[SatNews] Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT.L) has reported consolidated financial results for the 6 months ended 30 June 2011.

Inmarsat plc Interim Results Highlights

• Total revenue $682.9m up 20 percent (2010: $570.7m)
• EBITDA $426.9m up 28 percent (2010: $334.4m)
• Profit before tax $254.8m up 68 percent (2010: $151.8m)
• Interim dividend of 15.4 cents (US$) up 10 percent
• 30,000 IsatPhone Pro handsets activated to date
• Rupert Pearce appointed CEO effective January 2012
• Acquisition of Ship Equip International completed
• $1.45bn of new financing completed, Inmarsat-5 fully-funded
• $250m share repurchase program announced

Inmarsat Group Limited Second Quarter Highlights

• Total revenue $359.0m up 24 percent (2010: $289.2m)
• Total Inmarsat Global MSS revenue $181.3m (2010: $181.7m)
• EBITDA $222.7m up 32 percent (2010: $168.6m)

Andrew Sukawaty, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Income from our Cooperation Agreement with LightSquared is driving record revenue and EBITDA growth and offsetting a slowdown in the growth of our Inmarsat Global MSS revenue.  While we believe that a return to more normalized revenue growth in our MSS business is only a matter of time, we expect near-term factors will constrain growth for longer than previously anticipated.  As a result, we are revising our outlook for MSS revenue growth for 2011.  In the meantime, given the strong financial position of the company, we have increased our interim dividend and have launched a share repurchase program.” To read the entire financial report, access this direct infolink.

IsatData Pro, a new low data rate machine-to-machine (M2M) service for managing and communicating with remote assets around the world, has been launched. The service, from Inmarsat and SkyWave Mobile Communications, offers a significant increase in payload capacity compared to other satellite-based M2M services on the market, delivering up to 10,000 bytes to the device and up to 6,400 bytes send. Other global M2M satellite services currently available offer data connectivity at between 270 and 340 bytes.

By delivering up to 37 times more data, IsatData Pro can meet the increasing demand for richer information in M2M applications, and allows businesses to share more data across diverse operations — via emails, electronic forms and workflow information. Applications include vehicle telemetry information, text-messaging remote workers, maintaining up-to-date driver logs, and the remote management and control of fixed assets. For mission-critical applications, IsatData Pro can transmit a 100-byte message in less than 15 seconds, or a 1,000-byte message in 45 seconds - ideal for sending information to drivers operating in high-risk areas, or for the effective use of sensors to closely manage remote equipment.

SkyWave's IDP 600 series of all-weather data terminals include integrated GPS, as well as digital and analog ports for connecting sensors to relay data such as fuel levels, engine temperature and speed. And GUI-based programming tools enable solution providers to customise the operation of the terminals to offer their own unique solutions. A number of partners around the world are already integrating IsatData Pro into their applications that support the transportation, oil and gas, utilities, maritime, defence and security, commercial fishing and heavy equipment sectors.