Friday, August 6, 2010

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Largest maritime satellite provider's profit jumps with huge Boeing order

Inmarsat Plc, the world’s biggest provider of satellite services to the maritime industry, said first-half profit jumped 56 percent as it placed a $1.2 billion order with Boeing Co. for three satellites.

Profit before tax rose to $151.8 million from $97 million a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement today. Revenue climbed 12 percent to $570.7 million. Inmarsat proposed an interim dividend of 14 cents, up 10 percent. It said it was “confident” of sustaining 10 percent dividend growth for the three years from 2010 to 2012.

Maritime revenue rose 0.6 percent to $177.7 million as revenue growth was held back by “the challenging economic climate in shipping” in the first six months, the company said. Still, the three months through June represented a “record quarter” for maritime revenue, Sukawaty said in a telephone interview today.

Boeing has agreed to become a distribution partner for both Inmarsat’s Ka- and L-band services and has pre-committed to capacity purchases representing more than 10 percent of Inmarsat’s target Ka-band revenue in the first five years after global service launch.

-Bloomberg

For the full story: www.bloomberg.com

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