Galvan rated ISAT a buy at 695p on 11/2/2011 when Harbinger Capital Partners sold its remaining 14% stake in Inmarsat.

Morgan Stanley today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and cut its price target to 550p (from 620p).

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat reported group revenue in 2017 rose by 5.4% to $1.40bn from $1.33bn but earnings fell 8% to $731.5m from $795m the year before.

The company said it would pay a final dividend of 12 cents per share, after reducing annual dividend to 20 cents per share, giving total dividend of 33.62 cents per share. The lower dividend comes as the company said it requires sufficient financial resources to investment in the IFC segment in aviation. The lack of visibility over future cash payments from Ligado Networks beyond the end of 2018 was also cited as a headwind.

Revenues of the group's largest division, maritime, fell 1.8% to $564.7m but its government (the firm's second largest business unit) and aviation (fourth largest) arms reported improved performance, up 11% and 36.7% respectively.

Profit after tax fell 25.1% to $182.3m from $243m. Rupert Pearce, Chief Executive Officer, said: 'Inmarsat delivered further operational and strategic progress in 2017, comprising both gratifying near term revenue growth as well as several important strategic proof-points around exciting medium term growth opportunities, especially in IFC. 'Our investment in Global Xpress, our high bandwidth global mobile satellite network, is starting to show material returns, generating over $140m of revenue in the year. Our strategic investment in GX will enable us to retain and develop our competitive positions in Maritime and Government and will ensure that we are well placed to access the substantial opportunity in IFC in Aviation.' 'In Maritime, we made important strategic progress in securing the long term future for Fleet Xpress, with significant commitments signed with leading distribution partners. After a challenging year in 2016, which continued into Q1 2017, we delivered quarter-on-quarter growth throughout the year, and year-on-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter.' 'In Government, we delivered on our strategy to diversify our contracted revenue base and product base, supported by another excellent operational performance during the year. In Aviation, we further established our market position in IFC, through commercial momentum and strategic investment, and our Core business delivered double digit revenue growth throughout 2017.' 'In Enterprise, notwithstanding current challenges, we remain optimistic about the long term future demand for M2M connectivity in the emerging global internet of things ("IoT") market.' 'Given Inmarsat's track record, unique capabilities and differentiated market position, we are well placed to continue to grow our revenues in 2018 and beyond and to capture significant additional medium term growth opportunities available to us, particularly in in-flight connectivity.'

JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its neutral investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and cut its price target to 580p (from 690p).

RBC Capital Markets today reaffirms its outperform investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and cut its price target to 725p (from 825p).

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and cut its price target to 575p (from 850p).

Back to 2012 levels.

Think I may buy some of these for my ISA in April. Can't see them going bust and may be at an attractive price for a predator, though regulatory hurdles would probably scupper any bid.

Exane BNP Paribas today reaffirms its underperform investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and cut its price target to 400p (from 610p).

HSBC today reaffirms its hold investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and cut its price target to 365p (from 430p).

StockMarketWire.com
Satellite firm Inmarsat swung to a net profit in the first quarter of the year as revenue rose 5%, supported by growth from its aviation, enterprise and maritime divisions.

Net profit rose to $53.6m in the first quarter from a net loss of $5.6m the previous year. While, pre-tax profit rose to $56m from $1.3m.

Revenue rose 5% to $345.5m as revenue growth from the firm's maritime, aviation and enterprise divisions offset weaker revenue from its government division.

Inmarsat maintained its full-year guidance including annual capital expenditure of between $500m and $600m each year from 2018 to 2020. While 2018 revenue, excluding Ligado, was expected in the range of $1,300m to $1,500m.

HARRYCAT, I read recently that GB, after BREXIT is thinking about having its own GPS satellites, for positioning purposes. This would allow us to offer data for most of Europe with just three geo-stationary satellites ( but being stationary they might be vulnerable to military attack? )..... Any connection with Inmarsat, who have experience and at least one satellite up . . . . -or- do they "rent" space on someone else's?.
On "BBC-Click" some months ago, folks in California were experimenting with tiny satellites, about 100mm cube . . . presumably the idea being much lower launch-cost...... Cost of Electronics is going down...and...size/weight also.... Self-driving cars will need much more accurate data, than available . . . so these satellites might be placed over major cities, if small/cheap enough. Of course there could be very-local beacons also, so your car can drive into the garage. Some data will be in-car, camera-based I realise.... but cars need to up-load new data somewhere too.
Cheers.
Any Thoughts?

There is so much to ISAT that it's probably best you read their blurb.

https://www.inmarsat.com/about-us/

https://www.inmarsat.com/about-us/our-satellites/

I think that their primary use is for communication rather than GPS, as the comms side of things produces a constant revenue stream.
There are a few competitors out there, demonstrated by the plethora of space junk floating around, but ISAT seem to be pretty focused. Just a matter of staying a few steps ahead of the competition, which as you say, is probably trying to reduce the size and weight of the payload which is expensive to put into orbit. I don't think that ISAT have much input yet into the self driving car market.

StockMarketWire.com
Inmarsat said the UN's International Maritime Organisation had approved a new fleet safety product to be used by ship owners, but the announcement did little to arrest a steep fall in its share price.

The company's shares were hit by news late on Monday that the IMO had ended its monopoly on satellite services for the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, or GMDSS.

A competitor, Iridium Communications, said that its mobile-satellite system had also been recognized by the IMO for GMDSS use. The IMO also approved a request by Chinese group BeiDou Navigation Satellite System for evaluation of its GMDSS proposal.

Inmarsat Martime president Ronald Spithout congratulated both companies for their successful applications.

'We look forward to welcoming them both as GMDSS service providers in the coming years,' he said.

'Together, we must strive to maintain and enhance the exceptionally high standards required by the IMO and demanded by the maritime industry as the lifeline for seafarers at sea.'

Inmarsat confirmed that its so-called Fleet Safety solution had formally been approved by the IMO as a new service to the support the GMDSS.

'Ship owners and operators will now be able to combine maritime safety and broadband data services in a single FleetBroadband or Fleet One terminal provided by Inmarsat,' the company said.

'Tens of thousands of vessels are already equipped with FleetBroadband or Fleet One, making the adoption of Fleet Safety simple and hassle free.'

The new service would be delivered over the existing Inmarsat-4 constellation and the new Inmarsat-6 satellites; the first of which is due for launch in 2020, the company said.

sp graph doesn't look good - this Ann. should be a boost - if it gives them a cost-free ( almost), extra-income stream..... from existing ships. Also it gives Owners another reason to use their services....YET the sp has fallen . . . . quite a lot this month and over several months even more. Could this be competition? -now that launching a satellite is relatively "easy" now that satellites are more-reliable and smaller - needing less power, etc, etc,.

RBC Capital Markets today reaffirms its outperform investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and raised its price target to 850p (from 725p).

Statement regarding possible offer for Inmarsat plc by Echostar Corporation
The Board of Inmarsat plc ("Inmarsat" or "the Company") notes today's recent press speculation and movement in its share price and confirms that it received a highly preliminary and indicative non-binding proposal from Echostar Corporation in relation to the potential acquisition of the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of Inmarsat (the "Proposal").

After carefully considering the Proposal with its advisers the Board rejected the Proposal on the basis that it very significantly undervalued Inmarsat and its standalone prospects. The Board remains highly confident in the independent strategy and prospects of Inmarsat.

There can be no certainty either that any firm offer will be made or as to the terms on which any offer might be made. A further announcement will be made in due course as appropriate.

Numis comment:
"We do not advise shorting ISAT's stock but, unless the company's value prospects are better detailed than they have been hitherto, we think shareholders should reduce holdings if the share price climbs materially higher. This is because (i) we believe Echostar will not follow through, (ii) we doubt ISAT shareholders will get clarity over the likelihood and NPV of future Ligado cash soon enough, and (iii) we believe the threat from Iridium to ISAT's NPV will keep growing at pace. We made numerous small changes to our ISAT forecasts post 1Q FY18 results, so our Target Price inches back from 450p to 430p per share."

From Bloomberg - Dinesh Nair:
EchoStar Corp. is considering raising its offer for rival Inmarsat Plc after its initial approach for the British satellite company was rejected as being too low, according to people familiar with the matter.

EchoStar, founded by billionaire Charlie Ergen, is discussing financing for an improved offer in the coming days, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. EchoStar is working with financial advisers on its bid, the people said. A final decision hasn’t been made, and the U.S. company may decide not to proceed with an offer, they said.

Representatives for EchoStar and Inmarsat declined to comment.

Inmarsat said June 8 it had turned down a “highly preliminary” offer from EchoStar after consulting its advisers. Inmarsat’s stock rose 28 percent over two trading days, but has still lost more than half is value since a peak at the end of 2015. That’s elevated the company to the top of analysts’ lists of potential targets for consolidation in the industry, where oversupply is pushing down margins as demand lags behind, spurring existing companies to consider their alternatives.

EchoStar has long been seen as a potential bidder for Inmarsat, along with SoftBank Group Corp.’s OneWeb. Inmarsat sees aviation services such as in-flight Wi-Fi as its biggest growth driver in the coming years and is also seeking to diversify into businesses like connected cars, after coping with a protracted slowdown in shipping."

StockMarketWire.com
Shares of Inmarsat slumped Tuesday after French satellite group Eutelsat Tuesday ruled out a bid for the company.

This comes less than 24 hours after Eutelsat confirmed it was considering a takeover bid for British rival Inmarsat.

StockMarketWire.com
Satellite company Inmarsat said Friday it had rejected a $3.2bn (£2.4bn) takeover bid from its American rival EchoStar.

Inmarst claimed the bid, pitched at 532p per share, significantly undervalued the company and its prospects.

Following the rejection, however, EchoStar reportedly said it would continue to pursue Inmarsat in the hope of landing a recommended offer.

Inmarsat plc statement re withdrawal of EchoStar
The Board of Inmarsat plc ("Inmarsat" or the "Company") notes today's further announcement by EchoStar Corporation ("EchoStar") that it does not intend to make an offer for Inmarsat.

The Board remains highly confident in the independent strategy and prospects of Inmarsat, given our track record, unique capabilities, differentiated market position and strong channels to market. Inmarsat will publish its interim year results for the period to 30 June 2018 on 2 August 2018 and will update the market on the Company's progress at that time.

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Inmarsat PLC (LON:ISAT) and raised its price target to 460p (from 420p).