ANALYSIS: Inmarsat reports record quarter, lifts dividend

Inmarsat has recorded a record second quarter for its mobile satellite communications services. The company said it registered revenues for the quarter of $143.4 million, up 15.5% on the same quarter last year.
 
The results boosted revenues to $284.2 million for the first half of 2007, lifting the interim dividend by 8.%, to 11.55 cents per share.
 
The company implemented and launched a new handheld service on 16 July this year, and added 1,940 BGAN subscribers in the quarter, bringing to total subscriber tally to 11,782.
 
Andrew Sukawaty, Inmarsat¹s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "We had a record-breaking second quarter for revenue and maintained strong growth trends across our MSS business sectors. The second quarter contributed to excellent results in both revenue and profit for the first half 2007 and we are raising our interim dividend by 8.3%.  In view of the sustained growth in our business we have also increased our expectations for
the full year."  
 
Inmarsat has also announced today that a contract has been signed with International Launch Services for the launch of a third Inmarsat-4 satellite and expects to launch this satellite between March and April 2008.