GMV is Europe’s 7th biggest employer in the space sector

Eurospace’s 24th facts & figures annual report on Europe’s space industry highlights the role played by the technology multinational GMV over recent years, accounting for 2.06% of full time employment in 2019 out of total of 47,895 workers (+5.7%). From the employment point of view, therefore, GMV is disputing with RUAG the sixth ranking in Europe’s space sector, behind the big firms like Airbus, Thales, Ariane, Leonardo and OHB. Eurospace’s yearly survey is backed by all major space firms and gives a faithful snapshot of the sector.

Jobs generated by Europe’s main space firms

Although the big three (Airbus, Thales y Leonardo) are directly responsible for nearly half of the total jobs, companies like GMV are generating more and more jobs while adding to Europe’s space skillset. In 2019 Europe’s space sector chalked up total sales worth 8,756 B€ (a 2.6% increase).

Space activity 2015-2019

Looking at worldwide space activity from 2015 to 2019, we find that the USA ranks first with China and Russia now disputing second place and Europe standing at fourth.

European institutional programs and markets

Europe’s space sales are recorded mainly by public clients, who weigh in with 71% of the total, private clients accounting for the remaining 29%.

Europe’s public institutions, including ESA, the national space agencies, EUMETSAT, the army and the EC, are historically Europe’s main space clients. They currently account for 63% of sales, on the strength of the steady demand from ESA, the EU and national civil programs.

Europe’s institutional programs generated a revenue of 5,5 B€. ESA still accounts for the lion’s share, 2,8 B€ or 51%. Revenue from national programs (civil and military) have also continued growing, up to a value of 1,7 B€ or 30% of the total. EU programs (mainly Copernicus and GNSS) accounted for 0.8 B€ or 15% of total revenue. Revenue from commercial segments and exports has almost bounced back to 2017 levels after the crunch of 2018, reaching 37% of the industry’s total.

Europe’s 2019 space budget

GMV’s space business

2019 was an exceptional year for GMV’s space business. It managed to up its turnover by 30% on the previous year, topping 140 million euros. Since 2015 GMV has multiplied its business by 2.5 with a corresponding influx of new professionals.

This growth has been across the board too, taking in all business areas, which grew between 15 and 40%, and most of the countries where the company does space business. Worthy of particular note is the striking growth rate in Spain itself, the consolidation of Germany as the second country within the group and the sharp growth rates also recorded by France, Portugal, Romania and the UK.

Among the operations that have contributed to these record figures, pride of place goes to Galileo and Copernicus, OneWeb’s megaconstellation and developments for EUMETSAT, space surveillance and planetary defense and exploration.