The ratings on Luxembourg-based leading global satellite-services company SES Global S.A. (SES Global) reflect its continued world-leading position as a provider of satellite services and the company's underlying good performance in a challenging market. The ratings reflect the expectations that--despite industry overcapacity and currency volatility--the company will maintain good covenant headroom and that increased shareholder return is within the financial parameters of the ratings. Standard&Poor's Ratings Services also expects SES Global's acquisitions policy to be conservative. In addition, the ratings reflect the company's good revenue and cash flow visibility stemming from its contract backlog of about €6.9 billion at June 30, 2004. This has increased by more than 15% in the past 18 months, as existing contracts are
