LONDON (Alliance News) - Inmarsat PLC on Wednesday reported a large jump in profit for the first three months of the year, and reiterated "all elements" of its future guidance.
Inmarsat was the best performer in London's FTSE 250 index on Wednesday, up 9.7% in early trade at 396.70 pence.
The satellite communications services provider said revenue for the first quarter of 2018 rose 4.8% to USD345.4 million from USD329.5 million, though earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation dipped 4.5% to USD174.9 million from USD183.1 million.
The Ebitda fall reflected changes in revenue mix, Inmarsat said, particularly in the Government area, and an adverse impact of currency movements on indirect costs of USD9.1 million.
Pretax profit jumped to USD56.0 million from USD1.3 million last year, in part due to net financing costs of USD84.5 million in the first quarter of 2017 which fell to just USD3.4 million in 2018.
"Inmarsat delivered another solid performance in the first quarter of 2018, with good revenue growth, building on the positive momentum we achieved during the course of 2017, and continued strategic progress, especially in Maritime with FX and in our nascent IFC business in Aviation," said Chief Executive Rupert Pearce.
"Given our track record, unique capabilities, differentiated market position and strong channels to market, we are increasingly well placed to deliver further annual revenue growth across all of our target Maritime, Government, Aviation and Enterprise markets," Pearce added.
Within divisions, Maritime revenue rose 1.6%, Government fell 9.0%, Aviation climbed 39% and Enterprise rose 11.2%.
Inmarsat said it remains confident on its growth outlook, and reiterated "all elements of our future guidance", including the expectation that revenue in 2018 - excluding Ligado - will be between USD1.30 billion to USD1.50 billion.
