By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Michal Aleksandrowicz
(Reuters) -Shares in Eutelsat surged more than 60% on Tuesday, extending their gains after rising 68% a day before, as recent geopolitical developments raised the prospect of OneWeb satellites replacing Elon Musk’s Starlink in Ukraine.
The French satellite group’s shares have almost tripled in value since Friday’s close, after the clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump raised to question Starlink’s future in Ukraine.
“Shares are up on the prospect of switching the Ukrainian army’s contract from Starlink to Eutelsat’s OneWeb and overall on the fact that OneWeb is the best like-for-like alternative to Starlink,” Stephane Beyazian, analyst at Oddo BHF, told Reuters.
A White House official said anonymously on Monday that Trump would pause all military aid to Ukraine, paving the way for Europe to step up its efforts in supplying the country.
The European Commission also proposed on Tuesday a 800 billion euro ($841 billion) defence plan for Europe.
Eutelsat on Monday doubled down on its commitment to boosting Europe’s satellite autonomy and providing internet access to Ukraine.
“Yesterday’s remarks by Eutelsat (they are committing additional satellite capacity to the region) highlights Eutelsat’s importance for European defence capabilities,” ING analyst Jan Frederik Slijkerman said.
Until recently, the prospects of the European satellite industry were questioned due to strong U.S. competition, despite a strong commitment by the European Commission towards the planned IRIS² satellite constellation, Slijkerman added.
Eutelsat has been struggling with keeping investors’ confidence amid growing concerns over its debt and mounting competition from Space X’s Starlink.
In February, its shares dropped to all-time lows after it flagged more losses from its geostationary satellites.
“Investors were heavily short on Eutelsat shares due to its heavy cash burn,” Beyazian said.
($1 = 0.9510 euros)
(Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz and Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)
