AsiaSat revenues squeezed
August 22, 2014
By Chris Forrester
AsiaSat announced a set of sharply reduced revenues and operating profits for the 6 months to June 30th, and warned the market that its full-year results will not be much of an improvement over the first half-year.
AsiaSat had issued a profits warning back in July when it explained that lower prices achieved on renewed contracts, cancellations of some others and reduced demand from the US military had affected transponder rentals. AsiaSat chairman Sherwood Dodge added that new satellites launches would help the revenue stream in 2015. AsiaSat-8, for example, was launched on August 5, and will be placed at 105.5 degrees East.
For the six months ending June 30th, AsiaSat reported total revenue of 693.6 million Hong Kong dollars ($89.5 million), down 9.6 per cent from the same period a year ago. Operating profit, at 354.6 million Hong Kong dollars, was down 26 per cent.
However, not all the news was bad. Backlog grew 11 per cent, to 4.2 billion Hong Kong dollars, from where it stood on December 31st. The fill rate on the company’s four satellites in orbit during the first six months of 2014 was 76 per cent as of June 30th, up from 74 per cent on December 31st.