I am pleased to present yet another year’s HISPASAT Annual Report, to assess and share the fiscal year’s most important milestones.
2014 was a complex year, in which we had to face a number of adverse situations. The anomaly detected in the Amazonas 4A satellite just after its launch in March reduced its satellite capacity and kept it from reaching the market on time. Moreover, a shrinking European market, characterised by capacity returns and falling prices, in addition to the unfavourable exchange rate throughout the greater part of the fiscal year, did not herald a very favourable situation.
Nevertheless, despite this context and thanks to the commercial efforts made, we managed to pay our bills and secure 202.1 million euros in income. Most of this income was generated at orbital position 61º West, where figures reached 104.7 million euros, whilst at 30º West 85.3 million euros were generated. The remaining income from space capacity, bringing the total to 197.2 million euros, came from other orbital positions.
It is worth mentioning the growth achieved in the Americas, where the income generated was 9% higher than in 2013. A drive in sales in this region enabled us to expand our market in Latin America, Central America and the United States. Another significant milestone of 2014 was signing the agreement with Intelsat on orbital position 55.5º West, which has enabled us to offer greater capacity in Latin America via our Amazonas 1 satellite.
Last year our EBITDA reached 161.8 million euros, thereby staying at the same level as in the previous fiscal year. The EBITDA/Income margin furthermore remained above 80%, which is higher than the industry average. Moreover, the net result attributed to the HISPASAT Group parent company came in at 45.6 million euros, which was slightly lower than in the previous fiscal year, although we must recall that there were exceptional nonrecurring expenditures amounting to 10.7 million euros. If we were to remove these expenditures to get homogeneous figures, the result would be 56.3 million euros, which is 2.3 million higher than in 2013.
In 2014 we continued to work towards the future by building three new satellites: the AG1, the Amazonas 5 and the Hispasat 1F. A total of 156.6 million euros were put behind this growth plan.
In conclusion, I would like to stress that despite swimming against the tide throughout the entire fiscal year, and despite this long period of crisis, we have not lost sight of our medium or long-term goals, and have continued to make progress. Not only did the actions carried out in 2014 succeed in stopping income for this fiscal year from falling, but our portfolio of contracts with long-term satellite capacity clients also hit a record high, giving rise to a backlog equivalent to seven years’ worth of company income, one of the highest figures achieved by any space telecommunications operator.
I would once again like to thank our shareholders for their support, our clients for their trust and loyalty, and the entire HISPASAT Group team for their efforts during this difficult year.
Carlos Espinós / CEO
