French satellite operator Eutelsat announced its first quarter 2025–26 financial results on 21 October, posting strong growth in its OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) connectivity segment. However, total revenues for the quarter declined by 2.2% year-on-year, driven by weaker performances in its video and geostationary (GEO) connectivity businesses.
Eutelsat completed a merger with OneWeb in 2023, combining its geostationary business with OneWeb’s Starlink alternative in low Earth orbit. Since the merger, the growth of the OneWeb constellation has slowed, with the company completing a single 20-satellite addition in October 2024, down from three launches in 2023 that deployed 116 satellites. Despite this, its LEO connectivity revenue grew by 99% over the 2024–25 reporting period. This strong growth continued in the first quarter of the 2025–26 period, with the company posting revenue of €54.1 million, a 61% increase from the same period last year.
Despite the positive growth in its LEO connectivity business, the company’s overall connectivity segment grew by just 3.1%, as GEO connectivity revenues declined 14.4% year-on-year to €95.3 million. A weakening video segment, which provides satellite broadcasting to roughly one billion viewers and accounts for close to half of Eutelsat’s total revenue, fell 12% to €133.6 million for the quarter. The decline offset gains made in connectivity, resulting in an overall revenue decrease of 2.2% year-on-year.
Despite ending in the red, its first quarter 2025–26 results have allowed Eutelsat to confirm its annual and long-term financial targets. Its annual targets include expected LEO revenue growth of 50% and, possibly more importantly, the reduction of its debt burden.
A significant inhibitor of the company’s future growth prospects is the €2.62 billion (as of June 2025) in debt held on its books, which corresponds to a leverage ratio (net debt divided by adjusted EBITDA, which is a measure of how many years of earnings would be required to repay its debt) of 3.88x. According to the company’s Q1 2025–26 results, Eutelsat confirmed that, following shareholder approval of its €1.5 billion capital increase, initially announced in June 2025 and due for completion by the end of the calendar year, its Net Debt / Adjusted EBITDA ratio is expected to fall to around 2.5x by the end of the 2025–26 financial year.
Following the late 21 October release of its first quarter financial results, the company’s share price fell sharply, dropping nearly 7% to €3.44, its lowest level since the beginning of the month.
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