Eutelsat Communications S.A. (ETL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I am delighted to wish you a very warm welcome to the General Meeting of your company, Eutelsat. Thank you very much for who braved the elements. I know that it took a lot of courage and bravery to come here. There are skis for those of you who want to go head and skiing. Sorry? The interpreter apologies she cannot hear the speaker. Yes. Yes, I didn't even have time to get a coffee.

So my name is Dominique D'Hinnin, I'm the Head of the Board of your company. I have Eva Berneke, who is the DG; Christophe Caudrelier, who is the Chief Financial Officer; and Anne Carron, who is our General Secretary and also, Director of Human Resources for our company. We also have, and I would like to thank them. We've got Sandrine Téran, who is in charge of BP Participations, S. Dalens, Fleur Pellerin, Mia Brunell, Cynthia Gordon, Padraig McCarthy and Florence Parly. Thank you very much to them. They're all members of the Executive Board, and thank you for being here for this general meeting. We also have the 2 statutory auditors, Nicolas Macé, who's representing the Ernst & Young; and Mr. Candau as well, who is from Forvis Mazars. We also have Piotr Dmochowski-Lipski from our consulting firm. He is also the Executive Secretary of Eutelsat EGO and the representatives of the Social and Economic Committees of the business. I am now going to continue as necessary with the constitution of the Meetings Board. I would like to call upon the 2 shareholders who are going to have the biggest -- who have the biggest number of votes rather as Bharti Space Limited, which has 114,470,321 votes and Bpifrance Participations, who have 64,586,426 votes. Without further ado, I would like to ask [indiscernible] who is representing Bharti Space Limited, as well as Samuel Dalens, who is representing Bpifrance Participations to come and confirm that they accept their role and functions, and I would also like to invite them to come up on to the podium. Samuel, are you there? I would also like for the approval to appoint as [ Elena Ciallie ] as Secretary, she'll be General Secretary for the General Meeting. Thank you very much. We now have constituted our Board. I would now like the Secretary to tell us what the quorum is as well as remind you of the legal formalities for this meeting.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank you very much. I'm making it the roll call that was signed by each of the shareholders when they came into the room and as well as a personal note. I am taking into consideration the number of votes that have been expressed by the voting -- voting that have been sent we have 84.9% of the shareholders having voting rights. The minimum quorum of 20% of shareholders for the ordinary and 25% for extraordinary events has therefore been met, and the General Meeting is able to deliberate both on extraordinary and ordinary measures. I would also like to remind you that these -- that we have come together. And all of the different legal formalities have been accomplished and this in compliance with the legal dispositions as well the regulatory dispositions. Mr. Chair, I'm not going to read in extensive the agenda that was made able to all of the shareholders in respect of the norms and within the deadlines that were fixed. Prior, I would also like to confirm you that the different documents and information provided for by the decisions were made available to the shareholders at HQ and also on the website within the timeframe that was fixed by this provision. In addition, I will also send to the shareholders who requested for this to be the case.

Thank you very much. It is therefore up to me now to also present the company to you, what we do, the performance, the accounts for the financial year that was closed on the 30th of June 2024. We have a different year compared to the calendar year. Florence Parly will be then sharing with you, the company's policy on the nomination of corporate offices. Following this, Agnès Audier, who is the Chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee for our company will then be sharing the different commitments that have been made by your company in this domain and also in the way that we will be governing our company. We will then be giving the floor to Mr. Nicolas Macé who is representing the Board of Statutory Auditors, and he will be presenting the Board's reports on the financial statements and also on the draft resolutions. These different reports have been made available shareholders at the company's registered office as well as on its website. And you will therefore represent them in summary form, dissenting with the need to read them in their entirety. We will then proceed with a question-and-answer session as tradition calls for. And finally, we will vote on the various resolutions that will be presented to you. Without further ado, Eva, you have the floor.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much, Dominique. Let's take a closer look at our business for the financial year 2023, 2024. Here we go. A couple of key events for the year. Our results for the financial year were in line with our targets or even slightly better in terms of sales and profitability. The major event of last year was a finalization of the merger between Eutelsat and OneWeb at the end of September 2023, creating rather the first major player in the GEO-LEO market. Our pivot to connectivity is now well established with growth reinforced by the ramp-up of LEO as well as the availability of incremental GEO capacity. We saw strong commercial traction, thanks in particular to a major multi-application contract for the OneWeb constellation with Eutelsat, Intelsat rather, operational successes include the entry into service of KONNECT KVHTS, Eutelsat 10B and the launch of Eutelsat 36D and the completion of the space segment of the OneWeb constellation in the middle of the year. In addition, at the end of March, we successfully refinanced the bond maturity, taking us right up until November of 2025. Let's move on to our activity and our sales. We have a video -- video, which accounts for 54% of revenue. Now we're at 605 -- EUR 651 million, which is down 6.8% for fixed connectivity. This was 19%. And we've got an increase of 5 -- of 29% to reach EUR 234 million for government services, which accounted for 14% of sales over have risen by 5%, leading us to EUR 165 million and actual revenue from mobile connectivity, which account for 30% of the group total came to EUR 159 million, which is an increase of about 50%. I'm going to spend a little bit of time on each segment. You have a little bit more detail that starts off with the biggest segment, which, of course, is Video. Sales for the 2023, 2024 financial year fell by 6.8%, reflecting the secular decline in the market for this application in the first half year. This trend was accentuated by the effects of sanctions against Russian and Iranian channels. And by the early nonrenewal of the capacity contract with Digiturk from mid-November 2022. These 2 effects dissipated in the second half of the year. From a commercial standpoint, we have renewed extension of TV and Warner Bros. Discovery in Poland as well as the HOTBIRD orbital position in the constellation by United Media Group, all of its broadcasting activities at Eutelsat 13-degree East and 16-degree East position. Sales of professional video, which presents less than 10% of total Video sales fell, reflecting unfavorable structural factors as well as the seasonal nature of certain events. Fourth quarter sales totaled EUR 159 million, down 6.2% on the previous year, and they are broadly stable if we look at the previous quarter. Let's move now on to the 3 connectivity segments, and we will start with the fixed line connectivity for the 2023, 2024 financial year. Sales for fixed connectivity came up to EUR 234 million, which is an increase of 29.1% year-on-year. As previously mentioned, revenues were underpinned by the entry into service of KONNECT VHTS in October 2022, as well as the gradual transfer of Eutelsat KONNECT capacity to a particularly dynamic African markets as far as the YahClick offering. Yahsat, that's a sign agreement with Eutelsat to leverage the capacity of Eutelsat KONNECT to stimulate growth of its broadband coverage in Africa. In addition, Intelsat has chosen to take advantage of new Ku-band capacity on both the Eutelsat 70B satellites in order to extend its services to corporate and retail markets across the African continent. This new agreement complements the existing Ka-band agreement on both the Eutelsat KONNECT satellites. Sales also benefited from strong growth in LEO activities, and this is OneWeb's activities with activation and gradual ramp-up of several commercial agreements as the ground network is deployed. When we have made a particularly strong contribution in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023, 2024 with fixed connectivity sales of EUR 82 million, which is up 73.5% year-on-year and 42.6% quarter-on-quarter. Second segment, looking at connectivity with Government Services. For the -- this financial year, revenue from Government Services amounted to EUR 165 million, which is up 5% year-on-year. This evolution reflects the contribution of the EGNOS contract for the HOTBIRD 13G satellite from June 2023, the contribution of OneWeb's LEO connectivity solutions as well as the more favorable results of the last 2 renewal campaigns with the U.S. Department of Defense, the DoD. Apologies. Apologies. This is the speaker. This is the right slide. So yes, we are talking about Government Services, this slide here. So this increase is partially offset by a more difficult basis of comparison with the 2022, 2023 financial year due to a one-off contract worth EUR 14 million with the German space agency for the Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F providing services from April 2023 prior to the entry of service at 13 degrees East. So fourth quarter sales came up to EUR 47 million, down 14.5% year-on-year, so comparing to 2023, 2024. This decline was due to a tougher basis of comparison with the fourth quarter of the financial year as a result of the one-off contract. And excluding this item, fourth quarter sales were up 15.6% year-on-year. Let's move on to the last segment, which is mobile connectivity. For this financial year 2023, 2024, mobile connectivity revenues amounted to EUR 159 million, up 49.3% year-on-year. This increase reflects the entry into service of the Eutelsat 10B broadband satellites contribution from OneWeb. For the fourth quarter sales, we have a total of EUR 49 million, up 80.4% year-on-year and 25.6% compared to the previous quarter. This was mainly driven by the GEO constellation performance. Let's now move on to -- this and I will give the floor rather to Christophe, who's our Group Chief Financial Officer, who will talk to you about our performance and financial position for this financial year.

Thank you very much, Eva. Good afternoon, everyone. Adjusted EBITDA was at EUR 718.9 million on the 30th of June 2024, come from EUR 825.5 million a year earlier to down 12.9%. This decline reflects the increase in operating expenses due to the consolidation of OneWeb. However, this effect was partially mitigated by cost control measures, which allowed us to keep -- to rise in costs to 8.9% on a pro forma basis. The adjusted EBITDA, as defined in our financial targets, i.e., the pro forma, including OneWeb for a duration of 12 months and at a euro-dollar exchange rate of 1, was EUR 697.5 million, which is above our target range of EUR 650 million to EUR 680 million. On a pro forma basis, the adjusted EBITDA margin was 54.8% and 59.3% on a reported basis, and this compared with 73% the previous year. Let's now move on to the income statement. Net profit attributable to the group was EUR 310 million compared to up EUR 350 million a year earlier. This change is due to different factors, including other operating costs, which amounted to EUR 208 million compared with income of EUR 204 million last year, mainly due to a payment of EUR 352 million relating to the second phase of the C-band product as well as the adjustment to the fair value of the shares held by Eutelsat prior to the merger. The increase in depreciation in charges to EUR 702 million from EUR 456 million a year earlier, reflecting the OneWeb scope effect as well as higher depreciation charges on in-orbit and ground assets. So here, we're talking about Eutelsat 10B, our KONNECT VHTS, which entered into service between July 2023 and June 2024. Third element, we have net financial expense of EUR 124 million compared with down EUR 91 million, the previous year, reflecting higher interest costs, which are partly offset by a favorable trend in foreign exchange gains and losses. We also have a corporate income tax gain of EUR 28 million compared with a charge of EUR 67 million a year earlier. This is mainly due to the nonrecognition of deferred tax assets on OneWeb's losses, which are partially offset by the specific French tax regime relating to satellite operators. For the 2022, 2023 financial year, the tax charge reflected the 30% tax rates applied rather to C-band proceeds. And we also have a negative share of income from associates of EUR 23 million compared with a negative EUR 87 million last year, reflecting the contribution of the minority stake in OneWeb in the first quarter compared with a full 12-month period for the 2022, 2023 financial year. If we now think about capital expenditure, cash investments amounted rather to EUR 463.2 million compared to EUR 270.5 million last year. This reflects the scope effect linked to consolidation of OneWeb. This expenditure is below our initial estimates, reflecting the phasing of the LEO constellation and the delay in capital expenditure, in particular for the Flexsat America satellite, which has been postponed to calendar year 2028 due to scheduling problems with the manufacturer. For the 2023, 2024 financial year, gross capital expenditure, i.e., excluding the financing of all or parts of certain satellite programs under export credit agreements or other banking facilities amounts to EUR 517.1 million. From the 2024-2025 financial year, growth capital expenditure will be adopted as our basis indicator. And by excluding financing-related flows, the group seeks to provide a clearer and more accurate representation of its direct capital expenditure. Let's move on to the next slide now. And here, we'll be looking at the group's debt. At the 30th of June 2024, the net financial debt stood at 2.5 -- EUR 2,544.4 million down EUR 221.3 million compared with the end of June 2023. This change is due, in particular, to the proceeds from the disposal of assets, namely the net proceeds from the second tranche of the sale of the C-band and the disposal of the shares in the joint venture, Airbus, OneWeb satellite, AOS, which was held by OneWeb. The debt was partially offset by changes in CapEx as well as the scope effect linked to the consolidation with OneWeb. As a result, the ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 3.79x compared with 3.35x at the end of June 2023 and 4.13x at the end of December 2023. The average cost of debt drawn by the group after hedging instruments was 4.87% compared to 2.96% for the 2022-2023 financial year. This increase reflects, in particular, the impact of the issue of the senior bond maturing in 2029. The weighted average maturity of the group's debt is 3.5 years compared with 3.6 years at the end of June 2023. The group's liquidity is quite high with a cumulative amount of EUR 1.39 billion in available unused credit lines and also in cash. We have finished with the financial performance of the group, and I will be giving the floor back to Eva Berneke, who will be commenting on the company's outlook now.

Thank you very much, Christophe. Let's now look to the future. Let's turn to the future rather than just looking in that rearview mirror. What does the future hold in store for your company? First, a couple of comments on the first quarter sales figures that were published recently at the end of October. If we were to look at sales by activity, Video, which accounts for 51% of revenues, came to EUR 152 million, which is a fall of 7.3% revenues from fixed connectivity, which accounts for 19% of the group total rose by 30% to EUR 57 million over the quarter. Services to governments, which accounted for 16% of revenues rose by 20% to EUR 46 million, an increase once again of 20% and revenues from mobile connectivity, which account for 14% of the group total amounted to EUR 42 million, an increase of almost 19%. The order book, which obviously attest to future sales at the 30th of September 2024 stood at EUR 3.9 billion, equivalent to 3.2x the sales for the 2023-2024 financial year. This reflects the natural erosion of the Video segment with renewals that are not on the agenda, offset by the contribution from OneWeb. Connectivity accounts for more than half of the order book at 55% compared to 42%, the previous year. What about the financial targets? We -- they're in line with our expectations, enabling us to confirm the financial targets. We have set ourselves for the 2024-2025 financial year. Our objectives are the following. Sales for the 4 operating businesses in 2025 at the same level as in 2024. We want an adjusted EBITDA margin slightly lower than in 2023-2024. Growth capital expenditure for 2024-'25 between EUR 700 million and EUR 800 million. And we also continue to target a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of around 3x. Just a couple of other information. So I want to talk about infrastructure. We plan to sell the ground segment infrastructure. What is it all about? And maybe I can talk about the EQT Infrastructure Fund as well. The proposed transaction involves a set of passive assets and the creation of a new company that would constitute a legal entity in its own rights. As part as this transaction, EQT would hold 80% of the capital of this new entity, whilst Eutelsat Group would remain a shareholder, customer and long-term partner of the new company, holding 20% of the capital alongside EQT. The resulting entity would be the world's largest pure player, totally independent of operators and specializing in the provision of ground station as a services, the acronym being GSS. It would bring together terms of high level experts, capable of combining their cutting-edge knowledge of satellites with that of highly qualified infrastructure operators, offering customers an unrivaled quality of service. The valuation of the new entity is estimated at EUR 790 million, representing attractive EBITDA CapEx multiples. The transaction will enable future maintenance expenditure to be transferred to the new entity while the proceeds of this sale will enable Eutelsat Group to strengthen its financial structure and focus its assets on the next generation of satellite. Finally, another important item is update on the IRS Constellation. Early this month, we received a notification that the space rights consortium comprising ourselves, Eutelsat Group, Hispasat, SES had been selected by the EU in Brussels to supply and build the European multi-orbital constellation, or what we call IRIS. This is an important step that paves the way for the negotiation of the final details with a view to signing a formal contract at the end of 2024 -- to the end of calendar year 2024. Eutelsat will participate in this public-private partnership with 2 other satellite operators, SES and Hispasat as well as European Union and the European Space Agency, ESA. The full commercial launch of the constellation is scheduled for the early 2030. IRIS Square will complement the deployment of Eutelsat's OneWeb LEO Generation 1 and next-generation satellites as well. In essence, this project could take the form of distribution agreements to market constellation capacity not required by the EU or the commission. Eutelsat payloads on the IRIS Constellation and of course, the pooling of technology and investment in research and development. Due to the timing of the project, capital expenditure is expected to be concentrated in the second half of this period. And Eutelsat's investments will be in line with our requirements for stakeholder value creation. Now back to you, Dominique, or maybe it's Florence?

Yes, we will now be -- we've looked at activities past and future. I'm now going to ask Florence Parly, who is in charge of the remuneration -- as Chair of the Remuneration Committee, to present the policy for the remuneration.

[Foreign Language] Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Prior to looking at the unchanged principles of your company's remuneration policy, I thought that it would be a good idea to remind you of the special nature of the 2024 financial year, which was mentioned earlier, which was largely marked by the merger with OneWeb and the first steps in the integration process. As with any integration, this is a very complex process that requires a lot of involvement of senior management. The remuneration package submitted for your approval today, therefore, reflects both the application of this remuneration policy approved by the Annual General Meeting last year as well as the achievement of the objectives that were set for management in 2024, the year that has just finished on the 30th of June 2024. And this, both in respect of the premerger parts as well as the part relating to the beginning of the execution of the merger with OneWeb. That's the particularity of this financial year, is that we have a hybrid situation. By way of introduction, therefore, I would like to remind you of the principles of your company's remuneration policy. This policy has a threefold objective: Firstly, attracting, retaining and motivating the management team; secondly, to align the interest managers with those of shareholders, particularly in terms of value creation and with those of other stakeholders, particularly in terms of corporate social responsibility; and finally, we need to take into consideration Eutelsat specific characteristics. In particular, it's high capital intensity, it's highly technological environment, the long duration of its investment cycles with the long-term, representing the largest component of the overall remuneration package and the fact -- the last factor is the fact that it is a highly competitive environment. So one of the main features of our remuneration policy is its close alignment with the company's performance criteria and therefore, the interest of its shareholders. Why? Because indeed, annual variable remuneration as well as long-term variable remuneration, which represents more than 2/3 of the theoretical remuneration are determined 100% on the basis of performance criteria. The annual variable remuneration rewards the performance over the course of the financial year. The objective is to make sure that reported financial objectives have been reached. It also acts as an incentive to exceed them. And as we'll see in just a few minutes, for FY 2025, which is the current financial year, the annual variable remuneration would be based at 85% on quantitative objectives. The long-term variable remuneration has 4 objectives: Maximizing medium-term value creation, so over a period of 3 years; align the interest of the management team with the strategic plan; reflect our medium-term ambitions in terms of CSR and retain our top executives. In order to align further the interests of the top management with those of shareholders according to the principle provided for by law, executive corporate officers are required to retain their shares up to a value equivalent to 200% of their annual fixed remuneration over the course of their term. Before we analyze the amounts that are owed to Directors and corporate officers for the past financial year, and before we present the remuneration policy that will be put to your vote for the current FY, you can, of course, find all this information in detail in the 2023-2024 universal registration document, which is available on your group's corporate website. So let me start with the remuneration of the Board and of course, with the Chair of this Board. For FY 2023-'24, the Director remuneration for the Chair of the Board is exclusively comprised of Directors' fees for a total amount of EUR 355,000, of which we're including EUR 242,000 for the fixed remuneration in his capacity as Chair of the Board, EUR 56,000 for the variable share linked with attendance to Board meetings and EUR 58,000 linked with committee attendance. As regards the activity of your Board, FY 2023-2024 was exceptional because all in all, 41 meetings of the Board and of committees took place against approximately 25 for what you would call a normal year. Now on to the remuneration of the Chief Executive for FY 2024. The significant rise in the total remuneration awarded for FY 2024 against the previous financial year is mainly accounted for by the rise in the fixed salary and the award of an exceptional remuneration as approved by the 23rd of November 2023 General Meeting. These changes that were approved last year recognized the complexity and the higher or wider responsibilities for the Chief Executive following the merger with OneWeb in a particularly competitive context. So for Chief Executive, Eva Berneke, for FY 2024, fixed remuneration stands at EUR 848,000 and variable remuneration stands at EUR 1,021,840 on the basis of objectives that were achieved at 120%. As a result, the total cash amount is EUR 1,869,840. As regards to the exceptional remuneration last year's general meeting approved the principle of an exceptional remuneration to reward corporate offices for the completion of key strategic projects for the company in order to strengthen their alignment with shareholders' interest. This compensation is awarded as shares divided in 3 annual tranches, subject to performance and attendance conditions that are checked at the end of each financial year. This remuneration is assessed on the basis of the share price calculated when granted. The objectives of this exceptional remuneration were reached at 80% for the financial year ended. And the final award of this first tranche remains subject to the approval of this general meeting. The amounts displayed for the long-term remuneration as performance-related shares are notional and subject to performance and attendance conditions, and they are assessed according to IFRS 2 standards at the grant date. More information on these remunerations as well as the AMF required tables are included in the 2023-2024 universal registration document. Let me now move on to the remuneration structure for the Chief Executive, proposed for the financial year that has started. This remuneration structure is largely similar to that of the previous year. The only change is the greater significance of quantitative criteria, the weighting of financial metrics has moved -- would move from 65% last year to 70% this year. Qualitative metrics would be brought down from 20% to 15%. The Chief Executive's annual fixed salary would remain stable at EUR 950,000. As regards to the annual variable share. If targets are met, it represents 100% of the fixed salary. And in case of outperformance, it would amount to 140% of the fixed salary, just like in the previous financial year. The annual variable share is fully determined according to performance criteria. As you can see in red on the table. This year, we proposed to strengthen the share of quantitative targets, as I've just said, to bring them up to 80% -- to bring them up from 80% to -- to bring them up to 80%. And we want to strengthen the share of financial indicators to 70% against 65% last year. For this financial year, we also proposed to update financial metrics in order to reflect the growing attention paid to the development of LEO activities, but also because we want to more strongly align these indicators with the interest of external stakeholders. So we thought it was appropriate to now distinguish the share of revenues generated for LEO. So there's a new metric here that does not change the relative share of revenues, but that targets our attention on LEO revenues. Besides the cash flow metric was replaced by EBITDA and debt ratios, which allows us to simultaneously measure margin generation and debt control in connection with our financial obligations. And actually, these metrics are also used for the management team. CSR quantitative objectives are linked with the reduction of our carbon footprint, with digital inclusion, employee engagement and compliance. The variable share will also be determined according to qualitative objectives for 15%. These objectives are specific and predetermined and linked with Eutelsat's priority projects for FY 2024-2025. Last, as regards the long-term variable remuneration. The theoretical allocated amount would be 140% of the fixed salary. And in case of outperformance, the trigger level would remain unchanged and would stand at 130%, which amounts to 182% of the fixed salary. The definitive or the final award would be subject to the completion of performance objectives of the 3 financial years for the 5 next -- of the 5 following components: First, revenues related to connectivity. Second, as regards financial metrics. The previous cash flow indicator is now replaced by 2 indicators, EBITDA and CapEx that simultaneously measure gross margin generation, but also the appropriate management of necessary CapEx to drive future growth on the long -- in the long-term. Third component, what is known as TSR, total shareholder return, it's a relative metric. So what does this acronym stand for? It's the profitability rate of a share, where the dividend is factored in, and this is compared with a benchmark panel. The fifth component is a CSR-related criterion. It's also based on quantitative criteria. This component of the variable long-term remuneration is also subject to attendance conditions over the 3 financial years. Now as regards the other element, you can see some detailed information on this slide. They are the same as the policy approved last year. It's worth pointing out that in case of resignation, the severance pay clause is linked with performance conditions, fixed objectives that are assessed each year by the Board for the annual compensation -- the annual variable compensation for the 3 financial years before resignation. Exceptional remuneration in the form of shares approved during the 23rd of November 2023 General Meeting was granted in annual tranches to the Chief Executive with 3 distinct vesting periods. Like for the other tranches, the award for this financial year is subject to performance and attendance conditions that will be tested at the end of the current financial year. The final award will remain subject to the approval by the Shareholders' General Meeting that will have to approve the financial statements of the financial year ended on June 30, 2025. Should the Chief Executive resign, the Board may, at its discretion, waive the obligation to grant a noncompete payment. Last, there's no specific supplementary pension scheme. Now on to the remuneration structure for the Deputy CEO. Now you might tell me, we don't have one at the moment. However, in order to maintain the flexibility and ability of the Board of Directors to appoint a Deputy CEO on the proposal of the CEO, an annual fixed remuneration for a Deputy CEO has to be approved every year by shareholders in compliance with Article L22-10-8 of the code of commerce. Therefore, we propose to renew the applicable amounts until -- the amounts that were applicable until 2024, and that were approved last year. Last, let's look at the remuneration policy for Directors. The policy we are proposing to you remains unchanged in comparison with FY 2024. The remuneration -- the fixed remuneration of Director for the Chair of the Board stands at EUR 260,000. The fixed remuneration for other Directors is EUR 25,000. And you can see on the slide, as well as in Chapter 2 of the '23-'24 universal registration document, detailed information about the remuneration proposed for each committee of the Board. So all in all, the maximal annual budget for the compensation of Board members is stable and stands at EUR 1,690,000. So in conclusion, as you have seen, the changes that are put to you relative to the decisions made a year ago mainly relate to parameters. As you set the main components of the CEO's remuneration, but also of the management team last year already on completion of the merger. So the remuneration policy, which is put to you is commensurate with the challenges that the management team will have to rise to, particularly growing revenues, managing investments -- growth investment projects and keeping control of our finances. Thank you.

Thank you, Florence. Now Agnès Audier who Chairs the CSR Committee of your Board is going to present Eutelsat Communications' CSR commitments. Agnès could not attend this general meeting, so she accepted, and I'd like to thank her for that. She accepted to be filmed to address you on screen to discuss findings of her work. So let's just now watch this video on screen.

Of course, we're convinced that the integrity of environmental, societal and social priority is essential for the success of our operations and our strategy. Our mission is based on 4 pillars, the first of which are unique to the group and inherently linked with our business model. First, our commitment to responsible use of space. We undertake to ensure the long-term sustainability of the space operations by minimizing the risk of collisions and by ensuring we avoid to create nominal operation -- or debris from nominal operations in our satellite fleet. Then digital inclusion is an essential part of our CSR strategy. We act as a neutral and independent platform to distribute video content and to provide connectivity to those who need it most in unconnected areas, the world over. Third, of course, the climate emergency. We are determined to protecting the environment on earth and in space. Our mission is to reduce as much as possible, our carbon footprint. Last, we are determined to ensure equal opportunities by promoting inclusion and diversity, and we attach great importance to respect for our employees, customers and partners. As part of our commitment to fight climate change, we're going to focus on this. We set ambitious targets to reduce our carbon footprint. Of course, they are in line with the Paris Agreement. And as you know, this agreement seeks to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degree Celsius between now and the end of the century. To this end, we have defined practical actions to reduce our carbon footprint whilst continuing to develop our activities in a responsible and sustainable fashion. First, as regards Scopes 1 and 2, which, as you know, cover all emissions related to energy used by the company whether directly at Scope 1, or through energy purchases, Scope 2. So we have set ourselves a target to reduce in absolute terms, our carbon emissions by 50% between now and 2030 relative to 2021. This delivery, this strategy, includes several things. The reduction of our energy use will replace older and obsolete equipment, mainly in our teleports in order to improve their energy effectiveness, or efficiency rather. The installation of PV panels. We are continuing to roll out our large-scale PV panel installation program across our sites to produce our own green energy. And then we are going to switch to green energy contracts. We have already moved some of our sites, particularly in Italy, to green energy contracts by opting for the electricity generated from renewable sources, and we shall continue those efforts. As regards to Scope 3 now, which is very important for Eutelsat. Scope 3 covers all indirect GES -- or GHG emissions that result from the group's activity. We have a very ambitious objective. We want to cut our carbon intensity by satellite megabit by 52% between now and 2030. To reach this objective, we have launched several strategic initiatives such as extending the lifespan of our satellite in orbit, the reduction in the number of new satellites and launches. We will also work to improve the effectiveness of satellites by maximizing their transmission capacity. This can include the increase in megahertz or megabits relative to the satellite's weight. It's an important clarification. The group has been reporting since 2021. All of its Scope 3 emissions, including the impact of its geostationary satellite fleet. Of course, following the integration of OneWeb in its activities, Eutelsat Group has extended the calculation scope of its Scope 3 emissions to include the LEO satellite constellation and associated ground infrastructures. This is the holistic approach, which reflects the group's desire to better understand its carbon footprint, to strengthen its efforts in terms of sustainable development and to contribute to the fight against climate change at global scale. Let's now focus on reporting the CSRD letters. Currently, Eutelsat publishes every year, a report on its extra financial performance, which is part and parcel of our universal registration document. This report, of course, complies with the requirements of the French Code of Commerce, was audited by an external consultancy, Grant Thornton to makes sure it is transparent and complies with standards. As from 2025, in order to meet new European requirements on sustainability reporting, Eutelsat will replace this existing report with a new report, which will be compliant with the new CSRD European Directive. This legislation seeks to standardize reporting practices on sustainability within the EU to introduce minimal standards for the presentation and for -- or in terms of ESG content to ensure greater comparability. The new report will also have to be put -- will also have to be submitted to an external audit to ensure its compliance with CSRD's requirements. We propose to retain Ernst & Young and Forvis Mazars as external auditors who will be tasked with checking the compliance of our reporting with new sustainability obligations. Now in conclusion, I'd like to share some information, which I think really shows how serious we are about this. Some information about the full aspects I've presented. First, about the responsible use of space. First, the OneWeb Gen 1 Constellation was awarded the platinum rating in the SSR, Space Sustainability Rating assessment, which is the highest grade. And it underscores our commitment towards responsible use of space. Another example, Eutelsat, 1 of the 13 West B Eutelsat 10A and Eutelsat 33E were passivated and securely maneuvered into disposal orbit with the best technologies available in this area. Second aspect, reducing the digital divide. I'm delighted to tell you that we have reached 700,000 users of Wi-Fi connect hotspots in sub-Saharan Africa. In June 2022, Eutelsat partnered up with the International Telecommunications Union as part of a project, partner to connect. And Eutelsat has undertaken to connect 1 million under connected people in Sub-Saharan Africa between now and 2027. And in terms of environment, the group is strongly committed with SBTi. It has presented at -- it has presented its short-term targets in CO2 emission reduction, as I've just described. This process is currently pending approval. It should be approved in the second half of 2024. For those of you who are familiar with it, it's an important stage in terms of transparency for our objectives. Besides, we are actively involved in the working party managed by the government, Kourou Space, [indiscernible]. And last, I'm also delighted to share with you that the production of solar energy now teleports should improve by 4,000% between now and 2025. Last, in terms of social matters, the Committee of Diversity Champions was launched and is facilitated by group's employees. It affirms our commitment to diversity. So this is what we are doing, very strong commitments, and I think that we are leading the industry in this area. Thank you for your attention.

Well, I think we can appraise here, Agnès Audier and her work. She's been managing with great -- she's been managing activity in terms of CSR with great energy. Now the Chair of the Board is going to report on the conditions for the preparation and organization of the Board's work as well as for the work of committees. To this end, you can refer to the integrated corporate governance document in the universal registration document. The full text has been made available on the corporate website and at the head office, I will only address here items that require some clarifications. In short, as regards to the conditions for the preparation and organization of the Board's work in the past financial year, the Board convened 14x. The average attendance rate of its members was close to 96%. Since the 20th of September 2023, the Board of Directors, so that's 28th of September 2023 is when we completed the merger with OneWeb. The Board of Directors since that date has had 15 members, of which 60% are women. The independence rate is 66.6%. So on both these aspects, we largely meet statutory requirements and recommendations of the AFEP-MEDEF code. I'd like to seize this opportunity regarding the composition of the Board. To remind you that today, the renewal of Eva Berneke's term as Director will be put to your votes. And also Hanwha Systems UK will also be -- so the renewal of Hanwha Systems UK term as Director will be put to your votes. It's represented by Mr. Joo Yong Chung, unfortunately, could not be attend today. Hanwha is a high-tech Korean group, which is a shareholder of our company. Besides in its work, the Board is assisted by 5 specialized committees that issue recommendations to the Board on topics that are delegated to them. Over the course of the financial year, the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee convened 8x. The Nominations and Government Committee convened once. The Remuneration Committee convened 4x. The Corporate Social Responsibility Committee convened 3x, and the Strategic Committee convened 10x. I'm now going to hand over to Nicolas Mace, who represents the panel of statutory auditors. He is going to read out the different reports of the panel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, on behalf of the Board of Statutory Auditors, I would like to summarize the reports that we have issued. With regards to our reports on the annual and consolidated financial statements, our reports indicate that we have certified the annual financial statements without reservations. Our report also sets out the key audit issues relating to the risks of material misstatement and our responses to these risks. For the annual accounts now. Our assessments related to the valuation of investments. Our work mainly consisted in assessing the estimates used to determine the value and use of these shares. In addition, we have no comments to make with regards to the annual reports and other documents sent to shareholders, information on payment periods, information provided on the remuneration of corporate officers, and on compliance with the single European electronic information format in the presentation of annual accounts. If we now move on to the consolidated financial statements. Our assessments focused on 2 main areas. We had the valuation of fixed assets as well as the life cycles of satellites. We've also got the revenue recognition and impairment of trade receivable concerning the valuation of fixed assets and the use life of satellites. In particular, we examine the following: the work carried out by your group to determine the useful life of satellites and the consistency of these lives with technical data. The methods used to carry out impairment tests, methods for estimating the recovering amounts of goodwill and other assets of cash-generating units. Concerning revenue recognition impairment to trade receivables, our audit approach includes both tests on internal control as well as substantive tests on the accounts themselves. In particular, we analyze the contractual clauses on a sample of contracts and also examined the estimated recovery prospects. In addition, our report also states that we have no matters to report in connection with the information given in the Directors' report. We certified that the consolidated declaration of nonfinancial performance is included in the management report. We have also checked compliance with the single European electronic information format. Moving on to our special report on regulated agreements. We hereby advise that the following agreements entered into the year under review, which were authorized by your Board of Directors to begin whether we have the OneWeb shareholders' agreement that was concluded between OneWeb, Eutelsat S.A., Eutelsat Communications and the U.K. Secretary of State for Science Innovation and Technology. We have a second conventional agreement between Bharti Space Limited, SoftBank Group Capital Limited, Hanwha Systems UK Limited, Bpifrance Participations and the CMA-CGM Participations, and the U.K. Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, in addition, in accordance with the French Commercial Code. We have been informed that the tax consolidation agreement approved in previous years, continue to apply during the year under overview. Lastly, in the context of the Extraordinary General Meeting, we issued 2 reports in accordance with the 18th and 19th resolutions. These reports do not contain any specific observations. Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for listening to me.

Thank you. Prior to moving on to the oral questions that we have, and we will answer the written questions that we received, responses, of which will also be made available on the company's website in accordance with the regulations. And for this, I would give the full to the Secretary of our assembly.

Thank you very much my dear shareholders. In the run up to this general meeting, we received a number of written questions. We want to -- in the interest of brevity and to enable shareholders present in the room to take part in the question-and-answer session. We have grouped these questions by theme for the response to the meeting. As a preamble, I would like to remind you that the issues raised in these written questions are taken very seriously at Eutelsat at the highest level of the company and have been for years. Our activities are strictly supervised by numerous public regulatory authorities with whom we maintain an ongoing dialogue. Eutelsat [indiscernible] respect the decisions of the competent authorities, particularly with regard to international sanctions. In particulates, Eutelsat applies and will apply all Directors issued by the French authorities with whom the group maintained an ongoing dialogue.

We have a first question looking at the application of European sanctions against Russian Media Group sanctions since December 2022. The question is the following, why is Eutelsat not applying the European sanctions targeting groups such as VGTRK National Media Group [indiscernible] despite being included in the directly applicable Regulation 269/2014? It is not true that you Eutelsat is not applying the restrictive measures taken under regulation number 2014-269 EU with regard to these groups. The purpose of this regulation is to freeze assets and the prohibited provision of resources to targeted groups, but it does not designate channels to be suspended by name. Unlike regulation 2014/833, which prohibits the broadcasting with specific list of channels. We have been in dialogue now for several months with relevant French authorities, the French treasury and now [indiscernible] in order to understand the precise scope of the regulation in relation to our business. European Commission has clarified the notion of making economic resources available, which may include the provision of satellite capacity. However, today, Eutelsat has received neither a recommendation to act nor an injunction from the French authorities, which illustrates the complexity of the situation. As a private operator, Eutelsat does not have the legacy to decide unilaterally, which channel should be suspended under this text. Dialogue is therefore being actively pursued in order to arrive at a clear situation. Eutelsat undertakes, and this in keeping with its commitment to compliance to comply with any recommendation made by the authority, whatever its form. We had a second question concerning the absence of any mention of the financial impact on European sanctions on Russian Media Group and Eutelsat's Universal Registration Document. The question is the following, why at the EU sanctions in regulation 2014/269 and their potential financial risk not mentioned in the Universal Registration Document for 2023-2024? This Universal Registration Document was drawn up in compliance with the strictest standards of regulatory and financial transparency. Risks are mentioned when they are clearly identified, but also proven with regards to the sanctions measure, the situation has not changed since last year. As I've just explained, the scope of the sanctions has not been clarified by the competent authorities and therefore, remains uncertain for Eutelsat. Eutelsat has not received any instructions from these authorities regarding their implementation. Consequently, as was the case last year, any financial impact is impossible to estimate. And there is no reason to mention it in our official publications. We would like to point out, however, that the geographical diversification of our activities allows us to limit the potential impact or repercussions of such measures. The third question concerns the broadcasting of bouquets in the occupied and annexed territories of Ukraine containing channels sanctioned by the Ukrainian authorities. The question is as follows, how do you justify the broadcasting of the NTV+ and Tricolor bouquets in the occupied and annexed territories of Ukraine in alleged violation of Ukrainian sanctions at this daytime as withdrawal western channels from the Russian channels that you carry? Regarding the withdrawal of Western and opposition channels from the Russian packages for NTV and Tricolor, it's essential to stress that Eutelsat has no involvement whatsoever in the compensation of these bouquets or these packages. They are aggregated independently by our customers who fully assume the editorial responsibility, in particular, under national laws. In this context, it is their responsibility to ensure that their activities comply rather with the rules of the jurisdictions concerned Eutelsat provides satellite capacity that has no control over the content broadcast. Eutelsat's responsibility is to ensure that its capacity was not used to broadcast channels that are sanctioned by the European authorities. If a channel is sanctioned, we immediately suspend the contractual relationship associated with the transponder concern. As far as the marketing of packages or bouquets in the annexed territories of Ukraine is concerned, there is nothing to suggest that we're in breach of European nor European sanctions, and this is a matter exclusively for Ukrainian national law. It is also important to remember that in context of the conflict in Ukraine, Eutelsat has contributing directly to is the broadcasting of Svoboda. The new package of independent Russian language channels promoted by the organization reports without borders, which provides Russian speaking populations in Europe with access to 8 TV channels and 3 radio channels permitting a high-quality domestic approach. We have a fourth question now concerning the past broadcasting of the Almandine channel from Sardinia. The question is as follows, how is it that for years, 3 years satellites have been transmitting Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen from the Eutelsat teleports in Sardinia without the necessary authorization from Agcom. The Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen, which was up linked from Sardinia, stopped broadcasting from Italy as soon as Agcom, the Italian regulatory authority, pointed out that the channel did not have a license. As soon as the noncompliance was brought to our attention, we took the necessary steps to put an end to the situation. A fifth question looks at the broadcasting of several boutique channels in particular Almasirah. Question is the following, why is Eutelsat broadcasting [indiscernible] regime channels known for their anti-semitic content and incitement of violence. Do you really need the authorities to stop providing capacity for such propaganda inciting hatred and terrorism? The Almasirah channel is not on any official list of entities sanctioned by the European Union and is not subject to any regulatory prohibition. Eutelsat has no legitimacy to suspend its broadcast by passing judgment on its content, and its broadcast on our satellites remain legal. If the competent regulator were to decide to suspend it, or if the channel were to be subject to a European Union sanction, Eutelsat would implement these measures as well. Another question concerns the jurisdiction responsible for reporting comments made by non-European channels. Question is as following: following an innovation by Agcom, the Al Mayadeen channel is no longer transmitted from Italy, but it's still forecast on 3 of the Eutelsat satellites. Could you tell us to which national authority I can report the comments made on this channel? If you wish to report potentially problematic content broadcast by Al Mayadeen or any other channel, Eutelsat being established in France, we invite you to send a request to Agcom, which will examine the matter or forward it to the competent authority. And we have a final question concerning the verification of content broadcast on Eutelsat satellites. The question is the following: how does Eutelsat check that the Arabic language channels, broadcast on its satellites do not contain incitements to anti-semitic hatred and the destruction of Israel? Eutelsat imposes strict contractual clauses on its customers requiring them to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including those prohibiting incitement to hatred or violence. However, Eutelsat, as a technical operator, has neither the competence nor the legal means to systematically verify the content of channels carried on its satellite. This is the exclusive responsibility of the competent authorities, which have the right to control content deemed to be illegal. These authorities have the legal tools as well as the expertise required to analyze, to qualify and to decide on the legality of the content broadcast. Eutelsat strictly and immediately applies all decisions issued by regulators or competent authorities. These fundamental principle guides our role as an operator respectful of the legal frameworks in forcing concerns to preserve the balance between our regulatory and contractual obligations.

Thank you. Madam Secretary, we will now open the debate before voting on the resolutions. There is a microphone -- a roving microphone in the room, I believe, so that you can ask your questions. A gentle reminder that questions must relate to our agenda and the draft resolutions. I would be grateful if you could ask us questions that are different to the written questions that we have already answered. And please kindly introduce yourself prior to asking your question.

Mr. Chair. I'm a minority shareholder. My -- I have several questions that I would like to put forward. When I joined Eutelsat, the share price is at EUR 12. And now after the integration of OneWeb, the share price is EUR 3.50. So my question is the following, what was the interest? Why did we -- why should a minority shareholder be happy about the fact that we have the merger with OneWeb, given the phenomenal fall in share price of the share, because I think that you have actually even priority to majority shareholders are not minority shareholders in taking this decision. I would like to understand what led to this integration because this actually was not in our best interest as minority shareholders. And the second question is the following. When you say that you are looking to align everyone's interest amongst the shareholding structure, I'm actually slightly surprised. Maybe I didn't understand what you were trying to say because there was something that completes -- a completely baffles me, especially when I see the annual bonuses for this year and next year. So for the year '23, '24. EUR 1.2 million for the DG. And I don't really understand why she's getting this bonus. I don't -- because I think that the alignment of everyone's interest is directly contrary to what I've understood. And my last question, if I may, is once again on the fixed basis salaries. We saw the table earlier that was presented. So we saw that the fixed base salary for the DG last year, it was, I think, was EUR 848,000. And now we're looking at EUR 945,000. So it's an increase of 12%, and you're saying that the salary is stable, which is -- so here, once again, we must not have the same understanding of figures nor the language that we're using.

I'm just quickly going to answer this, so why did we go into this operation with OneWeb. You saw the evolution of our sales with regards to different activities. Our main activities obviously used to be video, but we see that there is a decline of about 7% or 8% in video each year. This is continuing this year. Our competitors are also undergoing the same sort of evolution. It's the market. It's just part and parcel of the market. Now people are watching TV on the Internet. This is -- it's the Netflix effect, but it's not just Netflix and lots of other platforms as well. You can access TV through ground networks, for example, the Internet, but also you can do this from your mobile telephone. Therefore, there are a few people using satellite to watch TV. Therefore, if we would have stayed concentrated on this business or this activity, we would now be explaining why we've got a decrease of 7% to 8% of sales per year, and our capacity to distribute anything would have also been very quickly cuts off, and we would have had to shut up shop. Say -- I don't think it's fair to say that it was the merger with OneWeb that led to our share price decreasing. We can see competitors who have also had their share price decrease, and they had no mergers on their front. I think that this decrease in share price is because the market is very doubtful with regards to the future. This doubt hasn't been overcome. It's about the future of space activities and the assimilation of these activities with the geostationary satellites. We have taken the plant. We have taken that waiver and all of the different shareholders within the Board and all of the different Board members felt that we need to get out of the trap and invest in, obviously, a very bold or daring fashion in an activity that is growing. And the growth is being fed from the decrease or the decline of geostationary satellites. Therefore, the fact that we wanted to invest in OneWeb was a wager, so that we were looking to come back to a situation where we were in positive growth and where we could find a way out, but a positive way out. The role of the state in this domain is not more important than our other shareholders. We don't have a majority -- this is not a majority shareholder. We also have the participation 29% of the capital when we started discussions, when we decided that we were going to go ahead with the merger with OneWeb. The BPI has about 12%, if my memory serves me correctly. There are no particular rights that are different of other shareholders, other Eutelsat shareholders. And you cannot -- for 1 single session -- second think that the French government imposed anything with regards to the decision that was taken. They were favorable to the operations, yes. But it was -- all of the different Board members were also -- also voted for this, and it was voted for by the general meeting. I don't think that we can say that it was just the states who bulldozed their way through. And if we now think about aligning everyone's interests, and the policy of remuneration, the interest of shareholders, what Florence wanted to share with you is the fact that we had a part -- a variable remuneration for Eva Berneke that should be linked to the stock market, but that's only a part of her remuneration. We have an activity that is characterized by very long -- very, very long cycles. We cannot only look at the stock market as an indicator for value creation and the objective that needs to be hit. We have different parameters that also need to be taken into consideration, different criteria when calculating variable remuneration, and we need to look at all of the different elements of the bigger picture. I do know that the stock market is not in our favor. It upsets me as lot as you. You bought a EUR 12, I bought at EUR 18 per share price. So you've got off a little bit better than I have. Unfortunately, this evolution has not only had a detrimental effect on you, but on me as well. But I am convinced that this movement towards a low orbit constellation for all of the different elements of the market, all of the indicators are telling us that this is what the future holds if we want to secure the future of our business. So there you go, that was our rationale. And for the fixed base, yes, you are right for the presentation. But it's important to understand that if that Eva Berneke's fixed salary was increased in the middle of last year. And this was also approved by this general meeting. We also had the full year effect of -- for the whole of the financial year that is just finished. It is not a new increase. This is just because you are seeing the fact that it's a full calendar year. And for 2025, we are not suggesting a further increase of her salary. Thank you very much. Eva, I'm not sure if you want to jump in here when it -- for the merger with OneWeb? Yes, the gentleman over there.

I am a very, very minority shareholder, and I actually bought it for an even higher share price than you did. I'm starting to regret it. I also have a question with the alignment of everyone's interest because as a shareholder, I'm not looking at the EBITDA. I'm looking at results. My first question is the following: when do you think that we're going to have a positive result? Because that's what's important for shareholders. My second question is the following: the EBITDA is very useful for banks because I imagine that banks loan or lend money based on hedging and based on the EBITDA ratio. However, what for me is a little bit, we're looking at the result before lots of different things, including amortization. However, Eutelsat just launched 2 satellites -- 2 GEO satellites, a year or 2 ago, I believe. The DG has her remuneration that is based on the connectivity side of things, so for LEOs. What does that mean? Does that mean the -- we shouldn't have invested in GEO? And if that is the case, there will be depreciation and amortization, but what is the impact going to be on investment? Because we are concentrating our efforts or -- on EBITDA, which comes in before amortization. However, for us as shareholders, we want you to look at the results and also the mistakes made from an investment point of view. And then in the information provided, I also read that low orbit satellites, you're thinking about the next generation now, so generation 2 of low orbit satellites. So does this mean that the satellites that you've just launched, because the deployment of the LEO satellites took last year, I believe, so these no longer -- are they not going to be used anymore? Are they -- are you going to disband them? What is quite concerning for me. And then I have a last question. This is more of a technical question. I saw that there was a startup that was looking at breakthrough technology with the 5G and satellites. So marrying the 2 together. Is this something that is going to impact you? What does this represent for you as a threat or as competition? And in addition, the acronym that was given, LEO, what does LEO mean? It's low something orbit, but what's the e, low earth orbit?

It is an acronym looking at constellations that are between 500,000 and 100,000 kilometers. GEOs are about 36,000 kilometers. So for the EBITDA question, and then I will get the floor back to you Eva, who will be able to give you a more information. The EBITDA, yes, I think it is an imperfect indicator. And for a certain number of activities, it's probably a dangerous activity because, as you mentioned, lots of elements are not taken into account. It excludes taxes, interest, we're only measuring profitability of expectation, but 2 elements, so amortization, as you mentioned, and also depreciation. So the 2. This depreciation makes a lot of sense for an activity such as ourselves because we want to measure what is happening before depreciation, but let me explain to you why. Because [indiscernible] activity that is based on infrastructure. This consists on spending a lot of money from the get-go so that we're able to create an asset that is then going to generate activity. So sales, profits, we hope and cash. And we are also going to be depreciating the money that will have been invested over previous years. It would be the same thing if we were to drill a tunnel or whatever. It's the same type of -- if we're talking about oil drilling or this other type of activities. EBITDA shows us what is the cash generation potential prior to taking into consideration just this accounting, so depreciation. Depreciation is money that has been spent, yes. And shareholders have spent this money, but this money has been spent prior. Depreciation is not we're spending money right now, it's money that has been spent. So the EBITDA is used as an indicator because it is a proxy, if you will. It substitutes cash generation that is linked to the asset that has been financed. And this explains why a lot of companies that are based on infrastructure analysts used the notion of EBITDA to measure the efficiencies, so the economic efficiency of the business. I completely agree with what you said, what's important at the end of the day is right at the bottom, that figure at the bottom, after interest, after sanction, after -- or it's not sanction per se, but taking into consideration the fact that we're having to finance our debt with loans. Taxes, if there are any taxes. And this gives us a net result, which is in the basis of remuneration for shareholders. Therefore, the net result is obviously something that is taken into account in our works. Nonetheless, economic efficiency of the infrastructure that was created and OneWeb was created prior to us integrating this depreciation into our accounts. This does have an impact on our results, but it's not cash that was spent by the Eutelsat shareholders. It was actually the OneWeb shareholders that spent this money. But maybe I can give the floor to Eva so that she can give you a little bit more information and technical information.

Thank you, Dominique, for discussing the financials and to discuss the method we used for the KPIs. Now as regards to what you've said, satellites, LEO satellites, have a life span of at least 5, but let's say, rather 6 to 7.5 years or 6, 6.5 years. That's the current estimate. The first 2 batches of LEO satellites of OneWeb were launched in 2019, which means that we'll have to start thinking pretty soon about replacement satellites for these batches. That's why we're currently thinking about this renewal. And you referred to a startup that works with 5G. That's quite a good question. For 2 years already, we've been discussing standards in this sector. And this is an industry that wasn't much affected by standards of -- we've seen in 5G, 4G telecoms. These are the standards that everybody has embraced. And now, as you know, we take part in industrial groupings that are starting to define these standards for 5G for satellites. And it's true, the next low earth orbit satellite batches should use waves and ground equipment that would be close to what is used in 5G. Now I don't know exactly what startup you referred to, but we have a cooperation in the industry to work closer to 5G. And generally speaking, also to work on standards in the telecoms industry.

Good afternoon. My name is Andre Lange. I think I can say that I'm one of the architects of the sanctions passed by the outcome against Russia in 2023. I'm also one of the creators of this [ Levada ] project. And I'd like to thank Eutelsat for this project. It's now one of the few options for Russian citizens to watch news other than the government news. First, I'd like to thank you for your answers to written questions. First, just a few comments. European sanctions passed under regulation 219/74 are immediately applicable sanctions. And there are the same legal nature as the sanctions passed in 2022 against the Iranian state broadcaster, the IRIB that you immediately applied without any need for the French regulator to intervene. So I understand why you're saying that you need some instructions from ARCOM to determine what channels are concerned here. Well, there are -- they are -- they can be identified very easily. I've seen the last 2 to 3 days that Zvezda, the radio station of Zvezda, the military, which was on the Eutelsat satellite 36D, the new satellites are off. This satellite according to information that we could read in one of the authoritative outlets on this. Now I'm a bit surprised to see that it took 1 year to determine what channels broadcast by Russian companies, and you're quite familiar with them because you have 2 subsidiaries in Russia. So I suppose it's quite easy to find information about this. Now as regards channels that champion terrorism in the Middle East. For the record, in December last year, ARCOM sent you a formal warning about 2 Hamas' channels that returned to -- on to your satellite, on the broadcasting with -- of your satellite, despite some warnings. In December 2022, a decision have been issued that -- reminded that it was for operators to ensure that their customers abide by the law. So if -- when it's about in station to antisemitism, in station -- or rather the promotion of the 7th of October terrorist attacks against the civilian or Israeli population last year. When -- for example, when it comes to [ woofies ] or the promotion of [ woofies ] attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea, I think it's a no-brainer. These are messages that are contrary to the law. And I think that you must take your responsibilities and not wait for the regulator's instructions.

I'll let you answer this.

Thank you, sir, for your question. And thank you for what you said about our activities with [ Sloboda ] and reporters without borders, RSF in French. You're quite right. It's one of the important actions that we take for Ukraine. That's very important to us as a company. Now as regards to your question on Article 269 and the immediate applicability. You're absolutely right, legally speaking. I am not going to embark upon legal speech here. However, the immediate applicability doesn't mean that there cannot be any difficulties in constructing or interpreting these instruments. Now the groups that these channels belong to are under sanction, but the channels aren't. There are lots of indirect links that we need to trace back and assess particularly as regards control. And this complexity is not to be found in all situations, as you rightly said depending on the groups that can be targeted by sanctions. So depending on situations, we decided to engage with regulatory bodies and competent authorities to make sure that Eutelsat correctly enforces the law. It's important because it's also what enables us on a daily basis to make sure that we don't take any steps that are contrary to the law. It is not for us to make any judgment on content. It is not what we do. It's not our job. However, we must secure information to right to make sure we properly apply the law when required. So this work is currently underway. I understand that you might be frustrated that this dialogue is taking time. I understand that you can be shocked by some of the content as some people have been. But this dialogue is underway. And as soon as we have received clarification, we'll take necessary steps, and we will take them forthwith or immediately. I think that, in my answer, I have dealt with your 2 questions, the 269 and illegal rhetoric. I think it's very important to bear in mind this fundamental principle that we have in France that we set great store to the fact that Liberty is the primary principle and sanctions or rather censorship is an exception or the exception. Depending on the situation, we have to assess -- we have to make an assessment. When things are quite clear, we apply the law. If -- when things are unclear, we engage with authorities. Sir, in the middle of the auditorium.

Mr. Chair. I've been an individual shareholder for about 10 years. And I have 2 questions for you. First, when the suspension of dividend payout -- the dividend payout was announced, I think that if I recollect correctly, it was for 2 financial years. Do you have a better visibility now on the potential date for the resumption of dividend payouts? Second question, the -- what's the stake currently is to switch video satellite to connectivity, particularly for government agencies. Are you forecasting any development in activity for defense? And is satellite equipment compliant with the defense-related uses without having to make heavy investments?

Thank you for your question. Let me hand over to Eva.

About dividends first. We said 2 to 3 years. We have no plans to offer payout this year. Now as regards the transition towards connectivity for defense. In our update last year, I think we talked about pilot scheme EGNOS. It's a GEO military satellites. But we also have a lot of interest in LEO satellites, low earth orbit satellites for military applications. It's not necessary for weapons. It can also be for digitization of the military. And the same goes for European and American armed forces. U.S. -- the U.S. military buys a lot of capacity. There's always been -- there have always been lots of purchases on our capacity and a good renewal rate. Now after several years of substantial drops following the withdrawal of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, where we had a lot of capacity working for them, things are plateauing or stabilizing rather. But the DoD, the U.S. DoD and the U.S. military remain good customers. They're also interested in low earth orbit satellites, even though they are also major customers for some of our competitors like Starlink for example.

Are there any other questions? If not, let me thank you for your questions that addressed important matters and that have been at the heart of our debates, we regularly discuss this. I suggest we now move on to the vote on resolutions. Maybe just a quick reminder on the quorum. Absolutely. We still have the required quorum to vote on draft resolutions, ordinary and extraordinary resolutions. So unless opposed by one of the attending shareholders, Mr. Chair, I suggest we do not read in for the draft resolutions put to the vote of the meeting that were made available for shareholders in compliance with legal and statutory provisions within the statutory and legal deadlines. I will only read the shorter versions. For the record, the resolutions -- the ordinary resolutions, Resolutions' 1 to 17 and Resolution 20 will be passed with a simple majority of attending or represented votes. Extraordinary Resolutions' 18 and 19 will be passed with the qualified majority, 2/3 of attending or represented votes. We are now going to vote on resolutions, starting with ordinary ones. After the video that is going to give you a reminder on how to vote with the tablets that were handed to you on your way in. To vote on the general meetings resolution, you were given a tablet. It is strictly personal and will only be used during this general meeting. When the vote on the resolution is announced, the voting window will pop up automatically on your tablet even though -- even if the tablet is on standby. Voting is extremely easy. Press the button of your choice, against, abstention -- and for abstention, against. Press okay to confirm your choice before the end of voting. Once your vote has been confirmed, you cannot change it. Please make sure you return your tablets on your way out of the auditorium. Let's now move on to the vote on resolutions. Resolution 1, approval of reports and annual statements for the financial year ended on the 30th of June 2024. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Do not forget to confirm your vote. Voting is over. The resolution has been passed. Resolution 2, approval of reports and consolidated statements for the financial year ended on June 30, 2024. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 3, allocation of the profit for the financial year ended on 30th of June 2024. No dividend will be paid. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been passed. Resolution 4, approval of related party agreements defined by Article L225-38 and following of the Code of Commerce. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 5, renewal of Mrs. Eva Berneke's term as Director. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 6, ratification of the appointment of Hanwha Systems UK Limited as Director. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 7, appointment of Ernst & Young and others as statutory auditors tasked with the certification of sustainability information. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 8, appointment for this Forvis Mazars SA as statutory auditors for the certification of sustainability information. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 9, approval of information pertaining to the compensation of corporate officers for the financial year ended on June 30, 2024, mentioned in Article L. 22-10-9 of the Code of Commerce. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 10, approval of the fixed components of the full remuneration paid or awarded for Mr. Dominique D'Hinnin's term as Chair of the Board of Directors for the financial year ended on June 30, 2024. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your vote on the tablets. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 11, approval of the fixed, variable and exceptional components of the total remuneration and all benefits of any kind paid or granted in connection with Mrs. Eva Berneke's term as Chief Executive Officer for the financial year ended on June 30, 2024. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been passed. Resolution 12, approval of the compensation policy for the Chair of the Board. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 13, approval of the remuneration policy for the Chief Executive. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 14, approval of the policy of remuneration for Deputy Chief Executives. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 15, approval of the remuneration policy for Directors. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 16, determination of the remuneration budget for the Board of Directors. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 17, authorization to be granted to the Board of Directors for the company to purchase its own shares. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 18, authorization to be granted to the Board of Directors to reduce the share capital by canceling shares acquired by the company as part of its share buyback scheme. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 19, authorization to be granted to the Board of Directors to grant free existing or future ordinary shares for eligible employees and corporate officers of the company or its subsidiaries, resulting in the disapplication of preemptive rights. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Resolution 20, authority to carry out formalities. Voting is open. [Voting]

Please make sure you confirm your votes. Voting is over. The resolution has been adopted. Right, this last vote concludes our general meeting. I'd be delighted to see again next year and hopefully, until then, our share price will evolve more favorably, at least we -- we're working on it. I do hope as well that Paris is not -- now covered in snow. We'll see. Have a lovely day. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]