Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 8 May 2023: Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PJSC (“Yahsat” or the “Group”), the UAE’s flagship satellite solutions provider listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (”ADX”, under symbol: YAHSAT, ISIN: AEA007501017) announced today its consolidated financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2023. 

 

Yahsat continued to deliver year-on-year growth in revenue, EBITDA and Net Income, which increased 2%, 4% and 35% respectively during the quarter. On a normalised basis EBITDA and Net Income surged by 8% and 46% respectively. 

First quarter revenues reached AED 369 million [USD 100 million] for the first time in Yahsat’s history with the strong performance primarily driven by the Managed Solutions segment, which saw revenue increase significantly by 29% year-on-year to AED 72 million [USD 20 million]. Infrastructure, the Group’s largest business segment, continued to deliver stable and predictable returns, reporting AED 220 million [USD 60 million] in revenue for the period, 1% higher than the prior year. 

 

Highlights for the period include:

• Revenue of AED 369 million [USD 100 million], up 2% year-on-year, driven by strong growth of 29% in Managed Solutions, and further growth in the Infrastructure and Data Solutions businesses. 

• Normalised EBITDA of AED 231 million [USD 63 million], up 8% year-on-year, delivering a superior margin of 63%.

• Normalised Net Income of AED 108 million [USD 29 million] up 46% year-on-year, generating a strong margin of 29%.

• Contracted future revenue of AED 7.0 billion [USD 1.9 billion], equivalent to 4.4 times last-twelve-month revenue.

• Robust balance sheet with negative Net Debt, strong cash position and long-term visibility of future cash flows, continues to support Yahsat’s investment in organic growth as well as opportunistic acquisitions, without impacting its progressive dividend policy.

• Net finance costs were negative, boosting net income as finance income exceeded costs on higher cash balances benefiting from higher interest rates versus the prior period.

• On track to grow full year 2023 dividend by at least 2% to 16.46 fils [4.48 cents] per share or AED 402 million [USD 109 million] – based on the last closing share price, this implies an annualised dividend yield of over 6%, amongst the highest offered by UAE listed stocks.

• Guidance for full year revenue, EBITDA, Discretionary Free Cash Flow and cash capex and investments remains unchanged.

 

Ali Al Hashemi, Group Chief Executive Officer of Yahsat, commented: “Yahsat had a strong start to the year with continued focus on growing both our core government business and commercial segments, whilst optimising costs across the Group. The upcoming Thuraya-4 NGS satellite, due to be launched in 2024, followed by two potential new satellites, Al Yah 4 and Al Yah 5, reinforce this direction and present unique growth opportunities.  

“We are also working to progress previously announced initiatives with local and international partners targeting areas including satellite-enabled internet of things, vertical value-chain integration, satellite direct-to-device and earth observation. 

“The satellite industry is witnessing substantial investments as exciting new products and applications are brought to the market whilst the largest satellite operators consolidate to confront the transforming, competitive landscape. Our unique backlog of future revenues, reaching AED 7.0 billion [USD 1.9 billion] or 4.4 times last twelve-month revenues, as well as a robust balance sheet place us in a strong position to drive our future ambitions and continue delivering sustainable long-term growth.”

The full set of first quarter financial disclosures, including a more detailed Management Discussion & Analysis report that clearly defines capitalised terms used in this press release, can be found within the Investor Relations section on Yahsat’s website.

Note to Editors:

Normalised EBITDA is EBITDA adjusted for material, one-off items recorded during the current and comparative periods that would otherwise distort the underlying, like-for-like performance of the business. Q1 2023 Normalised EBTIDA of AED 231 million [USD 63 million] reflects an adjustment for one-off redundancy costs (AED 8 million [USD 2 million]) whilst there were no adjustments made to Q1 2022 EBITDA of AED 213 million [USD 58 million]

 

Similarly, Q1 2023 Normalised Net Income of AED 108 million [USD 29 million] reflects adjustments made to derive Normalised EBITDA whilst there were no adjustments made to Q1 2022 net income of AED 74 million [USD 20 million].