In his traditional New Year’s message to the press, Astrium CEO François Auque announced the provisional results for 2011 achieved by Europe’s leading space company.

Revenues are estimated at €5 billion and order intake at €3.6 billion in 2011, despite an increasingly competitive market environment.

Astrium has once again demonstrated its outstanding reliability as the prime industrial contractor for the Ariane 5 European launch vehicle. The five perfectly executed launch campaigns in 2011, including that of the ATV-2 Johannes Kepler, have brought the number of consecutive successful launches to 46.

13 satellites built by Astrium were also launched in 2011, including the first two Galileo IOV (In-Orbit Validation) satellites and the first satellite of the Pléiades constellation, for which Astrium Services is the civil operator and exclusive distributor of the very high-resolution images.

In 2011, Astrium also won six satellite manufacturing contracts: two for Earth observation (Sentinel 4 instrument and Sentinel 5 Precursor satellite) and four for telecommunication satellites (Eutelsat 3B and 9B, MEASAT-3b and DIRECTV 15).

François Auque is delighted with these results: “By winning these four contracts for telecommunication satellites, including one in Malaysia (MEASAT-3b) and one in the United States (DIRECTV 15), Astrium demonstrates its competitiveness on the global market for commercial satellite services. I see this as tangible evidence that our AGILE transformation programme, launched towards the end of 2010, is having the desired effect. It has enabled the men and women who work for Astrium to respond even more efficiently to the demands of their customers, both in Europe and in the rest of the world, by releasing their full creative potential and energy. A further example of the programme’s success is the sale of a fibre-optic gyroscope unit (FOG) for an American governmental space mission by our recently restructured satellite equipment business unit.”

External growth played a significant role in 2011.

The acquisition of Vizada by Astrium Services has created a new global leader in the market for satellite telecommunication services.

Astrium also entered into an agreement pursuant to which it will acquire 66.78% of the Italian company Space Engineering, a Rome headquartered specialist in digital telecommunications, RF and antenna equipment engineering for both space and ground based applications.

And lastly, Astrium finalised its majority shareholding of 75.1% in ND SatCom, the satellite equipment provider and ground systems integrator based in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

François Auque comments: “These acquisitions illustrate Astrium’s ability to grasp every opportunity that presents itself in these difficult economic times, so as to continue developing its business, both in its domestic markets and internationally. The aim we are pursuing through this strategy, which is aligned with EADS’ Vision 2020, is to seize every opportunity for growth, especially in the field of satellite services, and to establish a better balance between our revenues in the institutional markets and in the commercial markets.”

One of the major highlights of 2012 will be the integration of Vizada in Astrium Services, which will increase the total number of Astrium employees to close to 18,000.

The many launches planned for 2012 include the ATV-3 “Edoardo Amaldi”, the Metop-B weather satellite, Spot 6, and the three SWARM satellites designed to study the Earth’s magnetic field as part of ESA’s Earth Explorer programme.

Astrium also plans to deliver six Ariane 5 launch vehicles and five telecommunication satellites, namely Yahsat Y1B, Astra 2F, Skynet 5D, Eutelsat W5A and Alphasat I-XL.

EADS press release