Technology
SES beats estimates as European defence spending grows.
Published On Thu, 31 Jul 2025
Varun Shekhawat
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European satellite firm SES reported better-than-expected second-quarter revenue and core earnings on Thursday, maintaining its 2025 outlook. The performance was boosted by a strong backlog of government contracts. CEO Abdel Al-Saleh stated that SES sees a solid pipeline of government deals, supported by rising defence spending across Europe. Recently, the company partnered with Luxembourg's government to build and launch a new defence satellite.
Earlier this month, SES completed its $3.1 billion acquisition of Intelsat, aiming to compete more strongly with Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and France’s Eutelsat. The merged group is expected to generate €1.8 billion in annual operating profit. David Broadbent, previously with Intelsat, was appointed to lead the unified government and defence operations.
In the first half of 2025, SES secured €690 million in new contracts, bringing its total backlog to €4.2 billion. It also committed up to €1.8 billion toward the EU’s IRIS² satellite network, averaging €400 million per year from 2027 to 2030. The IRIS² program will deploy around 170 satellites to serve European governments and remote broadband markets. SES reported €469 million in Q2 revenue, ahead of the €464 million analyst forecast. Adjusted EBITDA was €241 million, beating expectations of €232 million. Despite this, SES posted a net loss of €15 million, missing analysts' forecast of a €7 million profit.
Disclaimer: This image is taken from Reuters.
