Earnings: Vivendi’s Mergers Help Q1 Revenue Jump 23 Percent
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Music, games and TV group Vivendi (EPA: VIV) says it can continue its impressive Q109 performance through 2009, despite the bulk of extra revenue coming from the integration of recent acquisitions. On Thursday, the company announced revenues 23.7 percent higher year on year at €6.5 billion (£5.8 million) for Q1, while EBITDA grew 15.8 percent to €1.4 billion (£1.25 billion). Vivendi has reaped higher revenues thanks to its merger of Activision (NSDQ: ATVI) and Vivendi Games and its SFR telelcoms division’s acquisition of the Neuf Cetegel provider. But net income was €48 million (£43.1 million) lower at €649 million (£582.9 million), largely due to the new companies’ unprofitable minority stakes in other businesses and less revenue from the company’s stake in the NBC Universal: the JV contributed €29 million compared to €53 million 12 months ago.
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—Activision Blizzard: The newly merged Guitar Hero and Call of Duty maker has cleaned up in the next-gen console games stakes, with those two games consistently on the top-five best-seller lists in Europe and the U.S.—so no surprise the division trebled its revenue to €731 million (£656.5 million) in the quarter. But the high number is really due to the $18.9 billion merger of Activision and Vivendi games, which married two already successful publishers.
—Universal Music: Vivendi’s major label saw its digital music sales increase from 27.2 percent of total music sales to 28 percent in the quarter, while its total revenues from digital also increase though a figure isn’t given. Overall, revenues were stable at €1.02 billion (£916 million), a 0.7 percent drop year on year.
—SFR: The telco increased its revenue by 31.5 percent year on year to €3.02 million (£2.71 million) after it “consolidated” its wholly-owned provider Neuf Cetegel into the company. Vivendi bought the remaining shares in Neuf back in 2007 but it seems only now are the real benefits being felt. Extracting the Neuf deal, SFR’s revenues were down 0.8 percent year on year: mobile revenue was stable at €2.18 million (£1.95 million) and fixed-line broadband revenue increased 2.3 percent.
—Canal+ Group French broadcaster Canal+ saw its revenue increase 1.8 percent to €1.11 million (£996 million). Subscriptions rose by 75,000 year-on-year, driven by demand in French-speaking African countries—and the company expects its customer base to keep growing throughout the year.
@psmith
May 14, 2009 1:34 PM ET
Posted In: Entertainment, Games, Movies, Music, Money, Earnings, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, Companies, NBC Universal, Vivendi, Countries, Europe, France
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