Dubai: Inmarsat, the provider of global mobile satellite communications services, reported an 11.9 per cent increase in net profits to $594.2 million (Dh2.18 billion) last year, up from $531.2 million the previous year.
Inmarsat's revenues grew 4.2 per cent to $1.03 billion, up from $996.7 million in 2008 while adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rose 26.7 per cent to $0.38, up from $0.30. The full year dividend increased 10 per cent and free cash flow rose 54 per cent to $349 million.
Andrew Sukawaty, Inmarsat's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "We finished the year strongly and continue to see good trading conditions in all our markets. 2009 was a transformational year for our satellite network, our service portfolio and our distribution arrangements, giving us a strong platform to maintain our market leadership. We are entering 2010 with a positive outlook, revenue growth momentum and new growth opportunities ahead of us."
The land mobile sector revenue growth of 3.3 per cent was mainly due to growth in broadband global area network (BGAN) service. BGAN revenue for the year increased by 33 per cent as a result of growth in subscribers and migration from older services. BGAN ARPU strengthened in the second half of the year to $288 per month in the fourth quarter.
"We also saw growth in revenue from our low data rate services, showing the benefit of our collaboration with SkyWave which was completed during the year," Sukawaty said.
The newly announced dividend will be paid as a second interim dividend and will be paid in lieu of a final dividend for the 2009 financial year. The dividend payment date will be April 1 to holders of record on March 19, 2010, the company said. Together with the interim dividend of 12.73 cents paid in October 2009, the total dividend for 2009 will be 33.36 cents, an increase of 10.0 per cent on the total 2008 dividend.
