Hello, and welcome to Eutelsat First Quarter 2023-24 Revenue. My name is Alicia, and I will be your coordinator for today's event. Please note this call is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen only. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the call. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question. If you require assistance at any point, please press star zero and you will be connected to an operator. I will now hand you over to Christophe Caudrelier, CFO, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Thank you. Good morning to all. Welcome, and thank you for joining us today for Eutelsat's First Quarter 2024 Revenues Presentation. I am Christophe Caudrelier, and I am the group CFO. Let's start by taking a quick look at recent highlights. First quarter operating verticals revenue were down -2.4% like-for-like. On a sequential basis, however, they were up almost 3%, excluding a one-off in government services in Q4 2023. This improved trend was driven by continued robust double-digit growth in mobile connectivity on the back of strong commercial momentum. The final beam of the EUTELSAT QUANTUM satellite was sold during this quarter, completing what has been a record ramp-up for a fully incremental satellite. Also, as we just announced this morning, the EUTELSAT KONNECT VHTS satellite, bringing 500 Gbps of incremental capacity, successfully entered into service.
Elsewhere, the Eutelsat OneWeb combination project was approved on the 20th of September 2023 and is now live. OneWeb itself has seen strong commercial momentum, reporting a backlog up 66% year-on-year. Finally, we confirm all Eutelsat Group's objectives, which, I remind you, replace Eutelsat's previous standalone objectives. I'm also pleased to report that the EUTELSAT QUANTUM satellite is now fully commercialized just 18 months after its entry into service in late 2021, representing a record ramp-up for a fully incremental satellite. As a reminder, the software-defined satellite with real-time adaptability is one of our first flexible satellites, serving customer needs in applications where demand is booming. The final beam was commercialized this summer for a luxury maritime mobility customer. As a result, EUTELSAT QUANTUM enjoys a balanced commercial profile, with four beams serving government services and four in mobility.
I'm also pleased to announce a successful entry into service of EUTELSAT KONNECT VHTS. This most advanced, very high throughput satellite system will support the development of our connectivity businesses across Europe, delivering 230 beams with a Ka-band capacity of 500 Gbps. EUTELSAT KONNECT VHTS is the largest geostationary satellite to date in Europe. It embarks the most powerful onboard digital processor ever put in orbit, offering capacity allocation flexibility, optimal spectrum use, and progressive ground network deployments. KONNECT VHTS enters service with circa EUR 450 million of firm pre-commitments, namely from Orange, with its Nordnet affiliate for the French coverage, Telecom Italia Mobile over Italy, and Thales Alenia Space to serve notably government connectivity services. These commitments underpin Eutelsat Group's revenue growth objectives in the coming years.
The combination between Eutelsat and OneWeb was approved by shareholders on September 28th, heralding the new era for satellite connectivity. The combination is now live, with strong synergy potential that we have already started to operationalize across the company's various businesses. The left-hand chart shows the strong commercial momentum at OneWeb, with a backlog of almost $1 billion, a 66% increase over a year. The constellation is already generating revenues across several verticals, such as data in Alaska, where OneWeb provides connectivity solution for remote business sites as well as community Wi-Fi. It is on track to reach global coverage by the end of the year. Let's now take a look at Q1 performance by application. As a reminder, all commentary is on a like-for-like basis, that is to say, at constant currency and perimeter.
Total revenues for Q1 stood at EUR 274 million, down 0.8% on a like-for-like basis. Other revenues, that is to say, revenues other than those generated from the commercialization of satellite capacity, were up EUR 5 million due to a positive EUR 5 million variation in hedging revenues versus Q1 last year. Excluding a negative currency effect of EUR 8 million based on a euro to dollar rate of 1.09 versus 1.02 last year, revenues of the four operating verticals were down by 2.4% on a like-for-like basis. Let's now look at the revenues in more detail. Video, 60% of group total, recorded revenues of EUR 164 million, down 9.5% compared to last year.
Environment services, 12% of group total, saw revenues of EUR 34 million, up 1.1%. Mobile connectivity, 13% of total, saw revenues of EUR 35 million, up by 44.1%. Fixed connectivity, 15% of revenues, stood at EUR 40 million, an organic decrease of 2.6%. Well, let's look first at video. Q1 revenues were down 9.5% to EUR 164 million. This reflected, first, the full effect of the non-renewal of the digital contracts. Note that this base effect will cease after Q2. Second, the effect of sanctions against certain Russian and Iranian channels. And third, professional video revenues, which account for around 10% of the video vertical, also decreased, reflecting lower occasional use.
Quarter-on-quarter revenues were slightly down due to an unfavorable basis of comparison last quarter in Europe, where some smaller contracts were booked with retroactive effects. Over the full year, revenues are expected broadly in line with wider market trend of a mid-single digit decline, excluding the effect of Russian and Iranian sanctions, embarked for a full 12 months versus 6 months in fiscal year 2022- 2023. Moving to government services, revenues stood at EUR 34 million, up 1.1% year-on-year. This rise reflected the contribution of EGNOS GEO-4 contract on HOTBIRD 13G. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenues were down by 25.2%. Excluding the one-off DLR contract in Q4 fiscal year 2023 of EUR 14 million, first quarter revenues were up 9.5% on a quarter-on-quarter basis, on the back of increasing traction with European customers.
The latest renewal campaign with the U.S. Department of Defense of fall 2023 resulted in a slightly improved renewal rate of above 80%. Over the full year, government services revenues will benefit from the above-mentioned EGNOS contract on HOTBIRD 13G, set to generate EUR 100 million in revenues over 15 years, as well as the contribution from OneWeb's LEO-enabled connectivity solutions. First quarter for mobile connectivity revenues stood at EUR 35 million, up 44.1% year-on-year. This reflected the commercialization of the final beam on EUTELSAT QUANTUM for a maritime mobility client. Revenues also benefited from the entry into service of the high-throughput satellite, EUTELSAT 10B, with significant pre-commitment and recent deals, especially in maritime, notably the multi-year, multi-million contract with Marlink.
For the full year, mobility connectivity, mobile connectivity is expected to see double-digit growth, driven by ongoing strong demand for both GEO and LEO-based connectivity solutions. First quarter fixed connectivity revenues stood at EUR 40 million, down by 2.6% year-on-year. They include the contribution from the wholesale agreement with Orange, TIM, Hispasat, and Swisscom, which is now fully embarked. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenues were up 6.5%, notably on the back of the resale of OneWeb capacity for data usages in Alaska. Over the full year, fixed connectivity is set to deliver double-digit growth on the back of the entry into service of KONNECT HTS, as well as the contribution from LEO connectivity offers. Turning to backlog. The backlog stood at EUR 3.4 billion at the end of September, broadly stable versus end of June 2023.
The consumption of the video backlog, in the absence of major renewals, was offset by strong commercial momentum in connectivity, reflecting the rebalancing of the business toward growth verticals. The backlog was equivalent to 3 times fiscal year 2022-2023 revenues, with video representing 57% of the total. Let's now turn to the outlook. Following the approval in late September 2023 of the combination with OneWeb, the financial objectives of Eutelsat Group replaced the previous financial objectives of Eutelsat standalone. That is to say, revenues of Eutelsat Group are expected to grow at a double-digit revenue CAGR over the medium to long term, already reaching EUR 1.32-EUR 1.42 billion in fiscal year 2024.
Adjusted EBITDA for Eutelsat Group is expected between EUR 725 million and EUR 825 million in fiscal year 2024. After synergies, the cash CapEx of Eutelsat Group is estimated to be at EUR 725 million-EUR 875 million per annum on average. These objectives are based on a nominal deployment program. You will find on the slide here, a reminder of our future launches. With that, I thank you very much for your attention. I'm now ready to take your questions.
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question or make a contribution on today's call, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star two. We'll take now our first question from Roshan Ranjit from Deutsche Bank. Your line is open now. Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the questions. I've got two, please. Just on the KONNECT VHTS satellite, good to see that has started operations now. Could you remind us of the ramp up of the capacity agreements that you have with the likes of Orange and TIM, please? Because if I remember correctly, there is some sort of phasing of the payments as you migrate the traffic from KONNECT to VHTS. So a reminder there will be good, please. And secondly, just on the FY 25 guidance, I think you previously said that you expected OneWeb to break even at the EBITDA level during FY 25.
Now, if I look at the guidance that you've issued today for the group level, at the low end of the range, it kind of suggests that OneWeb could be generating EBITDA of close to EUR 100 million in 2025, again, making the assumption on the underlying Eutelsat business. So has anything changed there? Should we expect maybe less cash burn and faster ramp up? And anything you could say about that OneWeb ramp up would be very helpful. Thank you.
Hi, Roshan. Thank you for your question. So first, on the KONNECT VHTS question, and the ramp up of capacity. I mean, what's going to happen is that it will be a progressive transfer from of the customer, first from KONNECT to KONNECT VHTS. And we'd start to generate some revenues in Q2 with the first two months of Q2, and then we'll ramp up more in Q3. So, you know, the...
And the KONNECT VHTS will then fully, and all the current customer of KONNECT will be fully transferred to the KONNECT VHTS, and then KONNECT will be more dedicated to connectivity in the African continent. On the second question, related to our forecast or our guidance on OneWeb and on the combined group. Yes, I confirm that the fiscal year 2025, to have a break even EBITDA break even for OneWeb is still the goal. I'm not sure to get your question on the EUR 100 million for OneWeb for fiscal year 2025.
I mean, for me, it's no change to the previous guidance that we have given. So that's still on track, and this will be, I mean, again, related to OneWeb ramp up and the revenue ramp up. But maybe did I get your question well, or is there something else that I should add?
Yeah, well, no, I mean, I guess your range of EUR 900 million-EUR 1.1 billion, if I look at the kind of current run rate of the Eutelsat standalone business, you know, around 810 or so, the delta is made up from OneWeb. So you had previously said break even. Now, I appreciate break even has a range, but I was just wondering if anything has changed where, you know, we should expect maybe a faster EBITDA build up of the OneWeb business.
Now, okay. All right. No, it makes sense. But it makes sense, but just also to confirm or to specify that in any case, I mean, in the future, I mean, we will communicate on the Eutelsat Group and we won't be able to disclose on the OneWeb standalone basis. But yes, I mean, your calculation makes sense, and it's in line with what we said.
Okay, that's great. Thank you.
We'll take now our next question from Terence Tsui, from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open now. Thank you.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Just a couple of questions from me. Firstly, just on your video business.... Can you just give us an idea of any, things we should be aware of over the next 12 months or so in terms of big contract renewals? And I just wanna better understand, why you think this, lower use in professional services, professional video is occasional, or whether it's a bit more sustained, into the foreseeable future. And then my second question was just on OneWeb, and looking at, the future CapEx requirements. I know you talked about Gen2, but are you any closer as to, you know, committing as to when you need to replace the existing satellites in place already?
So the sum, you know, over 600 ones there, when do you think about how they need to be renewed over time? Thank you.
Okay, thanks. So first question, for the next 12 months, there's no big renewal in the coming 12 months. The next big renewal on the video business will be for 2025. Regarding your question on professional video and occasional use, we—I mean, our estimate is that, I mean, it's in line with our global estimate of mid-single-digit decline of the overall business for video. So no particular, I would say, a prospect on anything particular on the occasional use. It's really, in our opinion, it really follows the trend of the video business.
Moving to your question on the CapEx for OneWeb, I mean, just and the replacement of the satellites. Just to be precise, I mean, the first generation of satellites for OneWeb is expected to last until 2027. And it actually, we expect the lifetime, I would say, of the first generation to be a bit longer than was initially expected or thought. So really, we have also included in our plans and in OneWeb's plans, I mean, some spares and some replacement of some satellites in order to replace certain satellites that would need to be replaced.
But, I mean, nothing particular or specific in terms of Gen1, where we should be replacing, you know, the current constellation. The Gen2 constellation or the satellites for the Gen2 are still expected to be launched and to be ready for the replacement constellation by 2027.
Thank you. That's really interesting.
We'll take now our next question from Carl Murdock-Smith, from Berenberg. Your line is open now. Thank you.
Hi, thank you very much. Two questions from me. The first one, in terms of the strong beat and strong growth in mobile connectivity, this quarter, and revenues jumping up to EUR 35 million, can you provide some confidence or kind of split in terms of is that kind of continuing sustainable revenue, or is there any element within that amount this quarter, which is one-off in nature? So as we think forward towards the next few quarters, basically, should we be using EUR 35 million as our starting point, or is there any one-off element in there that we should be pulling out?
Then secondly, obviously, the shares have been fairly weak over the last month, and the leverage is at around 4x net debt EBITDA. I was just wondering if you could provide some more commentary around Eutelsat's leverage and financing, and provide some comfort around your capital structure. Thank you.
Okay. Yeah, thanks, Carl, for your questions. So the first one on mobile connectivity, I mean, there's nothing, no one off, or whatsoever, I mean, we would have commented anyway, in this first quarter 2024, fiscal year 2024, in the mobile connectivity vertical. I mean, it's really in line, and I would say, the result of the past trend of the order intake in this vertical. And related to, you know, the capacities that have been put and the commercial, I would say, trend on this vertical. And it is the result, I would say, of the strategies that we have developed within Eutelsat for the last years.
So nothing particular, and this can be considered as the, I mean, the, I would say, the basis of normal business, a normal trend. On your question on the leverage, I mean, and still, I mean, still in line, I mean, on a standalone basis, or I would say before the merge, obviously, the leverage ratio of Eutelsat was quite strong. And what I would say, and to give you the guidance, I mean, the level of leverage that we see is exactly in line with what we expected.
We even just to recall you that we also, our Eutelsat Communications, ended fiscal year 2023 on a higher or a better level than expected in terms of cash generation and in terms of net debt. So which slightly improved the leverage ratio at the end of fiscal year 2023. Going forward obviously we will need as we've already commented we will need to finance a significant amount of CapEx mainly related to the second generation of OneWeb.
But we will continue to have a very strong and strict financial policy in terms of cash generation, and we will continue to generate a strong cash with the legacy business, I would say, of Eutelsat, namely video, but also the growing connectivity business. So this will help to finance a significant part of the Gen 2 generation for OneWeb. So we are still shooting, I would say. We're still working in order to go back to, in the mid-term, a leverage ratio around three, as we already communicated. And no significant change. It's not even significant.
I mean, no change. I would say we are on track on the cash generation, on the Eutelsat or legacy business side, and also on the monitoring of the CapEx expenditure for OneWeb.
That's great. Thank you very much.
We'll take now our next question from Andrew Webb, from JP Morgan. Your line is open now. Thank you.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just maybe to come back on Carl's question, a little bit around liquidity. Could you just comment on your level of available liquidity? I believe you have received waivers on the terms, the term loans and RCFs and the credit facilities. So just to confirm, you expect to be able to access these undrawn lines, and whether you believe they're sufficient to get you through your near-term needs? And then secondly, I think it was your last call, you were discussing negotiations around some ECAs. Just wondering if there's anything further you could add there. Any details around the quantum would be interesting. And then finally, just on the capital structure, just wondering about the somewhat atypical structure you have, whereby the term loans and the RCFs are structurally junior to the existing bonds. Just wondering if your, you know, your bank partners are happy with this arrangement in light of recent rating moves, or whether we should expect, you know, changes in issuer or additional guarantees at some point. Thanks.
Okay. Yeah, thanks. Thanks very much for your questions, yeah. So first of all, on liquidity, just to remind you that we have extended our RCFs at the end of July this year. So we have now three RCF lines, two line of EUR 200 million and one line of EUR 450 million. Two of those lines for EUR 650 million are up to autumn or September, precisely, September 2025. And the remaining one is going beyond this in 2026. So we've been able to. We have got, as of we speak or as we speak, EUR 850 million potential RCF available. Those EUR 850 million are today totally undrawn.
So, nothing has been used on this liquidity side. So we feel, I mean, we wanted to do that. Obviously, we wanted to extend our liquidity and our vision of the liquidity in order to prepare the merger OneWeb and obviously to prepare the next steps, which is the financing of mainly the second generation of the constellation. So that's for the first part. For the second part, I mean, you're right, also on the waiver. We negotiated a waiver on our term loans with our banks a year ago.
And we have a level of waiver, which is 4.75 times, which will progressively go down to 4.5 and 4 to 4.4 times, in order to allow us to go through, you know, the first years of the merger. But we are confident with this, again, with the level of liquidity on one side, and on the second side, on the leverage level, and what we have agreed with our banks. So second point, related to - and maybe I could, I should switch to your third question, which is on the structure and on the.
I think that's your question. I understood that whether how banks were happy with the structure. I mean, I think the late discussion and negotiation with the banks can prove that all our major banks are fully behind us in this project. Again, we had all our banks have followed us on the RCF, and that was also a major, an important test for us and an important discussion with our banks in order to make sure that we can count on their support for the coming years.
On your question related to ECAs, on the quantum, I mean, ECAs, again, are really closely related to the finalization, I would say, or the discussion on the dimension of the Gen2. The discussions and the talks with the industry are still ongoing at the moment. And we expect to have some feedback and some better discussion or with the industry by the end of this year. So, we are just in the middle of the talks.
It's a bit early right now to really have a concrete and solid or elements that I could share with you regarding ECAs as again, it's a bit early in the agenda. We have been discussing with several ECAs, and talks are progressing, but not yet at a point where I can confirm that we, you know, we have the guarantee of the quantum related to the potential financing of Gen2. But it's ongoing, and I hope that we will be able to come to you with better elements and more precise elements for the half year communication.
Great. Thank you.
We currently have no questions coming through. As a final reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one now. We haven't got further questions, so I will hand you back to Christophe to conclude today's conference. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. Well, with all of this, I thank you very much, and I wish you all a very pleasant day and meet you next time in February. Bye-bye. Thanks.
Thank you for joining today's call. You may now disconnect. Thank you.