Inmarsat reports £94.3m profit and places new order
The British satellite telecoms company Inmarsat placed an order for three new Ka-band satellites from Boeing, after announcing higher than expected pre-tax profit of £93.4m for the first half of the year, up 56 per cent on the same period last year.
The company, which is the world’s largest provider of satellite services to the maritime industry, has proposed an interim dividend of 14 cents, a ten per cent increase. Inmarsat said it was “confident,” of maintaining ten per cent dividend growth for the next three years.
Chairman and chief executive Andrew Sukawaty said “our first-half performance continues to show the profitable growth in the markets we serve and we are well- positioned to delivering growth objectives for the year.”
The company has expanded its broadband services and has been helped by increasing demand from both government and commercial customers.
This £755m investment will allow Inmarsat to improve its worldwide mobile broadband services and the cost will be spread over 4.5 years.
“This new investment is for growth,” said Andrew Sukawaty.
Inmarsat, which was originally set up as a non-profit organisation in 1979 to provide a satellite service for ships, will use the Ka-band satellite to complement its 11 existing L-band satellites with higher speeds.