(BFM Stock Exchange) – The satellite operator evolves in very strong increase on the Paris Stock Exchange after the signing of a framework agreement with the Ministry of Defense of an amount of up to 1 billion euros.

Eutelsat climbs to the Paris Stock Exchange. The satellite satellite operator increased by 14.7% this Thursday, June 19 after announcing an “unprecedented” framework agreement with the Ministry of Defense, lasting 10 years and a maximum amount of 1 billion euros.

Eutelsat announced this agreement during the Bourget show, the high mass of aeronautics and space. The French group will provide the French army with spatial resources with priority access, on its constellation of satellites in low terrestrial orbit called “Oneweb”.

The announcement of this major contract signed with the French army led Oddo BHF to abandon its negative opinion on the file. The design office raised its opinion to “neutral” against “underperformance” and its target of course at 2.60 euros, this Thursday before the opening of the Parisian market.

“A contract to launch an operation”

Stephane Beyazian, the analyst in charge of covering the file, released his calculator to measure the benefits of this important contract for Eutelsat. According to him, this agreement will double the order book for Oneweb solutions and cover the costs of Oneweb (200-230 million euros per year).

But they will obviously not allow the investment expenses provided by Eutelsat over the period 2026-2032, or 4 billion euros. This amount should allow the group to replace the constellation of Oneweb satellites with the new Iris² constellation, the European Union constellation project. This project comes in direct confrontation with the American Space X of Elon Musk, which has taken a step ahead with Starlink, which has become one of the world’s main providers of satellite.

The analyst also recalled that he was in “the interest of the shareholder state and Eutelsat to communicate on a maximum amount to reassure the market”, which had been very skeptical about the virtues of oneweb’s acquisition by Eutelsat.

Oddo BHF recalls that Eutelsat burns cash due to oneweb losses while it must therefore finance 4 billion euros in investments out of 2026-2031 to develop iris².

For the design office, this contract is vital to launch the refinancing and recapitalization of Eutelsat.

“We believe that the company could announce after its annual results (in August) a capital increase from 800 million euros to 1.5 billion euros, obtaining export credits (to finance 50% to 70% of investments) and a debt refinancing to postpone deadlines (perhaps with state support),” explains Oddo BHF. “We believe that several shareholders would follow a recapitalization, in particular the French state, Bharti (an Indian multinational), CMA-CGM (owner of RMC-BFM, editor’s note)”, details the broker.

The announcement of the contract with the Ministry of Defense consequently improves the probability of success of refinancing, estimates the design office which adds that this contract should have a positive effect on the scholarship course with regard to the extreme volatility of the title (+707% over a few days of March 2025, -73% since).

Back to SBF 120

This announcement comes as Eutelsat will return to the SBF 120 on Monday, the second largest index of the Stock Exchange, following a decision by the Scientific Council of Euronext.

This year, the title of the satellite operator has experienced an agitated stock market, linked indirectly to the policy of Donald Trump.

At the height of its aberrant rally, the title displayed an increase of more than 200% over the whole of 2025 with three consecutive sessions of strong increases ( +68% then +77% and +119.8%).

This movement had been fueled by speculation linked to diplomatic tensions between the United States and Europe, and to the proximity of Elon Musk to the American president, Donald Trump. The market also anticipated an additional order for European satellite operators to bypass the Starlink system of Elon Musk in Europe.

These hopes, however, seriously made “Pschitt”. Compared to its highest in early March, the action of the satellite operator relapsed 70%.

It must be said that the financial situation of the company is not very enviable. At the beginning of the year, Moody’s lowered Eutelsat’s credit note, citing in particular “the reduced visibility on Eutelsat’s capacity to reconnect with the growth of profits, the continuous pressure on the free cash flow given the significant investment needs, and the significant refinancing needs in 2027 at a time when the funding cost increased significantly”.

“A clear financing plan, as well as a strategy to improve income from the government services division are now necessary for action to rise,” said AlphaValue, also in May.