, supporting around 3,000 aircraft tails, thanks to our strong pipeline of ESA antenna installed and subsequent service revenues. For the full year 2025, aviation revenue on a reported basis stood at EUR 382 million, more than doubling the size of the business. On a like-for-like basis, this segment has seen a 29% growth versus prior year, with continued momentum in securing global airline customers and commercial traction around our multi-orbit ESA antenna. This strong commercial momentum supported by new installs and subsequent service revenues underpins our future revenue growth and highlights the strength of our value proposition in a competitive market.
And on our fixed and maritime business, reported revenues totaled EUR 530 million for the full year. On a like-for-like basis, revenue declined 15% due to competitive headwinds primarily in our fixed data business. We continue to navigate these headwinds with a disciplined approach, which includes rationalizing and prioritizing capacity in our growth segments.
In our Maritime segment, demand for NEO capacity remains high, evidenced by solid cruise renewals as well as in commercial shipping, where we serve more than 13,000 ships globally with our Flex platform. Finally, Networks combined gross backlog stood at EUR 3.6 billion at the end of 2025, having secured close to EUR 1.4 billion of new business and renewals last year, with a strong aviation and government pipeline as we look ahead.
Our solid backlog and robust pipeline underpin our financial outlook and future growth momentum, reflecting sustained market demand for our multi-orbit solutions globally.
Now let's turn to Page 17 for a more detailed view of our capital allocation priorities and our debt maturity profile as of December 2025. Our combined like-for-like adjusted net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio at the end of 2025 stood at 3.9x. This includes cash and cash equivalents of EUR 674 million excluding EUR 401 million of restricted cash, which is related to the SES led consortium's involvement in the IRIS2 program. It's important to note that we remain committed to deleveraging and returning to investment grade metrics while meeting our near-term debt obligations, maintain a solid liquidity position supported by prudent planning and stable market access, which provides us with flexibility for future financing decisions.
In terms of our debt maturity profile, we have EUR 1.3 billion coming due this year, including EUR 525 million of hovered notes. The current debt portfolio carries a weighted average cost around 4% with approximately 80% of SES debt at fixed interest rates. Furthermore, the weighted average maturity of our debt facilities stands at approximately 5 years, providing a solid foundation for financial flexibility and long-term planning.
In terms of capital allocation priorities, as we've said before, our objective is to pay down debt to 3.0x or below net leverage. We continue to make solid progress in our insurance settlement discussions related to the first 4 mPOWER satellites. In 2025, we successfully collected approximately USD 189 million or EUR 164 million. We'll continue to provide upbeat as the last settlement negotiations progress. We continue to invest in our MEO capabilities. And as Adel mentioned, our next-generation multimission MEO network, meoSphere, supported by new space innovators. This is underpinned by strong financial discipline to drive sustainable growth with a focus on new space technologies while transforming our approach to capital deployment.
Capital expenditures for 2025 totaled EUR 559 million on a reported basis and EUR 707 million on a like-for-like basis, primarily reflecting milestone achievements in the mPower satellite program. The EUR 559 million is below our prior outlook as a result of our continued focus on CapEx synergy delivery as we work towards optimizing our fleet and ground infrastructure. Further, the company has introduced a dedicated CapEx task force at the Board level designed to enhance oversight and ensure disciplined capital allocation aligned with long-term strategic objectives. SES continues to be sector-leading in shareholder returns.
We paid the interim 2025 dividend of EUR 0.25 per A share and EUR 0.10 per B share in October of last year. We expect to follow this with the final 2025 dividend of EUR 0.25 per A share and EUR 0.10 per B share to be paid to shareholders in April 2026 subject to shareholder approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting on April 2.
As we've said before, once the company meets its net leverage target, at least the majority of future exceptional cash flows of the combined company will be prioritized for shareholder returns. We remain focused on improving the company's financial metrics as we go ahead. Our priority continues to be deleveraging with a return to investment-grade metrics, while being selective and disciplined as we pursue opportunities to drive growth focusing on investments where returns are clear and accretive.
Slide 18 outlines how our disciplined financial management strategy supports long-term value creation for shareholders. 2025 was a pivotal year for us. We began integrating 2 major companies rolled out best-in-class processes, initiated the consolidation of our ERP systems and strengthened compliance with SEC aligned controls. These actions accelerate decision-making, improve data quality and help us capture synergies faster.
We remain focused on disciplined capital deployment, ensuring every investment in line with our strategic priorities. We continue to tightly manage discretionary spending through automation, labor arbitration, cost efficiency initiatives and synergy delivery. These actions will structurally lower our cost base and drive margin improvement.
Cash flow continues to be a core pillar of our value creation strategy. We have further enhanced our cash discipline with tighter integration of cash metrics into operational decisions, alongside disciplined capital allocation and focused working capital initiatives, these actions are driving more consistent and sustainable cash generation. Together, these actions reinforce our capacity to invest, drive profitable growth and deliver attractive returns. And finally, and I want to thank the entire SES team for their dedication and exceptional execution throughout this complex integration.
And with that, I'd like to hand back to Adel for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Lisa. I echo your thanks to the team. It's been a heroic effort, right, bringing the 2 companies together and getting the results and getting the financial statements and all that stuff.
Okay. Let's go to Page 20. I'd like to present our 2026 financial outlook. After a challenging 2025, we're expecting our business to stabilize in 2026, some of the headwinds we faced last year are likely to continue into the first half of 2026, but we're executing firmly on our initiatives to offset their impact. This positions us well for the next phase returning to sustainable growth. In 2026, we will accelerate integration, execute on synergies, grow in key markets and continue innovating across our global multi-orbit architecture. As such, as on a like-for-like basis, with a full year consolidated Intelsat, we expect both revenue and adjusted EBITDA to be stable as compared to 2025 on a constant FX basis.
As a reminder, 2025 like-for-like numbers are shown at reported rates of EUR 1.12 per U.S. dollar exchange rate and more recent rates are in the EUR 1.18 to EUR 1.19 range. As we continue to fast track our CapEx synergy delivery, 2026 capital expenditures at the euro U.S. exchange rate of 1.2 is expected to be around EUR 700 million. This will include IRIS2, which is the first phase of meoSphere. This is around EUR 100 million lower than our prior guidance. Our Network of the Future, meoSphere, supported by new space innovators and IRIS2 are part of this CapEx guidance.
A quick update on IRIS2. SES is currently progressing Rendez-Vous 1 of the IRIS2 program, working closely to the European Commission and our statewide partners to validate project costs, tackle requirements and delivery time line. SES remains fully committed to the European Union's vision for sovereign secure and competitive space-based productivity infrastructure. The project must more -- I'm sorry, the project must work for both the European Commission and the Space Rights Consortium. We have clear objectives on how to make that happen.
As the lead member of the Space Rights Consortium, SES collaborates with all the partners to ensure the timely and successful delivery of IRIS2.
Let me also give you a quick update on the well advancing C-band process. The draft notice of proposed rulemaking, also known as NPRM was published by FCC last December and was followed by a round of stakeholder comments. SES filed its comments on January 20, and replied comments on February 18, supporting FCC's proposal for upper C-band clearance. SES remains fully committed to collaborating with FCC and all stakeholders to identify and implement the most effective technical solution that delivers mutual benefits for all parties involved.
It is FCC stated intention to auction up to 180 megahertz of spectrum in the upper C-band. The one big beautiful bill requires the FCC to complete a system of competitive bidding for at least 100 megahertz in the upper C-band no later than July 2027. FCC ruling is expected in the second half of 2026. This process continues moving on an accelerated time line, and we'll keep you updated accordingly.
Before moving to Q&A, I would like to conclude today's presentation on Page #29. Our vision is building a leader in space-based solutions. 2025 as a foundational year with the integration of a new company. Our focus was in getting the basics right and building a platform for the future that is scalable. Operationally, we're strengthening the network, as we started building and scaling our multi-orbit next-generation network with meoSphere, building on our successful success of O3b mPOWER Constellation and supported by new space innovators.
During 2025, O3b mPOWER Satellite 7 and 8 entered service and more recently, satellites 9 and 10 started providing much needed capacity. The launch of satellite 11 to 13 is on track and planned for second half of 2026. The year 2026, it's not just the continuation of integration. It is for us the acceleration of the new SES, building an industry leader. We're looking to stabilize the business and prepare it to grow by reshaping our portfolio to concentrate on the markets where SES has the right to win with customer-driven solutions, relentless focus on operational excellence and financial strength underpinned by synergy delivery.
As we enter 2026, we moved with momentum, accelerating integration, executing on synergies, growing key markets and continue innovating across our global multi-orbit architecture. Through this momentum, we're positioning SES to operate at the new scale leading in business performance, innovation and expansion. We're focused on delivering differentiated end-to-end capabilities across our segments as a global space solutions company. Our vision is clear, to lead the next chapter of space solutions industry, driving aviation, sustainable expansion and compelling value creation for both shareholders and our customers.
With this, we're now ready to take your questions.
[Operator Instructions] The first question is coming from Aleksander Peterc from Bernstein.
2. Question Answer
I just have a couple, please. So first one is on the margin outlook for the current year, presumably in '26, you have a lower impact from the IAS 33 failure that may have had an impact on Intelsat side of the operations in '25. So I would assume this would be a tailwind also equipment revenue was quite high in '25. Is that coming down? And you also have synergies that are already in play and will accelerate. So I'm just wondering what are the headwinds here to the margin for you to predict a flat year-on-year margin. That will be the first one.
And then the second one, just very briefly, if you could tell us anything new on the upper C-band process in terms of time line and amount of spectrum do you think you -- that could be in play here? Are we still talking about 160 megahertz as being the base case scenario here?
Yes. So I'll start with the margin outlook for '26 and then hand it over to Adel on the C-band. So EBITDA is stable from '25 into '26 with stable revenue while synergies are on track. So the reason that you don't see all of the synergies drive the growth in 2026 adjusted EBITDA yet is really driven by the company mix across the verticals. So as you noted, we still have strong equipment sales going through the aviation business. Maybe a way to think about it is we've got about 40% of that business is in terms of equipment sales. We ramped the ESA antenna installation significantly in the second half of 2025. And we still have quite a bit of equipment sales going into aviation into 2026.
Also, we do have a bit of a mix dynamic when it comes to some of our highly profitable businesses like media, which is in a structural decline, with the fixed business -- fixed data business that is also declining that we've taken active steps to rationalize how we're performing in that business and streamline things, make sure that we're allocating capacity over into the right areas.
So if you kind of look at it from a mix perspective, we are offsetting some of that decline with synergies. We're well on track when it comes to synergies, and we're feeling very good about our performance. But overall, given where we're at, we're stable on both revenue and EBITDA in 2026.
Great. Thank you, Lisa. And Alex, just to clarify, the IAS 33 third-party capacity is still in our numbers. On a compared basis, obviously, it gives us a little bit relief, right, because we didn't have it in 2025 compared to 2024. So that gives us a little bit of a relief. But it's still in there, and we're working hard to move that traffic on fleet, but given the demand for our fleet, it's not so straightforward, right? As soon as we find the capacity to move it, we will do that.
And by the way, the equipment -- I mean one thing we need to keep highlighting is this equipment headwind we have from airlines is translating into a service revenue. And we see it. So for example, one of the large airlines that did install over 400 kits in 2025 when we look at their margins in 2025 installation, if you look at their margin in 2026, it is significantly better. But as Lisa said, because of the success of sales, we have a good backlog of more than 600 terminals to install in the year. But so those dynamics continue.
Look, on the C-band, I mentioned it already, it's progressing very, very well. The replies to the comments have now closed. We expect now FCC to move and second half of 2026 to issue their ruling. FCC has clearly said they want to go as high as possible up to 180 megahertz, Aleksander, you've seen in our comments, we would like them to go up to 160 megahertz leaving some C-band for very specific applications that we think will be beneficial. But as I said, we are working closely with FCC and we will support them with their objectives, ensuring that our customers get the services that they need to have. So it's progressing. It's picking up speed actually.
The next question is coming from Roshan Ranjit from Deutsche Bank.
I've got 2 questions, please, and perhaps following up on the previous around the synergies. Now clearly, Lisa, you're very confident on that progression. I think that's clear from day 1. Now you're talking about at tracking. So if I think about what you previously said, I think 70% of the run rate by year 3, I suppose just to give a sense of how the fast track this is.
And given that the run rate should be achieved faster. Should we be thinking about an NPV higher than the 2.4 or are there kind of associated higher costs and maybe moving a bit faster and extracting the synergies?
And the second question is around the midterm. Now I know you did comment at Q3 stage on those midterm targets because of the many moving parts. Is that still the case now? And when can we expect any details around the midterm targets within the integrated group.
Yes. So sure. So on the synergies, if I take that one first, we did fast track the execution of some of the key labor synergies early in the first 6 months of this integration. Obviously, as you work through those things, they are hard decisions to take. But as Adel mentioned in his prepared remarks, we took those decisions quite quickly. It's very important for us to have been able to stabilize the organization, and that did result in quite a number of our employees exiting the organization.
Now at the same time, we've taken a very hard look at optimizing our fleet, and that includes satellites, satellites that we have on order and our ground infrastructure. To make decisions on that, it does take a bit of work. So we've started -- we've accelerated our process in terms of making those decisions. And I think you'll expect to hear some more things from us probably within the first 2 quarters of this particular year.
So all in all, we are completely on track with respect to synergies. I don't anticipate that we are going to increase our expectation of what we're going to accomplish for synergies. It's just that we're going to try to execute those things as quickly as we possibly can.
And then in terms of midterm guidance, obviously, 2025 was a milestone year for SES. It was a year of major progress, step change in the company's scale, decisive actions while integrating Intelsat, we've been delivering on our synergies since day 1. Some of those things, like I said, are under rigorous scrutiny. We're putting in place some of the ground rules for how we operate a business and who make investment decisions going forward. We are in the middle of the IRIS2 Rendez-Vous 1 process. So we expect to have more clarity as we round out that process. We're also going to host the Capital Markets Day later this year. And at that point in time, we'll be better prepared to give more midterm guidance.
And we look forward to that.
Look forward to that. We absolutely look forward to that.
The next question is coming from Ben Rickett from New Street Research.
I had 2 questions, please, if possible. Firstly, just to help the sort of cash flow modeling for 2026. Can you say what we should be expecting in terms of lease expense? And also, I think there was some noncash EBITDA Intelsat. If you can quantify what that would be in 2026?
And then second question, just on the media revenue trends. So in the second half, they were down 16% year-on-year. Is there any one-offs within that? Or I mean, obviously, you're impacted by Brazil. But I mean are you still expecting the midterm trends there to be mid-single-digit decline? Or could that be a bit worse now?
Then that was on the media. The last part was on the media, right?
Exactly on the media revenue. .
Yes, it wasn't decline in 16, it was about 12, we got it.
Okay. Yes. So cash flow. So 2026 cash flow, fairly from a lease expense perspective, noncash EBITDA perspective, fairly stable from what we've communicated previously, just off the top of my head, and you just have to check the press release, but noncash EBITDA is around EUR 200 million. We expect that to decline about EUR 20 million to EUR 30 million each year as we go forward.
And then on some of the one-offs, I think as you know, every year, we have a number of one-offs. So I don't expect 2026 to be any different than 2025 at this point. It's fairly stable. We'll look at one-off year-over-year. We are going to be quite happy to have the Brazilian activity behind us at this point going into 2026. So while media declined 12.6% from '24 into '25, we do expect that to decline to kind of taper off a bit in 2026.
And just to add to that, Lisa. So Ben, we do expect media to be back to where we talked about, which is kind of a mid-single-digit decline. That's the model, right? And we see it now coming back to normal in 2026 after this bump that we had in 2025 was what Lisa described.
That's great. Just on the first question, you can't say anything about the lease expense you're expecting for 2026? So I know Intelsat was quite significant lease expense.
I don't expect any changes between '25 and '26.
We can follow up with you on that. But -- we don't see anything abnormal happening in 2026. So what is it decline? Yes, it's going to -- the team here is saying it's going to be going down. But let the team follow up with you to give you the exact number.
The next question is coming from Nick Dempsey Barclays.
I've got 3 left, please. So first of all, where could you see a help to your revenues this year from what has been happening currently in the Middle East this weekend? Of course, the U.S. military always takes capacity with a view to having flex to conduct operations. But are there areas where you could achieve extra services revenues or could this situation help you to fill SES 9 and 10 more rapidly?
Second question, you said I think you're expecting a ruling on C-band in the second half just so that I understand what we're talking about, do we mean that in that time frame, the FCC would talk about how much satellite operators would be paid to clear a specific amount of space in the band. Is that exactly what we mean by a ruling?
And then on risk weight, you talked about the Rendez-Vous. Is everything on track in terms of timing as you'd hoped a year ago? Are there any risks that this project takes longer and could end up costing more?
Very good. Well, thank you, Nick. Look, a couple of things. Let me start with the first question, right? So it's -- it's very difficult for us to comment on what we're going to be able to do in conflict scenarios, right? However, the demand for our services continues to surge. And we have multiple capabilities and multiple contracts, both with NATO and the U.S. government and the European Commission that is able to use that capacity when they need it. And when they do, and there's a search, there's obviously an opportunity for us to deliver better performance in our government business.
It's also important to mention that although the U.S. had headwinds in 2025, the ones that Lisa explained and the one we talked about in November last year, the European business and the global business had a fantastic year with double-digit growth. And that will continue. So we see that happening going forward. So I'm not giving you the exact answer, but the outlook is positive and is accelerated with conflicts, but not even without conflicts, the buildup of sovereign capabilities is now a big priority for many nations and continues to be an important element of Space Force activities.
Look, on the C-band ruling, so what we expect when the ruling comes out, is FCC to decide how are they going to handle incentive payments and reimbursement payments for relocation costs. And as you've seen from our filings and filings of many, many others, there is big support to follow the same process that was used with what we call for C-band 1.0 to the final hearing, right, with how the incentive payments are calculated and who is incented as well as the relocation costs that need to be reimbursed.
So we expect when the ruling comes out that FCC would clarify those elements of the ruling, right? And they can't really predict exactly what FCC will do, but that is expected to be part of the role. And then the final point on Rendez-Vous, yes, things are progressing, working very, very hard as we adjust the the solution with the technical results and the outputs that we have from all the testing and the costing that we have done.
And as I said, look, this is not something we want to rush right? We want to make sure we do it at the pace that's required to ensure that it's a win-win. We are not going to do a project that's a lose-lose or lose-win. It has to be a win-win. And therefore, we're working diligently with full commitment to the commission and the objective of building a European sovereign capability. And we're excited about, right? Because that whole architecture of IRIS2 is exactly what we've been pitching to the world, a multi-orbit architecture with connections between the satellites and different orbits with resilience. And obviously, it's an enablement for our meoSphere ambition to be the first phase of that project. So that's how it's going, Nick. I hope that answers your questions.
[Operator Instructions] The next question is coming from Paul Sidney from Berenberg.
Two questions as well, please, if I may. Firstly, just sort of building on the discussion we've been had on the call and I think following on to Nick's question on government. Clearly, very rapidly evolving geopolitical situation we're seeing. But this is also -- are we starting to see a mix shift away from Starlink and towards yourself other non-U.S. satellite networks? I understand obviously government appetite demand is growing very fast. But there also that mix shift that we're seeing, if that's starting to happen? And then just a question, at least on the CapEx guidance.
If I understand rightly, it's sort of underlying EUR 500 million now ex IRIS2 components. Is that the sort of run rate we should expect going forward? I know you'll update us later in the year and give us more detail. But again, just building on all the CapEx discussion we've been having on the call so far. Is that EUR 500 million now a bit more realistic than the EUR 600 million to EUR 650 million?
So Paul, look, the -- keep in mind, look, the conflict that we're seeing today clearly accelerates and drives demand in short term. However, the macro dynamics are such that the requirement and the acceleration of space demand has been happening before these conflicts, and it's happening at scale. And it's because, as I described in the beginning of the presentation, space is now a war domain. It's a war-fighting domain, right? It's no longer a contested domain. There is an acceleration across all nations around the world, especially in the United States and European Union to build up these capabilities at scale. And it's part of it is being able to build your own sovereign capabilities. You're looking at space as part of their NATO objectives and how to reach the NATO levels of spend that is required but also with the objective of making sure that their presence is competitive, right, because it is a war-fighting domain going forward. And we, as a company, are moving ourselves to be more and more exposed to that government opportunity.
We feel our architectures, our solutions capabilities with the meoSphere expansion with what we have in GEO assets positions us extremely well, right? And that's what's going to happen. Now I don't believe the mix is going away from Starlink or other American players. I think the overall demand in the market is expanding. You will see Starlink and Amazon and others growing as well in this segment because there is a massive demand requirement across the world, especially in allied nations to keep building that volume and capability out. So don't see it as money moving from one to the other, seeing as a major expansion of the overall opportunity and the European nations deciding that they need to have their sovereign capability as well, right?
They will use the other partners, but they need their capability as well, and that works very well for us, especially with the architecture that we're building. Remember that idea that I put on the table, which is no longer an idea, it's design principle, we can give slices of our network as sovereign networks to different nations, where they control the traffic, when they control how it lands in their systems under their security capabilities. And that's a very unique thing that we are doing as a company compared to some of our other players.
And look, we are leveraging and expanding our partnership network. So for example, a great company that's called Kratos, who's been an expert in defense capabilities is now a partner. We're working with them on figuring out how do we virtualize the networks that we have. How do we take our capabilities to the next level. And I think they create a CEO in their earnings comments mentioned SES, and I want to make sure we mentioned it as well here because those are the type of partnerships that creates this unique solutions in an open collaborative environment versus having closed systems, right, that are specific to what you can deliver.
Look, in terms of CapEx guidance, and Christian will help me here for a second. We've always said that our base CapEx for the company going forward is between EUR 600 million and EUR 650 million per year, excluding IRIS2 and excluding meoSphere. And we have given guidance in the past that meoSphere plus IRIS2 would be about EUR 200 million in 2026 and then growing to EUR 400 million in subsequent years. So what are we doing with that? You can see it already in 2026, if you look at our EUR 650 million base CapEx plus EUR 200 million of IRIS2 CapEx adds up to EUR 850 million. Our guidance is EUR 700 million, to be clear.
Why is it EUR 700 million and not EUR 850 million, because of the synergies that Lisa talked about, we're accelerating the network synergies. We have decided not to spend money on certain areas. We're optimizing the ground investments. We're looking at ways of moving the money away from legacy into the growth areas, right? And that is what's helping us to contain this CapEx.
Now the team is going to give you more guidance in terms of future, especially as Lisa said, when we have our Capital Markets Day in the second half of the year, we are going to show you the profile of how we're going to build meoSphere how we're going to expand it. But again, I want to reiterate, the way we're going to build meoSphere with IRIS2 being the first phase is an iterated phased approach. We want to get customers on board, when have customers sign up before we go into larger CapEx spends, right, in a very controlled way. That is what we are going to do as a company. So I hope, Paul, that answers your question. Lisa, do you want to add anything?
No, I think you did it.
Can I just add, Adel has shared online the various visits of the several ambassadors, which have visited us here in Betzdorf and also EU Commissioner Kubilius more recently so that.
The European Commissioner Kubilius, who is the commissioner of Defense and Space. We had Supreme later Commander who were here with us. It's all public information. We had multiple defense ministries that come over. I mean, this just shows you the demand and the importance of SES in the government and defense sector. It's pretty important to recognize that, right? Because people see that multi-orbit architecture is absolutely a requirement. MEO plays a very important role in the resilience, the ability to move traffic, the ability to create alternatives and the ability to carry traffic for very specific missions. So that's what we're seeing in the marketplace, Paul.
That's very clear. Could I sneak in a very quick question at the end, please. So we saw reports of Norway joining IRIS2 projects even in the U.K., and I think there were some headlines potentially going as well. Does that make the project more likely? And does it potentially change economics?
Look, the project -- Paul, so first of all, when I say win-win, that's what I talk about economics and others, right? It's got to be right for us as a publicly listed company. And I've always been very, very vocal. And the European Commission knows our requirements, right? They know that in order for this to be a success, we have to be successful, right? We cannot have a project that burdens our financial position. So that has always been the case. It will continue to be the case. And I have much confidence that we will be able to figure out the path.
And the European Commission is very committed to this project. Where you're seeing the countries joining, I believe that will continue. And I believe that you will see beyond the European Union and the European Union member states, other allied nations joining the project over time, right, given the importance being the ability to connect to that network and expand it. And outlook, our goal is when we think about meoSphere as an example, right, we have a unique position to build out that backbone of the network with MEO part of the IRIS2 capability.
We are not -- our goal is not to stop at the Iris Square requirement because the demand is expanding. So our goal is to keep building and expanding in a phased approach based on the demand that we see in the market. So what's happening, IRIS2, and by the way, the same thing applies to Intelsat. It gives us the opportunity as the consortium to develop the new systems, the new capabilities as the first phase and then build on it going forward, and that helps the economics significantly when you start adding incremental capabilities without having to repeat the nonrecurring expenses, if you will, that you incur when you're building a new system.
The next question is coming from Halima Elyas from Goldman Sachs.
I wanted to follow up again on defense. So growth has been clearly supported by changing global attitudes towards defense spend. But when do you think we will see this translate to more meaningful tailwinds? And how will it manifest? So is it most likely to be reflected in higher capacity demand? Or do you think there's potential to either accelerate or maybe expand the scope of projects like IRIS2?
And then on the flip side, has there been any notable change in U.S. attitudes or spend towards European solutions over the past year?
Halima, thank you for the question. So let's start with the first one, right? So our government business has been growing double digit now for several years, right? And it's accelerating. We had a bump in 2025 with the U.S. government shutdown, those initiatives, which hurt us in certain areas. And on the same time, we won multiple projects that will drive the future growth.
I believe with the system, we're proposing the expansion because what we're trying to do, Halima is expand beyond communications capabilities. There is a massive demand -- and by the way, I want to make sure, again, everybody understands in the call. The demand is not driven by the current conflict. The demand for space is driven by the fact space has become a war-fighting domain, just like ground, air, sea and cybersecurity. These are the different domains of the defense organizations.
Space is the domain to be treated the same exact way. So as forces think about strengthening their ground capabilities, strengthening their AO capabilities, they're thinking the same way in space. So before any of these conflicts happen, that's been a decision from an architecture point of view of how to create better deterrence, better defense and better strength. And that's where European Union and other nations have decided they're going to have to significantly increase their spending in space. And that is driving the demand, right?
The conflicts obviously drives spikes in demand for a certain period of time because people need the capacity and so on. So our strategy, as I described with meoSphere, is to expand beyond communications because the satellites that we will be introducing part of the next-generation MEO networks, have the real estate and the power, Halima. So today, our empower satellites had less than 10 kilowatts power on the satellite.
Our future satellites will have 20 kilowatts. We're doubling that. The real state of -- which is why I said why we like bigger satellites rather than smaller satellites is enough to have more, what we call hosted payloads to do missions beyond communications. And I described some of these missions, missile defense, missiles tracking, relay between different orders, right, slices of the network, space awareness. Those are all new opportunities for SES to enter over the next few years, and this will drive growth -- significant growth in the government sector that we cover today because we are not exposed to that today.
With our future platforms and customers signing up will be exposed to that opportunity as well. And that is absolutely required. And I'll give you an example. Golden Dome in the U.S., which is a protective shield against ballistic and other kind of missiles. That is in billions of investments. We believe our MEO capability could be enhancing that beyond the military specific investments that will be made.
The same thing MEO we'll be building as their similar shield for Europe, and we will be a partner and a player in that capability as well. And we're building the satellites that add this functionality. So we are very excited, right, about the opportunity going forward. And you can't think of it as because there's conflict today that demand is going. It's actually a fundamental shift because space has become a war filing domain.
Now your question second about have we seen notable U.S. spend shifts? No, we have not, right? We believe the U.S. is open to use Allied capabilities. SES is positioned in the U.S. very well. We have an established capability that we've been working there for 40 years with specific clearances that's required in order to be able to participate in some of these different opportunities.
So we have not seen that yet. We hope not to see it. We're proud to be an allied nation and allied company that works on both sides of the Atlantic to bring capabilities to both, of course, our home nations and European Union and those capabilities, but also in the U.S. as an ally like for these forces.
There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to Christian Kern for any closing remarks.
Thank you so much for joining today's call. I think it was a very clear message that 2025 was bringing -- was about bringing the companies together. 2026 is stabilizing it, and then we take it from there in terms of teeing it up for growth. The overall layer in terms of the defense thing has been very well reflected by our top management team. If you have any follow-up on this, please reach out to the IR team, we are there to help. And again, thank you very much for joining us today.
Thanks for participating in today's call. You may now disconnect.
SES — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the SES 9 Months and Third Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Now I will hand over the conference to Christian Kern, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Gaya. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. It is my pleasure to welcome you to SES Q3 2025 Results Call on behalf of our management team. Before proceeding with the management presentation, we would like to inform you that the financial information contained in this document has been prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards.
As usual, this presentation may contain announcements that constitute forward-looking statements, which are no guarantees for future business performance and involve risks as well as uncertainties. Also, Certain results may materially differ from those in these forward-looking statements due to several factors. We invite you to read the detailed disclaimer on Page 2 of the presentation, which is also available on our company web page.
Today, I'm joined by our CEO, Adel Al-Saleh; and our CFO, Lisa Pataki, who will take you through the presentation followed by a Q&A session. Adel, without further ado, over to you.
Thank you, Christian. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to start on Page #4 with the new SES. Now fully consolidated with Intelsat after transaction closed on 17th of July 2025, and it has been a very strongly and very busy and extremely difficult period for us, bringing the 2 companies together, creating a heavy weight in our industry.
So first of all, let me briefly recap the rationale behind this transformational deal. We brought together 2 industry leaders beyond scale through a value-accretive acquisition with more than 60% of revenues in high-growth segments and a total net present value of EUR 2.4 billion in synergies. We have started executing on these synergies from day 1 of closing. In fact, this transformational combination was not just about bringing SES and Intelsat together. It was about redefining who we are as a company. We are creating a new SES, a global multi-orbit connectivity powerhouse and a true space solutions company, empowering businesses and governments worldwide of integrated purpose-built satellite network and connectivity solutions.
We have brought together a powerful mix of talented people, market-leading engineering capabilities, network infrastructure, spectrum, innovation and global relationships. We're extending beyond satellite and inactivity and exploring adjacent capabilities to grow and compete more effectively in space based on our network, such as hosted payloads space situation awareness and direct-to-device services. All of this has followed us on shareholder value creation and returns. For our customers, we have created a more capable and forward-looking space solutions company, one that combines a compelling value proposition backed by strong underlying capabilities and a continued commitment to innovation focused on solving our customers' challenges. For our shareholders, we are driving value creation and shareholder returns to our focus on profitable growth in combination with disciplined capital management and allocation.
Let's move to Page #5. With the combination of SES and Intelsat, we have significantly strengthened our portfolio. Our foreign verticals, how we manage the business, if you will, are now media, government, aviation and fix and maritime, with the combination, we have created an undisputed leader in satellite-based communication solutions. Let's start with media. Media is our largest and most cash generated segment, now operating an even greater scale, delivering nearly 11,000 channels to 2.3 billion viewers worldwide. We're securing long-term renewals well into the next decade. And despite industry headwinds, our strategy is clear: defend and optimize 5 value neighborhoods by leveraging our industry-leading reach while expanding into new segments like sports and events, free-to-air and free to view. In our network segments, government, aviation and fixed and maritime, capacity of resources are precious, and we're purposely allocated to the right opportunities as we scale over the future. With our expanded scale and capabilities, we're well positioned in our new growth segments, particularly in government and aviation.
In government, we're supporting over 60 global government organizations, including European governments, U.S. government, NATO allies and 5 nations. We will continue to focus on growing and expanding on both sides of the Atlantic, especially as the geopolitical environment drives increases in global government budgets by capturing sovereign demand and expanding into new state-based solutions. We're not only offering government's capacity, but truly space partner, allowing governments to diversify and expand the space architecture. In aviation, where we have gained substantial scale through the acquisition will not provide in-flight connectivity to 30 leading commercial airlines, supporting around 3,000 tails, powered by our multi-orbit electronic steering antenna technology known as ESA. We offered mobile coverage, multi-orbit, low latency and flexible business models that enable airlines to meet their ever rising bandwidth demand, especially with the rapid rollout of in-flight WiFi. Our strategy here is simple: accelerating growth by scaling our multi-orbit multiband solutions to stay ahead of this fast flowing market. And as our NEO network grows, we will make it available at scale to our airline clients across the world, providing truly unique multi-orbit multiband flexibility.
In maritime, SES is also well positioned serving 5 of the 6 major cruise lines and leveraging our scale up in commercial shipping. We are the leading provider of connectivity at sea, keeping passengers in cruise connected, informed and competitive in the fast-moving world. We're confident in our maritime platforms, which position us well despite facing pressures from some partners moving to LEO solutions. Our strategy is to focus, defend and rationalize supported by selective investments. Last but not least, our fixed business, remains very tough and highly competitive. We're serving important customers with 8 out of the world's 10 mobile network -- sorry, with 8 of the world's top 10 mobile network operators as well as major energy companies and drive digital inclusion across the world. Our strategy here is to rationalize and focused on green zones, where we have the right to win. We pursue higher yield opportunities, streamline operations and leverage digitization to improve efficiency and performance.
Let's go to Page #6. Here, we show you the combined assets supporting our new business. We're now a multi-orbit space solutions provider at scale. We operate a powerful fleet of around 120 state-of-the-art GEO and NEO satellites in a multi-orbit multiband network supported by over 150 teleports wall spread across the globe and an extensive ground network with over 600,000 kilometers of fine, covering 99% of the world's populated regions. In combination with strategic access to LEO capabilities, this unmatched scale and flexibility position us well to meet our customers' most demanding connectivity needs with unified solutions and accelerate profitable growth.
Let's move to Page #8. Discussing our 9-month business highlights and financial performance. The third quarter 2025 was the first quarter of the combined company, with Intelsat contributing roughly 10 weeks to the stand-alone business performance. Therefore, the following financial performance is shown on a reported basis with Intelsat fully consolidated from 17th of July 2025. In the 9 months of 2025, we showed a solid financial performance with revenue of around EUR 1.75 billion, up 19.8% year-on-year with growth in all verticals. Adjusted EBITDA for the 9 months was EUR 849 million, with 11% growth year-on-year and a margin of 48.6%. In the first 9 months of the year, we secured EUR 1.4 billion of renewals and new customer contracts with the majority coming from our growth segments, supporting our gross backlog of EUR 7.1 billion, which has been impacted by the weaker U.S. dollar and intercompany eliminations. We have just combined 2 companies with multiple platforms. We have been working on various scope changes, intercompany eliminations and some different accounting conversions. So this has been a rather complex reporting quarter.
In terms of like-for-like underlying trends, revenue was down minus 1.8% year-on-year and adjusted EBITDA declined around minus 10% year-on-year. These year-on-year trends can be mainly attributed to a few key business factors. Number one, in aviation, we're working through the backlog of ESA antenna implementations, which come with equipment revenue diluting profitability before enabling higher margin service revenue. There are also some timing differences between onboarding new customers, new claims and decommissioning some of the airline customers. In government, we have seen timing impacts, mainly due to the U.S. budget delays at the start of the year. contract rationalization by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency and postponement of large contracts in part due to the U.S. government shutdown. These deals remain highly accretive and underpin our confidence in the future growth. In media, we continue to see expected structural decline with SD channel switch-offs and the drag from the Brazilian customer bankruptcy. This combined business is now over EUR 1 billion in revenue and remains highly cash generative. Going forward, we see the underlying decline unchanged in the mid-single digits, while having signed renewals well into the next decade. This remains our most challenged business in a highly competitive environment. We faced difficult market conditions and our focus on securing value-accretive deals supported by disciplined capacity allocation. And finally, just a reminder of the third-party capacity utilization after the failure of IA-33e as well as intercompany eliminations that we had to adjust.
Turning to Page #9. Let's talk about our notable wins that support our growing segments. We are trusted partner to customers worldwide in over 130 countries as evidence to our strong customer base. And our high cash generated media segment, we continue to see momentum, driven by the strength of our managed services offerings and the global reach of our network. As media evolves, satellite broadcasting remains the most cost efficient and reliable way to reach global audiences. SES continues to be a trusted partner to leading media companies such as Warner Bros. discovery having signed this year a long-term capacity agreement to deliver high-quality content to millions of TV users on 19.2 degrees East, our most valued TV neighborhood in Europe. In Q3, we renewed a business with major media customer in the Americas, including a multitransponder. We also had a long-term extension with a major U.S. program and have broadened our agreement with a long-time customer, is Mexico. In addition, we expanded our partnership with telecom [indiscernible], adding 2 ideal transponders and extending our capacity agreements through 2032. We also renewed a multiyear multimillion euro agreement with Arqiva for satellite capacity and our Prime video neighborhood at 28.2 degrees East. Under this agreement, SES will enable Arqiva to deliver a wide range of television channels as well as radio services to audiences in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland. In Africa, we continue to build momentum with long-term renewals with our customers in East Africa specifically. We also extended important direct-to-home contracts in Asia and secured 2 new blue-chip broadcasters on our key orbital location for C-band distribution across Asia Pacific. Many of our large customers are now talking to us about extending our partnership well into the next decade. More to come on this in the future as we renew these contracts and are able to talk about them.
Let me now shift to our government business. We continue to see strong and growing demand for our resilient, secure communication solutions from government customers around the world. Together, we build a government solution business of scale on both sides of the Atlantic, being true space partner to over 60 government organizations, including European and U.S. agency. We're well positioned to tackle the sovereign capabilities, governments now demand with multi-orbit networks with special defense budget increasing both in the U.S. and most major allies as we view the government vertical as one of the strongest growth levers over the next few years. In Q3, the French Navy aircraft carrier, Charles De Gal, utilized SES' O3b mPOWER SatCom service during the Clemenceau 25 Mission. This high throughput, low line connectivity supported all operational needs on board, enabled seamless collaboration with mission partners and ensure uninterrupted availability for mission-critical applications. Our Iris Square program is also progressing well ahead of the [indiscernible] early next year. In the U.S., as mentioned, we're experiencing timing delays in some contract awards due to the continuing resolution and subsequent government shutdown. Despite this, our business is growing, and we remain well positioned for long-term growth. Notably, in Q3, the U.S. States force awarded 5 companies, including SES positions on a 5-year EUR 4 billion contract under the protected tactical satellite communications global program, known as PTSG, SES is now competing for a prime contractor position going forward. This initiative focuses on the design and demonstration of resilient satellite architectures with a potential for future delivery orders. The goal is to provide anti-jam secure communications for tactical military operations by leveraging both commercial innovation and defense expertise.
Also in Q3, SES Station Defense joined the Defense Innovation Unit Hybrid space architecture network initiative with our secure integrated multi-orbit networking platform known as SIMON. This program is building a secure, integrated multi-orbit network that connects commercial and government systems to deliver a short, low-latency, multipath communications across a scalable and resilient multi-domain architecture. These strategic wins highlight our commitment to innovation and growth in the government sector. With regards to aviation, this segment continues to be a growth engine for the company. Over the last 3 months, we have won 200 new tails from various airlines. We're winning new airline customers around the world for choosing SES because of our clear differentiators. These include our SES solution which uniquely enables access to GEO and LEO orbits, delivering broad coverage, low latency and unmatched resilience. We also offer multi-band flexibility across both Ku and Ka band and solutions tailors for both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. Our flexible commercial models further strengthen our value proposition. All of this is underpinned by ongoing investments in our global network, enhancing the passenger experience down to the seat level and expanding our footprint globally to meet rising demand. While competition from NEO only providers remains very strong. The market is large and diverse enough to support multiplayers offering solutions tailored to the specific needs of airlines. In Q3, our ESA multi-orbit solution was selected by new airline customers across Latin America and Asia Pacific, spanning both narrow-body and wide-body fleets.
Today, it is flying on over 300 aircraft and has received consistently positive feedback from customers and analysts. In total, 60 airlines have committed to deploy our ESA across 1,000 aircraft globally, underscoring the growing momentum behind our offer. We also continue to make great progress with our open orbit solutions, including wins with Thai Airways, Turkish Airline and Uzbekistan Airways earlier this year. Our maritime business remains solid, fueled by strong demand from both customers as MSC Princess and Virgin. Our leadership in Oceanships Engage segment is proved by our end-to-end multi-orbit connectivity anchored by our managed meal network that enhances their onboard faster experience. In Q3, we secured renewals from multiple major cruise lines reinforcing the critical role of our solution play in this market. Today, we serve 5 of the 6 leading cruise lines SE.
Additionally, SES completed the largest cruise ship transition of the year, helping a major customer migrate from GEO to SES cruise and powered service. With SES cruise empowered, we're redefining the onboard experience, our real-time network optimization dynamically synchronizes space and ground systems across multiple orbits, enabling cruise operators to deliver consistent, high-quality connectivity at all times. Further to the cruises, SES is supporting over 14,000 vessels on the flex maritime global network, exclusively through our major solution partners, serving commercial shipping, oil and gas and fishing vessels. While our fixed segment continues to face competitive pressures from NGSO players, we remain focused on offering differentiated solutions to our clients. We're doing this by leveraging the strength of our multi-orbit GEO meal LEO offerings, along with robust cell backhaul and trunking services. These capabilities are supported by our extensive ground infrastructure which enables us to deliver reliable connectivity across these diverse geographies. We're serving 8 of the world's top 10 mobile network operators and a multiple of energy companies across the world. For example, we support orange across Africa with services in Mali and Burkina Faso, and most recently expanding into Liberia and additionally, in Q3, we secured business with major mobile network operators in the Americas and expanding our digital inclusion services in Brazil with Telebras. This further strengthens our position in that region. As you can see, we're creating stronger, more agile, more competitive SES, one built on lead across orders, across markets and across technologies.
Let's turn to Page #10. This page highlights our synergy progress and integration efforts. I'm pleased to report that the integration is progressing well. In the first 90 days, we have successfully established our new organization from the leadership team through every level of the company. We have also implemented our new operating model, which defines how we manage the business on a day-to-day basis and ensures alignment across the combined organization. I'm proud to share that we have launched our new SES brand, a new purpose to capture the essence of who we are, space to make a difference and a new pipeline sole and power store. Our synergy-driven delivery plan is strong, and we're crystallizing synergies more rapidly. What we have communicated is that we expect to deliver synergies with a total net present value of EUR 2.4 billion, representing an annual run rate of approximately EUR 370 million, with 70% of these efficiencies expected to be executed within 3 years. We're moving fast and delivering ahead of plan. We're moving fast and delivering ahead of our plan on our synergy commitments as we began identifying and capturing synergy opportunities across multiple areas. Our annual run rate of OpEx synergies of EUR 210 million at being fast track. We have already executed key labor and nonlabor synergies, including overlapping contracts, office footprint consolidation, third-party capacity optimization procurement savings, IT consolidations and license optimization with long IT systems, such as ERP and CRM are all progressing to plan. We're approaching this process with the utmost care of respect, ensuring we support our people while aligning our workforce to the needs of the new organization.
On the CapEx side, we're fast tracking and the annual run rate of EUR 160 million savings through smarter asset use, non-replacement of certain satellites and the rationalization of networks and ground infrastructure. These efficiencies would flow through in 2026 and 2027, reflecting our determination to deliver with [indiscernible]. We're executing with discipline and precision. And with our financial year 2025 results, we plan to share further details on our synergy progress.
With this, I'd like to hand over to our CFO, Lisa, who will share with you more details of our financial performance.
Thank you, Adel. Before I begin my remarks on the financial performance of the combined company, I would like to inform you that in the Q3 results press release available on our company website. You will also find supplementary financial information with like-for-like revenue per vertical and adjusted EBITDA at the group level. As if the Intelsat transaction had consolidated from the 1st of January 2024. This additional disclosure should help you better understand the underlying performance of the combined business and complement your financial modeling going forward. As usual, our Investor Relations team is available to help you with any questions that may arise after this earnings call.
Now let's turn to Page 12 for our financial highlights. I will start with our financial performance for Q3 and 9 months, which is shown throughout this presentation on a reported basis with Intelsat fully consolidated from 17th of July 2025. This is equal to about 10 weeks of Intelsat performance, which we did not have in the prior comparative period. Revenue for SES was EUR 769 million in Q3 2025 and EUR 1.747 billion for the first 9 months of 2025, showing growth of 19.8% compared to the same period last year at constant foreign exchange rate. On a like-for-like basis, 9 months revenue was down 1.8% year-over-year with strong growth in aviation and government outpacing lower revenues in fist in which we are navigating a challenging competitive environment. and media, which declined as expected due to structural headwinds and the effects of our Brazilian customer bankruptcy. On a year-to-date 9-month basis, our revenue was negatively impacted by EUR 52 million, of which EUR 17 million were attributable to the weaker U.S. dollar and the remainder to intercompany eliminations and alignment to IFRS accounting rules. Q3 2025 adjusted EBITDA was EUR 328 million and EUR 849 million for the first 9 months of 2025, showing growth of 11% year-over-year, driven by volume with margins of 42.7% for Q3 and 48.6% for 9 months. In the first 9 months, our adjusted EBITDA was negatively impacted by EUR 10 million, attributable to the weaker U.S. dollar. On a like-for-like basis, 9 months adjusted EBITDA was down 10.2% year-over-year with near-term margin headwinds driven by profitability diluting equipment sales from the electronically steered antenna, ESA, installations in our aviation business in combination with some timing differences between onboarding and decommissioning airline customers. The Intelsat IS-33e anomaly, which occurred in October 2024, which required higher third-party capacity; and finally, mix and timing impacts on government revenue. In addition, as Adel mentioned, we have introduced more discipline to pass on tactical opportunities that are outside of our green zones and not margin accretive to our business.
Moving now to Page 13. I would like to discuss in more detail the top line financial performance of our vertical segments. Media's 9-month revenue was EUR 686 million, and accounted for close to 40% of group revenue. Total revenue remained stable year-over-year as inorganic growth effectively offset anticipated segment contraction in the media business. On a like-for-like basis, media is down low teens year-over-year, driven by structural declines with capacity optimization in mature markets, standard definition channel switch off in the full Q2 and Q3 impact of a Brazilian customer bankruptcy. Media continues to operate as a highly accretive cash generating business for SES. Year-to-date, we have signed EUR 440 million in long-term renewals, spanning well into the next decade and new business reiterating customer confidence. Year-to-date, the media business growth backlog stands at EUR 3.3 billion. SES's media business serves close to 2.3 billion viewers worldwide, ensuring sustained reach and future revenue visibility, underpinning the cash-generative nature of this business. While the world's TV viewing trends are changing and our structural decline, we expect the curve to flatten as free-to-air, free to view and sports and events become more prominent in remote regions continue receiving TV access, most efficiently via satellite.
Now moving to Page 14. Our Networks business comprises around 60% of total group revenues for the first 9 months of 2025. Networks revenue increased 36% year-over-year driven by growth in government and aviation. The same trend is also valid on a like-for-like basis with growth in networks driven by the same 2 segments. Government in the first 9 months of 2025 has seen strong demand and growth in both the U.S. and global markets, with revenues of EUR 491 million for the first 9 months of 2025, a 33% growth year-over-year. On a like-for-like basis, government is also growing double digits despite the timing impacts that Adel mentioned. Growth was driven by demand of European and global government, completion of project milestones in the period and managed services in the U.S. We expect this vertical to drive continued growth as we see increased demand for our secure multi-orbit resilient and sovereign solutions. Amid the ongoing geopolitical shifts and rising global tensions, we are seeing governments prioritizing sovereign capabilities and robust communications infrastructure, particularly in Europe, where defense spending is increasing. SES is well positioned to meet these needs with our proven multi-orbit solutions and growing track record of trusted partnerships of serving the European and U.S. government as well as allied governments. Our aviation business continues to be a strong growth business for the company, now at a bigger scale, thanks to the Intelsat acquisition supporting over 3,000 aircraft tails.
The first 9 months revenue stood at EUR 223 million, showing 112% growth year-over-year with continued momentum in securing global airline customers. On a like-for-like basis, this segment has seen a double-digit growth year-over-year, thanks to increased commercial traction around our multi-orbit ESA antennas. This strong commercial momentum and new installs are a key driver for future revenue growth and showcase our strong value position in a competitive market. The fixed and maritime business achieved EUR 339 million in the first 9 months, showing 13% growth year-over-year. On a like-for-like basis, revenue was declining year-over-year due to the competitive headwinds, primarily in our fixed data business, in combination with our rationalization and prioritization of capacity to our growth segment. We continue to hold our footing in our maritime business, where demand for NEO capacity remains high. Finally, Networks combined gross backlog stood at EUR 3.8 billion having secured close to EUR 1 billion of new business and renewals this quarter with a strong aviation and government pipeline. Our strong growth backlog and robust pipeline support our forecast and future growth momentum, reflecting the market's demand for our strategy and multi-orbit solution as being essential to meeting evolving connectivity needs.
Now let's turn to Page 15 to share with you a more detailed view of our capital allocation priorities and our debt maturity profile as of the 30th of September 2025. Our combined like-for-like adjusted net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio stood at 3.7x after closing the Intelsat transaction. This includes cash and cash equivalents of EUR 965 million, excluding EUR 266 million of restricted cash related to the SES led consortiums involvement in the Iris Square program. We remain firmly committed to deleveraging and meeting our near-term debt obligations. Our debt maturity profile is well distributed. The current debt portfolio carries a weighted average cost of 3.9% with 84% of SES debt at fixed interest rates. Furthermore, the weighted average maturity of our debt facilities stands at approximately 5 years, providing a solid foundation for financial flexibility and long-term planning. In terms of capital allocation priorities, our objective is to pay down debt to at least 3.0x adjusted net leverage with existing liquidity and our undrawn committed facilities, SES is well positioned to meet near-term obligations, including the debt falling due in Q4 2025. We continue to make solid progress in our insurance settlement discussions related to the first hour satellites. Today, we have successfully collected approximately USD 87 million. We will provide further updates as settlement negotiations progress. We continue to invest in innovation with discipline to drive sustainable growth with a focus on new space technologies and transforming our approach to capital deployment. This shift aims to reduce reliance on large-scale CapEx cycles.
Capital expenditures in the first 9 months totaled EUR 335 million primarily reflecting milestone achievements in the mPOWER Satellite program. With respect to shareholder returns, SES continues to be sector leading. We paid the interim 2025 dividend of EUR 0.25 per A share and EUR 0.10 per B share on the 16th of October. Subject to shareholder approval, this is expected to be followed by a final FY '25 dividend of at least EUR 0.25 per A share and EUR 0.10 per B share to be paid to shareholders in April 2026. Once the company meets its net leverage target, at least a majority of future exceptional cash flows of the combined company will be prioritized for shareholder returns. SES remains focused on improving its financial metrics. Our priority is deleveraging, while selectively investing in growth where returns are clear and accretive, capital allocation remains disciplined.
Slide 16 outlines our disciplined financial management strategy, underscoring our commitment to driving long-term value for shareholders. We are focused on the seamless integration of Intelsat implementing best-in-class processes, policies and combining enterprise resource planning systems while maintaining operational excellence. As part of the acquisition, we are implementing SEC compliance measures to align with regulatory requirements supporting the combined entities governance frame, we continue to exercise prudent capital deployment, strict capital discipline aligning investments with our strategic priorities and applying strong business case rigor. Finally, cash flow remains a central focus of our value creation strategy. We are actively implementing initiatives to enhance cash generation across the business from disciplined capital allocation, optimizing working capital, cost control and optimization remain top priorities, managing discretionary spend, leveraging automation and driving synergies. We are committed to a strong balance sheet and healthy cash flows, supported by targeted working capital initiatives and disciplined investments to drive sustainable growth. Lastly, I would like to thank all of our teams at SES for their hard work and precision through a complex integration.
With this, I'd like to hand it back to Adel for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Lisa. On Page 18, I'd like to set our company's full year 2025 outlook on a reported basis with Intelsat fully consolidated from 17th of July 2025. Based on our solid first 9 months results, and at an assumed average euro versus U.S. dollar exchange of 1.12 for the full year 2025, we expect the following: revenue to be in the range of EUR 2.6 billion to EUR 2.7 billion; adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of EUR 1.17 billion to EUR 1.21 billion; capital expenditures to be in the range of EUR 600 million to EUR 700 million. This is due -- this is reduced from our previous communicated 2025 CapEx guidance of around EUR 1 billion for the combined company on a full 12-month basis, and it's comparable to around EUR 800 million to EUR 900 million on a reported basis.
Also in light of FCC's recent press release with regards to the key bank process it's worth adding that we're now with our combined asset base even better positioned to continue working collaboratively with the commission and our customers throughout the upper band process. The draft notice of proposed rule making, also is known as NPRM will see comments on a range of options, including auctioning up to 180 megahertz of the upper spectrum and is scheduled to vote at the next open question meeting on 20th of November. The one big beautiful bill requires the FCC to complete a system of competitive bidding for at least 100 megahertz in the upper sea band no later than July 2025.
I would like to conclude our presentation today with Page #19, highlighting some of the key takeaways. This year, 2025 is very much about laying the foundation for the new company. It's also a period of transformation and transition of the 2 companies with quite different systems and scopes coming together. 2025 is all about getting the basics right. Next year, integration activities will continue as we tackle enterprise systems and processes, focus on optimizing our structure, driving operational efficiency and excellence and, of course, delivering the synergies. Our near-term priorities are clear: integrate the SES execute synergies, delever, focus on innovation and multi-orbit solutions, operational excellence and disciplined capital allocation. Our key management objective remains to drive profitable growth. To achieve this goal, we are rationalizing our portfolio and allocated capacity and resources in a disciplined manner into businesses that are aligned with SES's strategy and provide us with the best returns. We are on an exciting journey, building a leader in space. As we move forward together, will provide greater clarity and insight into the combined potential of the new SES with our full year 2025 results.
With this, we're now ready to take your questions. Operator, please open up the floor.
[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Paul Sidney from Berenberg.
2. Question Answer
I have 2 questions, please. Firstly, just following up on the Q3 EBITDA headwind remarks that you made during the presentation. Could you expand on our profitability expectations for the second half of this year have changed since the Q2 results compared to previous stand-alone expectations of SES and Intelsat and maybe try and quantify these headwinds for us, please? And then secondly, looking beyond 2025 with reference to the new '25 guidance, are the medium-term targets for the combined revenue growth and EBITDA growth targets? Are they still relevant, i.e., SES just resetting to a lower 2025 starting point, but when the synergies come through, we can expect those growth rates to still be very much relevant to the business?
Yes. Thanks, Paul, for the question. So let me first start off then with talking a little bit more about Q3 EBITDA and then also what to expect going into Q4. So if we think about what the combined company looks like we had always expected that the Intelsat combination would have a lower EBITDA performance in the second half, and that's really attributed to some of the things that we we had already known. So the first is in the aviation business, the electronically steered antennas, they're effectively at cost. We're installing a significant number of those antennas we started in Q3. So you can almost expect that we didn't have that at this time last year. They're all being installed in Q3, and then that ramp is even going to occur even further in Q4. So those are at cost. And then when you start to see those aircraft go into service, that's when you're going to see more meaningful EBITDA performance out of the Aviation Group, which you can expect then into 2026. But in terms of aviation and how to think about that, you are going to see the headwinds going into Q4.
The second thing is on the Intelsat side, the IS-33 satellite failure did occur at the exact same time last year. So while the company did a great job retaining almost 90% of their customers, they did so through the use of third-party capacity. So you're seeing a lot of that headwind occur throughout the second half as well. And then just to kind of follow up on what Adel had mentioned with respect to our government. The U.S. government is a very good profitable customer for us. But with timing delays, we are seeing certain awards and renewals push out into 2026. We may see a little bit of pick up in Q4 with the U.S. government, but it really depends a little bit about when the government shut down and resolve itself. So those are kind of the major things to think about in terms of Q3, Q4.
On the exchange rate topic, we're kind of planning with an exchange rate of 1.16 when you think about the fourth quarter. Obviously, we've had quite a bit of headwind with the weakened U.S. dollar. The other thing, I think, just kind of when we look at how we're putting these 2 companies together, we do have U.S. GAAP to IFRS conversion. That has started to filter through some of the results I do want to make sure that you're all cautioned that the guidance that we've given and the results to date do not include the effects of purchase price accounting. So we'll be going through those -- that activity throughout the fourth quarter. We hope to have the majority of those impacts included in the results for the full year. We've got intercompany eliminations. We did report on that in the F4 filings. They're more or less holding constant with what we had expected. But that just gives you a little bit of a flavor on Q3.
On your second question related to the medium-term targets. I'll start off and then Adel can fill in. We're in the middle right now of going through our planning cycle. We're about got, we're almost 4 months into this acquisition. We've spent a lot of our initial time focused on synergies, and that's been related to a lot of head count actions that we've had to take. We've been combining the 2 plants. We have been converting accounting standards. So we're putting those plans together right now, and we're looking forward to communicating as early as we can at the start of 2026 on the updated the term guidance.
Thank you, Lisa. Just a little bit more on beyond 2025. There's nothing today that would change our perspective on this business going forward. The portfolio is well balanced. We have growth businesses. We have some businesses that do have structural decline, but generate a lot of cash, and we have a business that is facing quite significant competition. But all of that is known to us. This is -- none of it is new, right? We all knew that. We understood it. Our portfolio was very similar on a stand-alone basis. So there is nothing on a go-forward basis that would be different from our earlier assumptions and how the profile -- growth profile of the business should be. I hope that answers all your questions.
Yes. So we're looking at the longer we look forward and shape of how the business progresses hasn't changed, but clearly headwinds that we brought into 2025. Is that a good summary? .
That's a good summary.
Yes, that's a good summary.
The next question comes from Terence Tsui from Morgan Stanley.
Just wanted to explore the previous topic in a bit more detail just around the financial performance -- so when I look at the guidance published today, it implies a pro forma EBITDA, i.e., if SES owned Intelsat since the start of 2025 of around EUR 1.5 billion of 2025 compared to EBITDA of EUR 1.8 billion delivered in 2024. Is the deterioration of EUR 300 million or use these near-term headwinds that you just mentioned in your previous answer? Or is there something else going on? And then I just wanted to ask briefly around Iris Square. A quick update on that topic would be great, especially as we're nearing the 1-year anniversary. Are you happy with the process so far? And given the geopolitical tensions, do you see any scope for adjustments to the existing agreement?
Yes. Sure. I'll start off with the guidance. And then your second question on Iris Square, Adel has a lot more of what's happening there. So on the guidance side, on a like-for-like basis, you're right that at the upper end of that guide would be $1.5 billion on a like-for-like basis for adjusted EBITDA that is down from the prior year. If we look at what the stand-alone guidance was, the guidance that legacy Intelsat had given out into the market did indicate there would be close to a double-digit decline in EBITDA. So we're starting from that basis. We did discuss the headwinds, so I don't want to repeat those. On the government side is largely timing. The one thing I would just add to the commentary that we gave in the last answer is related to the fixed data business. So that business is more challenged than what we had expected. But as we did say in our prepared remarks, we are really fatiguing that business. We're prioritizing where we're going to take deals and we're starting to incorporate a lot more rigor into the bid process that we have here at the new SES.
And the same dynamics apply, right, to the full year guidance. So there's nothing else new in there besides what we shared with you, right? So just works itself through to the end of the year. also intercompany eliminations and exchange rate changes and all those things are things that -- some of them we knew very, very well and they're within the bound, which is kind of where we thought they'd be. So that's all in terms of that terrace. And then on Iris Square, look, the program is in full swing. I actually spent today -- yesterday at the commission, the European Commission met with a commissioner of the defense, states in defense and there were a forum that talks about European communities determination to build European sovereign an capabilities. And I was squarely at the core of that. because there is a huge commitment behind it. We're working through all of the engineering activities that are required to get us now [indiscernible] to make the final decision, how do we foresee that are we able to meet the specifications, the timing, the budgets and all that stuff as planned, right? So that's progressing very, very well. And the commitment from Europe remains very, very strong. to make sure that, that program continues going forward. So that's -- I think that's the update. Is that -- Terrence, is that helpful?
That's great.
The next question comes from Ben Rickett from New Street Research.
I had to two, please. Firstly, so leverage is obviously a bit higher than you'd initially expected following the transaction plan. I just wanted to check, are you still committed to staying investment grade and what sort of options could you look at if you didn't delever naturally as quickly as you had expected? And then second question is just around the C-band process. And specifically, I was interested in what tax rate you're expecting to pay on any incentive proceeds from the C-band and the extent to which you can use the tax losses.
All right. Yes. So on the leverage -- so we're very committed to delevering. That is our -- one of our primary pillars of our financial policy. So we're very committed to that. Again, as we're kind of turning through the process of putting together our 2 plan, which we will share at the beginning of next year, I'll be able to give more concrete guidance on how we're thinking about the debt maturity profile and deleveraging. Right now, if all things are unchanged, we will pay back what to do in Q4 of 2025 with existing cash. So this table more of that discussion until we get through the 2026 planning cycle. With respect to the C-band process, Adel, do you want to give an update on that?
Yes. Look, just to add on that one. Clearly, as a company, and as always, we've always had other measures that we always look at, right, to make sure that we have back up to the fact we're a space company. So we're used to having backup to the backup to the backup. Those things don't -- you don't disclose them publicly, but we're very confident of where we are, right? So as Lisa said, right, there's good confidence in all liquidity and what we'll be able to do going forward. And it's a priority, delivering is a priority for us for sure. Look, on C-band, well, good news, right? I mean, overall, we're working hard with our clients number one, make sure that we have solutions for our clients as we progress through the clearings. And clearly, the ambition of FCC is very, very clear. Now regarding what the tax rate, I'm going to let the IR team get with you then just individually and walk through it. But you got to keep in mind, we have a lot of molds, tax mills and a lot of tax assets that we have in this company that is hugely valuable for us as a company. But let's not speculate and talk about them here publicly, we can follow up with any analysts that would like to get a better understanding of what these rate may look like.
Okay. And just -- sorry, just to follow up on the first question. So, I mean, you're not necessarily committed to remaining investment grade.
We're committed to delevering, and we're committed to the -- to -- our objective is to remain consistent with the financial policy that we have laid out. But again, we have to work through the process of going through our 2026 plan. We are -- there's a lot of initiatives that we also have on the table that we're actively working. So for example, working capital management, thinking through rationalization of our existing CapEx profile so that we can funnel the money that we have allocated over to lower-cost new space initiatives that we think are going to help [indiscernible] our growth going into the future. So it's really hard to give you a concrete answer on anything with respect to how we're trying to concretely get to numbers in 2026 at this point in time. That's just to give you a little bit of flavor of what we're doing.
Yes. And Lisa, just to add to that, Ben. I mean, I know you want just a black and white answer. So the fact that we're focused on delivering that tells you a lot. There are many other factors that we don't control of what the creative agencies do. So very hard for us to say how do we get there, right? But we are exactly on the same plan we were before. We got to get to the 3.0 and below. And that's what we're working towards, right? And we -- as Lisa explained it and I explained it, there are multiple levers that we have in the company in addition to operational weather and operational cash generation that this company is awful.
The next question comes from Roshan Ranjit from Deutsche Bank.
I've got 3 questions, please, and then broadly touching on earlier topics. I know you mentioned the ESA revenues, and I appreciate that that whilst they are lumpy, we have seen a slowdown in the, I guess, aviation growth rate this quarter on a like-for-like basis versus Q2. Now this is in the context of, I guess, capacity ramping up on mPOWER 7 and 8. So are you seeing new contracts coming through as that capacity is ramping up? And I guess, 9 and 10 has been launched. How should we expect the ramp-up of that capacity and I guess, contracts coming through in the coming quarters? Secondly, I guess, more on the margin side, the third-party capacity being used because of IS-33. When can we expect that the party capacity to move on to essentially on-net when more that will wash out? And just quickly on the CapEx or material reduction in the '25 outlook. Is that coming from savings? Or is that a timing effect and we should expect kind of that delta to be spread out over the next couple of years?
Roshan, just the last question was about CapEx, right? Why is the CapEx reduced, right?
Exactly. If it's a push out or if it's a driver of the synergies, yes?
Yes. Very good. Look, let me start, and then Lisa will complement as we look forward. Look, first of all, on a like-for-like basis, our era business is growing double digit. So it has not slowed down, right? And it's significant double-digit growth. And actually, we will see that ramp in revenue driven by the equipment continue in the fourth quarter. And as Lisa explained, I mean this is all leading to the services revenue that is going to be accelerated going forward. And this was in our press release. So now our first release, you see that the third quarter like-for-like growth in aviation is 36.3% growth year-on-year, right? So it has not slowed down. It's accelerated actually this year. Now that will slow down in the beginning of the year despite the fact we do have 1,000 tails orders to transition to their terminals, but they are spread, but in Aviation, it's a quite delicate planning process, right, to getting planes out of service and making sure we do them in the maintenance windows, et cetera. But it will be spread more than what it is concentrated this year because the last up really happened in the third quarter that was a little bit in the beginning of first half of the year. Fourth quarter, as Lisa said, is a major ramp up, especially with American went with them really eager to get to the WiFi offerings in the beginning of next year.
Now remember your question related to 9 and 10 coming into service. Today, it's very limited usage of NEO in the aero business. In the future, we expect to be a game changer when we with NEO and aero. I mean there's a little bit of NEO usage in 1 of the Middle East Asia Pacific Airlines, we will be announcing that quite soon. They're going live very, very quickly, and they love it. It's a game changer on the difference between a LEO or MEO on an airplane. And by the way, they're using standard antennas, right? So not even an optimized intent for me, which our goal is to have an optimized antenna that is easy to install, that's cheaper than what we have today on airlines as our MEO capabilities.
Now on the magnet capacity, which benefits government benefits our maritime business, that is expected to go into use by beginning of 2026. So 2 sell labs have been launched. They're making their way to their or bit. There is some other testing that needs to be done essentially beginning of 2026, that's where the capacity comes on board. And then we have 3 other satellites that we'll be launching in 2026 to get us to 3x of the capacity we have, right? And that capacity comes into service in 2027. So that's all progressing and look, we -- when we have all these healthy satellites up, we will have a lot of other options to consider how do we configure that constellation because we will have a lot more flexibility to be able to drive at mPOWER. Constellation continues to be over subscribed today. Look on that third-party capacity for IS-33.
So first of all, the Intelsat team did a great job securing customers, right? Because those customers have long-term contract and long-term jevity in our business. It was important to secure them despite the fact that you cost dramatically goes up. We are working through figuring out how much of that per capacity we can move over to on fleet. Now our problem, of course, is it's not like we have dramatically excess capacity everywhere, right? That's our biggest shaft, right? We're quite highly utilized, including our geo satellites. So we're working through that. And that's the same -- that's going to be tough. I mean, Lisa talked about this discipline because we're going to be rationalizing what's the best return for our shareholders in using that capacity, and it means trade-offs. It's not easy as no, we have the cap. If we have capacity, we have not that already, right? Everything that we could have mobile. Now it's about rationalizing what's the better return for the company, when do we do it, how do we not lose trust with our customers as we transition some of that capacity. But that's all going to happen -- it's happening -- and during 2026, as other contracts come to an end, we'll be able to rationalize it. I have no doubt we will manage that throughout 2026, beginning of 2027.
And then the final question on reduction of 2025 CapEx. Look, this is the benefit. A big part of it is the benefit of this integrated company. Now for example, we decided we're not going to go for some of the satellite replacements. We were able to move some of the satellites to pick up some of the loads in areas where it was highly utilized. So the result of that is not just delays of CapEx. It's actually rationalize. There were some delays, but it's not material if you look at an overall CapEx envelope. And part of it was not only saying, well, there was an overlap. Part of it was our decision to say, "We're not going to do that?" It doesn't have the return that we would like to do. Our teams would like to do it, but we said, look, let's rationale like the business case and came back to the conclusion not a good capital deployment approach for us. So that's how it kind of come together. Hopefully, we answered your question. Lisa, anything to add to that?
No. Maybe the only thing to just add is we're continuing to look at the CapEx. We've already taken decisions to stop some things. So I think we're in good shape with where we're at with our integration process.
That's great. And I'm sorry, I should have clarified. When I said so I mean slow down versus the growth rate in Q2 as you said, 36% growth aviation in Q3 like-for-like. But my point was it was a slight slowdown versus 45% in Q2 despite the ESA terminal installs, yes. .
No. So a very good comment. I mean, look, part of it also is what we mentioned is we did lose some airlines, right? So we're winning and we're losing a the balance is still quite good in our favor, right? So that's just part of the offboarding and onboarding timing differences and all that. That's why you see those dynamics change a little bit. But still quite healthy growth, right, if you look at it.
The next question comes from Nick Dempsey from Barclays.
I've got 3 left. So first of all, just on that coming back to that midterm guidance point, will you give us numerical midterm guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth in February at your full year '24 results? The first question. Second question, am I right in calculating that at the midpoint of your adjusted EBITDA guidance, you will be roughly on track to be at about 4.0x net debt to EBITDA at the end of this year, including leases and including only 50% of the hybrid and perpetuals the way you're showing it today. And the third question, inside that combined constant FX growth of minus 19.5% for fixed and maritime, did you see cruise revenue showing positive year-on-year growth? You've got more capacity coming through from mPOWER there as the demand in cruise. So did cruise grow within that and flying the rest was down quite a lot. .
Yes. So I'll take the first question on the midterm guidance. So at the start of next year, we'll certainly give quantitative guidance for 2026, and I think it's very fair to assume that we'll give ranges of the updated midterm at that point. In terms of the net leverage and how we see that towards the end of the year. Again, a lot of it depends on still working through a little bit of the planning, but also from a cash flow perspective, there's things that we can do. So it's hard for me to speculate right now for you where we're going to land on that leverage by the end of this particular year. But again, we're doing everything that we can to control cash going out the door, accelerate cash payments coming in and all the working capital things that you would -- you would expect.
And paying down debt, right, we're going to be paying significant amount in fourth quarter. So it's too early, Nick, to look at it. Look, let me take the last question and then see if we can -- we have answered it. So look, cruise continues to be quite stable for us. I mean, there are some noise in the numbers include because you remember, we have [indiscernible] revenue both in 2023 and 2024. So that compares are 2024 and 2025, I have to say, right? So compares are a little bit did. But on a stable basis, if you look at our ships and what we have and who we serve that is quite stable. I mean there was a big transition for a very large customer that just came across, right, and put a bunch of stuff. We have new vessels that we're winning. When you look at the build profile of the vessels, we continue to win much more than out their share from investors. So it just proves you the customers want to have multi-orbit on the ships, right? They have Leo-capable solutions starting because a very, very strong competitor there. But our value proposition continues to resonate with these guys, right? And they continue to extend contracts with us. As I said, 2 major cruise lines just extended contracts with us just last quarter going forward. So it remains at a very stable business.
Look, the problem we have, Nick, and I've talked about this multiple times, if I can give more big about to our key guys, they will consume it. They will consume, right? So we're eagerly waiting for 2026. And when we get the additional capacity, we're looking at can we optimize the network even further to be able to get -- because it's not lack of demand. It is really our optimization of where the capacity is being used. And as I said, we have a big government customer base across the world that want a lot of that capacity and have booked a lot of that meal capacity. And it's a trial for us, right? How do you optimize it without losing customer confidence and trust because we are a trusted partner. When we provide a solution to our customers, they can count on us so it's not so easy for us to just move stuff around. But it remains quite stable and the growth is going to come when we give them more capacity. Okay, Nick? Does that answer your question?
Yes. Yes.
The next question comes from Aleksander Peterc from Bernstein.
I have a few. The first one will be on the actual momentum. When I look at your year-on-year margin evolution in EBITDA for the pro forma entity. I see a 3% decline in Q1, Q2, and then that deepened to 7% in Q3. And at guidance midpoint, your implied Q4 is down 10.5 percentage points on the margin run. So I'd just like to understand, if I understand correctly, that you're going to be at roughly 38% EBITDA margin in the fourth quarter. And I'd like to understand if this is the -- what point of the year and then metal improve from here? And one should we assume that this negative trend should stop now. And I think it would be helpful if you quantify those one-off in the current quarter. The things that you outlined on Slide 12, all of those negative elements, how much are they contributing to this margin erosion? And I have a couple follow-ups.
Okay, Lisa, you want me to start and then you...
Yes, yes, go for it.
Look, so you're a tender or else, you're absolutely right. The headwinds that we talked about I'm not going to repeat that, right? These are the headwinds that are contributing to that margin impact. They are not whatever heads, right? So for example, our -- the content of the equipment -- there's a large portion -- large content of the revenue is the equipment this year. By the way, not only in aviation, we also have equipment sales that a lot of our customers, big customers are buying the equipment that they need in order to turn up and light up some of the capacity that they bought for us that are already paying for it. But they need the equipment in order to do it. So that is -- it happens to us as it's a forecast of the future profitable revenue basis, right? If you have a lot of equipment, it means that you are getting new customers on board and they are going to be using. And that acceleration in the year, right? So it started letting up in the first half of the year, it's accelerating second quarter in the third quarter. And for the quarter will be a high volume of that equipment. So especially in aviation, plus some of the eliminations that we talked about, that have an impact. IS-33e, you have the full impact of IS-33e in the fourth quarter, if you look at it year-on-year, but when we had to go and get the third capacity. So that in 2026 is not going to have the same profile. It will come down. That equipment sales will come down. And by the way, again, it's not that we're avoiding equipment sales. We actually like those equipment sales because we're very particular and very disciplined. We don't do equipment tests for the sake of [indiscernible] sales. We're doing equipment sales to turn on the volume on very high profitable capacity solutions that the customers are looking for. So that's -- I can't -- maybe, Lisa, you can comment -- I can't make the math on the call on how many points it is and where do we end up with a margin overall. But you can see, maybe, Lisa, you can add something to it or...
Yes. So I think there's a bit of a mix effect happening in the fourth quarter. So if you look on a like-for-like basis, which luckily the fourth quarter is going to be you're going to have a lot of revenue growth that's coming from 0 to low-margin activities, primarily in aviation, which we just talked about. So the ESA installations, the kits are probably if you want to quantify that, it's probably 30% more installs coming in the fourth quarter than what we saw in the third quarter. And then on the government side, a lot of our higher-margin business is pushing out to the right, and that's just mainly due to timing effects that we're seeing on the U.S. side, and that's being supplemented by revenue that more on the NATO and the European side, we do have some contracts that have a bit of lumpiness as their percent complete type of contracts, and we're seeing of those materials and subcontractors coming into the fourth quarter at very, very low margins. So that's what's driving the revenue growth in -- from Q3 into Q4 because you will see that there's a bit of growth on a pro forma basis. And then on the EBITDA, again, it is largely being driven by the mix effect on the government side and on the ESA terminals. And you can -- you want to quantify the ESA, you said you can think about that EUR 6 million to EUR 10 million.
Okay. Okay. That's very helpful. So on the base of what you just said, will we see, therefore, next year, a headwind from lower equipment sales because they're so high in the current year. And if I math is right, you have your flat for revenue year-on-year in the fourth quarter at the midpoint of your guidance. So -- but this includes a lot of moment sales. So as we go into 2026, you're going to see probably a haven from that. So will we actually be able to grow next year like-for-like [indiscernible].
So Alex, you're asking us to do a forecast for next year already, right? Look, we will give full guidance for 2026 and even beyond when we when we sit down with all of you guys in February, right? But I'd say one thing, right? So clearly, the equipment profile will change, right, both for aviation but also for the government. It's not means he equipment. It will be other contracts we're signing that we're competing for that will drive early revenues driven by equipment and some of them have better margin than others, followed by a high-margin revenue business when we get to the solution and turn on the capacity and deliver the services. But as I said earlier, nothing has changed today that would change our view of the company going forward. Nothing's changed, right? So therefore, we are prioritizing growth right? But with a disciplined approach, it's not revenue growth, we're prioritizing profitable growth going forward. And we continue to see the business that way, right? We haven't changed our view on this business despite some of these adjustments that we have to make in 2025 based on what you heard. That's as much as I can say right now without giving you more forward-looking forecast, which will come in February 2026. I apologize, I would I can't be more precise, but hopefully understand where we are.
Yes. Just -- yes, can I just have a quick follow-up on the C-Band. Are you striving towards a higher than 100 megahertz transaction there because that will be obviously our strong interest given that there's no CDRs on anything above 100 megahertz? Can you go to 118?
Excellent. now I remember conversations we had with you guys the year before, we talked about 100 and how the CDR plays in. And you -- Alex, you're absolutely right, the CDRs only applies person. Look, it's very clear the FCC wants to do more, right? It's clear, right? I mean you see the releases, press releases and we're in the middle of it. I do expect all the cards tell you that will be more than 100 megahertz. But it's very hard to predict. By the way, you don't have to wait that long anymore because it's the ruling should come out on the 20th of...
November.
It's at 10 days from now, like a little bit more 2 weeks from that, right? And so off. So that is really good news for us, right, and for our investors at the end of the day, right? So that's where it is, and we'll see we're -- like I said, given the scale that this company has and the usage we have of the C-band, we are really opposition, right? And not only what position would the FCC and the commission and help them a compass what they're trying to do, but also with our customers because we have a much bigger scale network that we can think of solutions that to keep the customers and not lose them as we clear that an going forward, and that's really good news, Alex, for us. So I will look at that, right? And then you'll see the news coming in and will all then reflect when we talk to you guys in February.
Thank you, Alex. Operator, we've got to -- operator, we've got time for one final question, which is in the line there.
The final question comes from Stéphane Beyazian ODDO BHF.
Yes. I've got 3 follow-ups, if that's possible. Just on the spectrum clearance on which you spent some time recently. Can you tell us a little more on the difficulties, how long that could take and what could be the associated costs? I understand it's pretty early, would that be interesting to have your views on that. Second follow-up on Iris Square. I was just wondering if you think the final plans will be very much in line with the initial plan. I'm talking about the total cost of the project and the capacity, which looks relatively small in total, in my opinion, when it was announced. And finally, just a follow-up on the airline contracts, I was just wondering if there is anything you can share on the economics of the contract from an airline point of view, how your pricing is comparing, for instance, to starting is the pricing flat per aircraft or quite volume based? Anything could be interesting there on the economics.
Very good. Thank you, Stéphane. Look, I don't want to get ahead of myself here on the clearing, right, on how long it will take. You can use the proxy of the prior leadership we have, right, and so on. But it's not years and years, right? I mean -- and we recommended a certain approach to FCC that I'm not able to share until FCC decides to publish it themselves, where it could be accelerated, right, and moved quite fast. But this is actually see the search of it. I mean they at the end will set the pace on where we do -- we know the technical requirements and what it takes to do it. And the more you do, the longer it takes, right, which is not so such a bad news.
In terms of cost, to be very clear, we expect full cost reimbursement. There is no cost that we will have to cover without FCC covering the cost. And of course, we also expect that the rules will be very similar to the prior clearance, i.e. how the financials were set up for the clients. Look, on the Iris Square, as I said, that's on, we're right in the middle of it, right? And we have a budget that we shared with the market in terms of what our investment is going to be. We have not changed it, and that is our ceiling. We're not thinking of going beyond that. the question we're all trying to solve for is do we still get the return that we require in order to make this an accretive project. And that's what we're working, and it's too early to speculate, whether or not it does not meet our requirements, financial requirements, we will make the right decision for our pay and for our shareholders. And our customer knows that, right? They know the importance -- this is a private public partnership. So everybody understands and clarity what is expected. We know what the customer wants. They know what we need to do. in order to be able to deliver. So we have a little bit of patience as we get through it. But you got to keep in mind, I mean, we announced, Stephane, I didn't measure it this time because I want to major on this discussion in February. We announced our ambitions for the next generation year right now in the tire show and we call it near steer, which is the next generation of our media capabilities that we desperately need as we go forward. Iris is absolutely part of that. It's the foundation of that near peer. It's not another project, right? It's the beginning of the nester, if you will, the core elements of NEO sphere as we scale it and we grow it. So for us, we have a very clear plan as a company, how we're going to do NEO sphere going forward. And the objective is to make -- as a component of that, a foundation of it, but it has to meet certain criteria for us to make it work. So that's what we're working on.
And by the way, it's important and significant in the future. It's not a rounding error. I'm not talking about the capital investment required. I'm talking about the revenue upside. We want to bring a massive meal network into airlines, exchanges the gain of the airlines. The governments desperately want us to keep scaling that network. We want to bring much more capacity into the government business. So it is a significant opportunity for us as we go forward. But we must do it right right in order to have the right capital returns. And look, on the airlines -- and we can take that off-line. One of the biggest differentiators we have as a business is our flexible business models. We can do it per plane. We can do it for seat, we can do great usage. And the customers love that. That is a differentiator. And we have a very strict guidance on how we do the mechanics and how does the business case work et cetera. But it's very flexible for the customer adoption. So customers, some customers want to pay for investment upfront. Others want to recoup it over time, right, and et cetera. So each business model is adapting to what the customer needs are and as they adopt the WiFi solution on the plan, which, as I said, makes it differentiating from our competition.
Interesting just a follow-up can you hear me?
We can.
Yes. And just to follow up on that, in general, in the recent contract, the aircraft preferred pricing per seat per usage of aircraft in general.
It's very, Stephane. It's interestingly, it's theirs. Customers who have experience with WiFi and have enough capital capability to do it, they want to pay a lot of things upfront. Customers who are experimenting and rolling out for the first time, they want to see it based on passenger usage. And for us, it works, right? And in both all of these variations, they work for us and so on. So it really is different and it's not one dominating versus the other.
There are no questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to Christian for any closing remarks.
Thank you so much, Gaya, and really thank you to everyone joining this call. I hope you found these answers helpful to assess in the Q3 9-month results. Any follow-up questions, please contact Investor Relations at any time we're here to help. Thank you so much, and have a good day.
Thank you everybody.
Thanks for participating to today's call. You may now disconnect.
Financial data from SES
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 3,251 3,251 |
62%
62%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | - - |
-
-
|
|
| Gross Profit | - - |
-
-
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | - - |
-
-
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | 1,358 1,358 |
47%
47%
42%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 1,227 1,227 |
50%
50%
38%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 131 131 |
25%
25%
4%
|
|
| Net Profit | -305 -305 |
445%
445%
-9%
|
|
In millions EUR.
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SES Stock News
Company Profile
SES SA engages in the provision of satellite-based data transmission capacity and ancillary services. It operates through the SES Video, and SES Networks business units. The SES Video business unit offers global channels broadcast via satellite. The SES Networks business unit sells verticals fixed date, mobility, and government. The company was founded on March 1, 1985 and is headquartered in Luxembourg.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | France |
| CEO | Mr. Al-Saleh |
| Employees | 3,830 |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Website | www.ses.com |


