STORY: Eutelsat's shares soared on Friday after France said it would inject $1.55 billion into the debt-laden satellite company, giving a boost to Europe's biggest hope for a champion to rival Starlink.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday urged countries and companies as a matter of European sovereignty to invest in the French satellite company.
Speaking at the Paris Airshow, the world's largest aerospace event, he said: "Space has in some way become a gauge of international power."
The company's shares were up 27.5% around midday and the stock has gained 59.61% year-to-date.
Elon Musk has disrupted space-based communications with his rapidly growing constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites, amassing more than six million Starlink users worldwide.
With about 650 active satellites, Eutelsat is much smaller.
However, as the only other player with a major operational low-orbit constellation,
it has attracted interest from European governments, whose eagerness for non-U.S. alternatives
derives from President Donald Trump's confrontational approach to their region.
Some analysts, however, were cautious about Eutelsat's prospects.
JP Morgan said its leverage was expected to remain high in the medium term.
Eutelsat expects its debt level to fall to about three times annual earnings after the capital increase, down from four times today and a projected five times by mid-2026, JP Morgan added in a note to investors.
