Inmarsat Q3 revenues up but profit down

Satellite services provider Inmarsat reported a jump in third-quarter revenues following strong performances in the government and aviation divisions, but a drop in pre-tax profit.

In the three months to the end of September, total revenues were up 5.8% to $341.9m, with government revenue up 9.8% to $84.8m and revenue in the aviation unit up 10.1% to $35.9m. Ligado Networks revenues surged 98.3% to $35.5m.

Revenue in the maritime business fell 4.9% to $142.8m, while enterprise revenue dropped 5.3% to $37.6m.

Meanwhile, pre-tax profit for the quarter was down 13.3% from the same period last year to $53.9m due to higher depreciation and financing costs.

Chief executive officer Rupert Pearce said: “Our third quarter results reflect continuation of the trends seen in the first half. Trading continues to be challenging, with economic and budgetary pressures affecting our customers generally.

“We are nevertheless competing aggressively and successfully in each of our core markets and making steady progress with both the commercialisation of GX and in Aviation cabin connectivity.”

The company kept its revenue guidance for 2016 unchanged at between $1.18bn and $1.25bn, excluding Ligado.

Inmarsat revised down its capital expenditure guidance for this year to between $400m and $500m, mainly to reflect the slippage of the launch of the I-5 F4 to next year. It kept its capital expenditure guidance for 2017 and 2018 at $500m to $600m.

At 0810 BST, the shares were up 5.8% to 772p.