Advanced Television

Vivendi H1 boosted by Lagardère, Canal+

July 26, 2024

French media giant Vivendi has reported H1 eevenues of €9.05 billion, a 5.8 per cent organic increase compared to the first half of 2023, attributed to the “excellent performances” of Lagardère and Canal+ Group.

EBITA stood at €619 million (+39.3 per cent compared to the first half of 2023), thanks in particular to the consolidation of Lagardère and the growth of Havas. At constant currency and perimeter, EBITA increased by 13.5 per cent.

Yannick Bolloré, Chairman of Vivendi’s Supervisory Board, commented: “We released significantly improved half- year results, driven by our three main businesses, which contributed to organic revenue growth of nearly 6 per cent and organic EBITA growth of 13.5 per cent. The Supervisory Board would like to thank all the Group’s teams for their work. They managed to combine day- to-day operational excellence with the study of Vivendi’s split project which was presented to the employee representative bodies of the concerned Group entities this week. If it were to be completed, this value-creating and profoundly transformative project would offer exciting prospects for all our stakeholders.”

Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi, added: ”Our various businesses have demonstrated their dynamism, both in terms of organic growth and acquisitions, the strength of their respective business models and their ability to transform and adapt to their environment and the expectations of their customers. Canal+ launched a public tender offer on the leading African television provider, MultiChoice Group, and increased its stakes in Viaplay and Viu, thereby strengthening its international positions. Lagardère achieved double-digit growth of its activities, driven by a strong increase of its travel-retail business, and a solid performance in publishing. Havas is maintaining its dynamic, strengthened by its new strategic plan, presented in June, with a state-of-the-art operating system using the best of technology and artificial intelligence. Prisma Media continues to develop its luxury and lifestyle division with the acquisition of the 2 magazines Ideat and The Good Life and the forthcoming launch of Harper’s Bazaar Intérieurs, the first extension of the brand in France. Gameloft is following its strategy of making its games available on all platforms: the release at the beginning of July of Disney Speedstorm on mobile platforms after its launch on PC and consoles and the release of Asphalt Legends Unite on all PC, console and mobile platforms, are further examples of the acceleration of this diversification. In recent months, all of our various entities have consolidated their leadership positions. On the strength of these achievements, we look forward to the rest of the year with confidence.”

For the second quarter of 2024, Vivendi’s revenues were €4.77 billion, an increase of 98.4 per cent compared to the
same period of 2023, which mainly included the impact of the consolidation of Lagardère (+€2.31 billion). This change also reflected revenue growth at Canal+ Group (+5 per cent) and Havas (+1.4 per cent). At constant currency and perimeter, Vivendi’s revenues grew by 6.1 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2023, mainly due to the performance of Lagardère (+11.1 per cent) and Canal+ Group (+3.7 per cent).

Canal+ Group

For the first half of 2024, Canal+ Group’s revenues were €3.09 billion, an increase of 4.6 per cent compared to the first half of 2023 (+3.2 per cent at constant currency and perimeter). All of the group’s businesses drove this growth. Revenues from television operations in mainland France increased by 4.4 per cent compared to the first half of 2023 (+3.4 per cent at constant currency and perimeter), driven by the growth in the self-distributed subscriber base and ARPU.

Revenues from international operations increased by 4.2 per cent year-on-year (+2.6 per cent at constant currency and perimeter), due to continued growth in the subscriber base.

Revenues from Studiocanal increased by 8.6 per cent (+4.7 per cent at constant currency and perimeter), in particular due to the excellent performance of the film Back to Black released on April 24, 2024, both in theatres and in terms of international sales.

For the first half of 2024, Canal+ Group’s profitability remained stable compared to the first half of 2023, with a stable EBITA of €337 million (a slight decrease of -1.9 per cent at constant currency and perimeter). These results were supported by major developments across the group’s strategic pillars.

Lagardère

Revenue for the Lagardère group climbed to €4.19 billion in the first half of 2024, up 13.3 per cent as reported year on year and up 10.1 per cent like for like. For the first half of 2024, Lagardère’s EBITA was €201 million, up 65.2 per cent like-for-like compared to the first half of 2023.

Havas

For the first half of 2024, Havas’s revenue was €1.36 billion, an increase of 3.6 per cent compared to the first half
of 2023.

Net revenues were €1.3 billion, an increase of 3.4 per cent compared to the first half of 2023 (stable on an organic
basis). The impact of acquisitions was +3.5 per cent and included contributions from Uncommon Creative Studio,
Eprofessional, Shortcut and Ledger Bennett. Currency effects had a negative impact of 0.1 per cent, mainly due to the evolution of the US dollar and the Argentine peso. The Creative and Media divisions posted strong performances.

All geographical areas posted strong organic growth in net revenue compared to the first half of 2023 (+3.8 per cent in Europe, +0.5 per cent in Asia-Pacific, and +8.8 per cent in Latin America), except in North America, where net revenues decreased by 6.4 per cent. For the first half of 2024, EBITA rose sharply to €125 million, an increase of 6 per cent due to a continued cost base optimisation.

Prisma Media

For the first half of 2024, Prisma Media’s revenues were €147 million, an increase of 0.4 per cent at constant currency and perimeter compared to the first half of 2023.

Gameloft

For the first half of 2024, Gameloft continued its strategic diversification and its expansion on PC and console platforms. Revenues from these platforms now represent 41.6 per cent of Gameloft’s total revenues, an increase of 7.7 per cent at constant currency and perimeter compared to the first half of 2023.

For the first half of 2024, Gameloft’s total revenues were €132 million, including €55 million for the PC/console segment and €71 million for the mobile segment, a decrease of 4.8 per cent at constant currency and perimeter compared to the first half of 2023 due to the absence of new launches in this period.

Disney Dreamlight Valley, Asphalt 9: Legends, Disney Magic Kingdoms, March of Empires and Disney Speedstorm represented 60 per cent of Gameloft’s total revenues and ranked as the five best sellers in the first half of 2024.

For the first half of 2024, Gameloft’s EBITA was €-12 million, stable compared to the first half of 2023. Excluding restructuring charges, EBITA was €-7 million, an increase of €2 million compared to the first half of 2023.

Categories: Articles, Business, Results

Tags: , , ,