PARIS-- Vivendi SA on Tuesday reported a rise in first-quarter
adjusted earnings, but said net profit fell sharply without the
income from telecommunications assets it has sold off.
Vivendi--which in recent years has substantially slimmed down
from a telecommunications to broadcasting conglomerate to a company
with activities mainly in pay TV and music recording--said net
profit slipped to EUR33 million ($37 million), compared with EUR431
million a year earlier, when the company was still profiting from
companies it had agreed to sell, such as French telecommunications
firm SFR.
Vivendi has in recent years sold an array of assets from
telecoms to videogames, and is now seeking to rebuild itself into a
large European media company under the tight leadership of chairman
and largest individual shareholder, Vincent Bolloré.
Excluding the impact of the disposed asset sales, adjusted
earnings before interest and taxes rose 18% on the year to EUR218
million.
Sales at the group rose 7.6% to EUR2.49 billion, also excluding
disposed assets.
The group's Universal Music Group posted sales that were up 11%
to EUR1.1 billion from a year earlier, largely on the strength of
the dollar, but with online streaming revenue outpacing declines in
physical sales and digital downloads.
French pay-TV group Canal Plus increased revenue by 4.0% to
EUR1.37 billion, with rising subscriber numbers primarily in Africa
and Vietnam, the company said.
Write to Ruth Bender at Ruth.Bender@wsj.com
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