Shareholders in Eutelsat, SES and Viasat are suffering dramatic losses in their share prices.

On October 9th the share price of Eutelsat, which has just merged with constellation operator OneWeb, fall more than 6 per cent. The fall continued a downward slide over the past 30 days of 15.7 per cent and to below €5 per share, at €4.76.

The decline to what is now an all time low price is a major worry for shareholders and continues the collapse of recent times at Eutelsat. Over the past 12-months its shares have fallen a thumping 43 per cent. The five-year snapshot is even worse, with a fall of 78 per cent. In July 2022 when the OneWeb plan was announced, its shares traded at around €10.43. Back in 2015-2016 its shares regularly traded at €28-€30.

However, Eutelsat is not alone. Its rival SES, despite recent extremely positive comments and forecasts from analysts, is also suffering. October 9th saw a modest loss of value to €5.72 per share, but this is down almost 13 per cent over the last 30 days, and a massive erosion of value over the past 5 years of a thumping 71 per cent. The market seems concerned that continued delays to the launch of a pair of mPOWER satellites will impact SES overall profitability this year.

NASDAQ-registered Viasat of California, has also suffered an absence of shareholder enthusiasm. Its shares have tumbled almost 14 per cent over the past week (to $15.27 on October 9th). Viasat has yet to confirm whether its latest satellite (ViaSat-3 Americas is a total loss). It has also suffered the loss of an Inmarsat craft. Its share price is at a 20-year low.

In a similar fashion to Eutelsat and SES, Viasat is also seeing shareholders selling off their holdings. The past 30 days its share price has crashed 35 per cent. Over the past 12-months its shares are down 60 per cent, and 74 per cent over the past 5 years.

Some of the declines are explainable. Analyst and industry consultant Tim Farrar, of TMF Associates, said simply: “The main differences is that as late as 2019, people thought Viasat’s satellite broadband was the future, while they gave up on the video-dominated players (SES and Eutelsat) much earlier.”

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Ariane 6 launch campaign underway
2. Virgin Galactic in stock split
3. Thuraya-3 suffers major problem
4. AST SpaceMobile hit by Class Action
5. Optimism under threat at SES
6. Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
7. Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
8. SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
9. IRIS2 already in trouble?

Categories: Blogs, Business, Inside Satellite

Tags: eutelsat, SES, Viasat