SSIT still benefiting from exuberant market conditions in SpaceTech sector

Up 4.6% at 176.4p (£762m) - SpaceTech Sector Newsletter

We don't cover investment trusts very often in this report, but let's make an exception for SSIT.

Today it has published its regular monthly newsletter. This includes a reminder of its very strong full-year results, which I covered here.

As a reminder, these results included NAV per share more than doubling to 240.49p.

Total NAV increased even faster than that, with 150%+ growth, thanks to the issuance of C-shares (ticker: SSIC) designed to protect the performance of SSIT from any unnecessary cash drag.

SSIC shares will be converted into SSIT shares over time, with the first conversion coming up soon.

Moving on to look at the trust's portfolio, remember that more than half of its entire value is accounted for by its stake in the Finnish satellite company ICEYE, which has achieved a private market valuation of some €10 billion.

Given the importance of ICEYE to SSIT's performance, I'll focus on updates relating to this holding.

Please note that this monthly newsletter from SSIT only provides publicly-available information, i.e. information that was already in the public domain.

ICEYE-related news includes the following:

1. Partnership with Nokia to develop sovereign broadband low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications systems (this news was included in SSIT's full-year results).

2. Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions: German Armed Forces have gained direct access to dedicated synthetic aperture radar (SAR) reconnaissance satellites under the SPOCK 1 programme, less than one year after signing the contract.

3. Partnership with OroraTech (wildfire management platform) to combine thermal satellite observations with SAR data for wildfire detection, monitoring and damage assessment.

4. Partnership with the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services for its flood and wildfire intelligence products.

All very positive, and hopefully supporting ICEYE's ability to hit revenue targets. From €250 million of revenue in 2025, the company is hoping to double revenue twice in consecutive years, hitting €1 billion in 2027.

Based on its private market valuation that will still leave a price to sales multiple of 10x, even next year, but investors are willing to pay a premium for this growth trajectory.

Market conditions

Some interesting observations on the space sector, where conditions remain exuberant:

SpaceTech startups raised a record $20.8bn in Q3 2026, nearly triple the $7.4bn invested in Q2. Excluding Blue Origin's $10bn financing, investment still reached a record $10.8bn, while deal numbers increased from 140 to 216.

This has mainstream support with Deutsche Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announcing a "€560m financing partnership to support European space businesses".

I note that Space Exploration Technologies (NSQ:SPCX), the poster child for the industry, is trading at about $134, right around its IPO price, signalling that sentiment remains strong.

Budget: "UK Government's Autumn Budget confirmed plans for the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank to deploy up to £5bn over four years into defence, dual-use technologies and sectors supporting national security and sovereign capabilities."

Graham's view

Today's monthly newsletter is not supposed to provide market-moving news, even if the SSIT share price is up by several percentage points. As for me, I'm going to leave my neutral stance unchanged. This is the type of situation where I worry greatly about the valuations involved, and where I typically miss out on the growth opportunity.

When it comes to SSIT's investment in ICEYE, I have no reliable way of estimating what this holding is worth - not even a useful range of possible values. So I do not know what SSIT might ultimately be worth. In that sense, SSIT is in my "too difficult" tray.