Renta 4 | The acquisition of Hispasat gives Indra a 43% stake in Hisdesat (military segment) which, together with the 7% it already owns, gives it control of Hisdesat and allows it to consolidate it. Indra will announce the degree of consolidation in its 4Q24 results presentation (Thursday 27 February).
Hispasat and Hisdesat significantly boost Indra’s presence in upstream activities, with a potential market of around €36 million and EBITDA margins of 5%/20% and downstream, a very large market (€169 million) and much higher EBITDA margins, around 50%, which includes civil and military activities (Hisdesat).
Indra would be the most integrated European space company. Its focus would be on upstream (design and manufacture) of satellites in low and medium orbit (at around 2,000 km), more standardised and with the possibility of industrialising around 60% of the components, and on ground stations. It would have a reduced presence in satellites in high orbit (35,000 kms), a market that would not be strategic and would not have exposure to satellite launch work. In downstream, it will cover both civil communications, navigation, observation and space traffic management and military (Hisdesat) activities.
Hispasat’s current order book is around €750 million and Hisdesat’s is around €1,250 million, for a total of €2,000 million.
This acquisition places Indra among the European leaders in space and gives it access to participate in European projects, including IRIS 2, one of the four main European space programmes, aimed at guaranteeing secure communications. The objective is to achieve Tier 1 status with global presence between 2027/30.
The capex for the next five years will reach around €400 million of which 60% (€240 million) will be financed by the European Commission.
Synergies are expected to derive from both revenues and costs. They are estimated at €20/30 million until 2026 and €50/70 million until 2030.
Hispasat and Hisdesat’s financial targets are: €400 million in 2026 (CAGR up 9% 23/26), EBITDA €190 million (up 47% versus 2023), EBIT €50 million (up 12% versus 2023) and positive FCF in 2025 and 2026 maintaining the 2026 estimated net debt/EBITDA multiple < 1x with no asset veins.
Assessment: We believe the deal makes sense from a strategic point of view and highlight that the acquired companies start from a strong financial position and have a backlog that offers high visibility. At the 4Q24 earnings conference call (Thursday 27 February), we will be watching for more details on the Hisdesat consolidation to clear doubts about the purchase multiple. In our view, the expected synergies could appear optimistic: 34% of the capital value. P.O. €28.3. Overweight.
