Eutelsat's Three-Theatre Strategy: Maritime, Aviation, and African Broadband Fuel a 115% Rally

Eutelsat reports 15.3% connectivity revenue surge to €155.7M, driven by LEO services and maritime/aviation deals, while video slumps 13.3%. Stock up 115% YTD.

Eutelsat used this week's Posidonia trade fair in Athens — a record edition with 2,227 exhibitors from 83 countries and over 40,000 visitors — to press the flesh with shipowners and maritime suppliers. The French satellite operator didn't sign a new contract on the exhibition floor, but its presence there underscores a strategic pivot that is already delivering measurable results. Away from the fair, the company has quietly locked in two other billion-euro partnerships that broaden its connectivity reach into aviation and African broadband.

The Q3 numbers for the 2025/26 fiscal year tell the story of a business in transition. Group revenue came in at €293.0 million, a like-for-like increase of 3.1%. The connectivity segment, which now accounts for the lion's share of growth, surged 15.3% to €155.7 million. Within that, LEO services were the standout performer, jumping 65% year-on-year to €62.2 million. Mobile connectivity — spanning maritime, aviation, and land mobile — advanced 27% to €45.0 million. But the old guard is fading: video revenue slumped 13.3% to €128.0 million, hit by sanctions on Russian channels, cancellations of capacity contracts, and the structural decline of linear television.

That maritime momentum got a concrete boost with an expanded multi-year agreement with Station Satcom. The service provider plans to roll out OneWeb LEO connectivity across its global fleet, with hundreds of ships already active and more than 1,000 additional vessels in the deployment pipeline. The aviation side gained a separate multi-year contract with Anuvu for Ku-band capacity on the EUTELSAT 10B satellite, positioned at 10° East and covering a swath from the Americas to Asia. That spacecraft has been in service since July 2023 and is purpose-built for mobile applications — major airlines are expected to be the end customers. In a third geographic bet, Eutelsat has teamed up with Airtel Madagascar to bring OneWeb-based broadband to rural parts of the island nation. Early tests on train lines delivered download speeds of up to 100 Mbps at full velocity, with the system integrating with existing fibre and 4G networks.

The company's financial backbone has also been reinforced. In March, Eutelsat completed a €5 billion refinancing package, underpinned by a €1.5 billion bond issue and supported by the governments of France, India, and the United Kingdom. That liquidity gives headroom for further commercial expansion. The order backlog stood at €3.4 billion at the end of March 2026, with connectivity making up 58% of the total. That figure has edged down from €3.6 billion a year earlier, a sign that new business is still playing catch-up with legacy contracts rolling off. For the first nine months of the fiscal year, cumulative revenue reached €884.7 million.

The stock has been on an extraordinary run: up more than 115% since the start of the year and more than doubling from its 52-week low of €1.65 in December. But the rally has lost some steam in recent sessions. At around €3.85, the shares trade roughly 14% below the high of €4.47 touched on 28 May, and the relative strength index has dropped to 23.9 — a technically oversold reading after last week's pullback. With annualised volatility of 97%, the ride remains characteristically wild. Management is sticking to its full-year forecast: LEO revenue should climb 50%, while total group revenue is expected to hold steady year-on-year. For a company juggling a shipping fleet, an airborne satellite, and a rail test in Madagascar, the next quarterly results will show whether the spread of bets is actually translating into cash.