* Q3 revenue 442.3 mln euros vs 446 mln euros poll average
* Core profit (EBITDA) 328.8 mln euros vs 324 mln expected
* Retains 2010, mid-term growth forecast
* Shares hit 12-week high
(Add details, background)
By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - SES, the world's second-largest satellite operator, proved its resilience to economic uncertainty on Wednesday with broadly in-line third-quarter results and kept its 2010 and mid-term outlooks.
SES shares rose to a 12-week high and were up 2.1 percent at 18.5450 euros at 0930 GMT, making them one of the strongest in the FTSEurofirst 300 index of Europe's leading stocks.
The shares are up 4.8 percent this week, partly due to the sale last week of a 75.1 percent stake in Germany-based services company ND SatCom to EADS Astrium. The unit's sales had lagged expectations last year.
Luxembourg-based SES, which sells transmission capacity to BSkyB, Canal Plus, and NBC, repeated its 2010 forecast that recurring revenue and core profit (EBITDA) would rise by between 4 and 5 percent.
That growth has and will largely come from expansion in emerging markets and migration to high-definition (HD) broadcasts in the developed world.
SES's satellites beam 291 HD channels down to earth, around two-thirds of them in Europe and the rest split between North America and developing countries.
Chief Executive Romain Bausch commented in a conference call that the satellite industry had proved quite resilient to the economic crisis over the past two years.
"The satellite business being an infrastructure business is quite remote from the economic cycle and structural problems," he said, adding subscriber numbers were good for its largely pay-TV customers and government contracts were barely affected.
SES said its much-watched core profit (EBITDA) increased by 12.4 percent to 328.8 million euros ($458.8 million) in the third quarter. That compared with the average analyst forecast in a Reuters poll of 324 million euros.
The company retained a longer-term 2010-2012 target of a compound annual growth rate for recurring revenue of 5 percent and corresponding EBITDA growth.
Recurring revenue grew by 4.7 percent in the first nine months of 2010 and EBITDA by 4.4 percent.
SES makes a distinction between reported and recurring results, the latter excluding one-offs, changes in scope and currency moves.
SES's main European rival, Eutelsat, reports quarterly results next Wednesday. (Editing by Michael Shields)