Vivendi Posts $1B Loss For 2022 On Telecom Italia Deconsolidation But Expresses Confidence As Revenues Grow 10.01%
Vivendi on Wednesday posted a full-year loss of $1.07B (1.01B Euros) for 2022, linked to the deconsolidation of its Telecom Italia stake, but painted a positive picture in terms of its overall health and revenue.
The loss compared with a record profit of $25.9B (24.6B euros) in 2021.
Full-year revenues rose 10.1% to $10.1B (9.6B Euros) year-on-year. EBITA grew 35.6% to $915M (868M Euros). Adjusted net income excluding Telecom Italia increased by 19.4% to $713M (677M Euros).
Related Story
'Creed III' Screenings Disrupted In France & Germany After Isolated Brawls Break Out
The group said the rise in revenues had been driven by the performance of communications outfit Havas, pay-TV giant the Canal+ Group and video games specialist Gameloft.
Key to Canal+ Group’s positive performance was growth in its subscriber portfolio which reached 25.5m units worldwide by the end of December 2022, compared to 23.7M at the end of 2021.
Within this, the group saw a net increase in subscribers of 457,000 in France over the course of 2022, reaching 9.5M in total.
Canal+ Group revenues came in at $6.1B (5.8B Euros), representing an increase of 1.7% on 2021. Profitability improved compared to 2021, with EBITA rising 7.3% to €515 million.
Within this, revenues from international operations increased by 3.5% due to the growth in the number of subscribers (+1.3 million year-on-year). The total subscriber portfolio outside mainland France stood at 16.0 million subscribers at the end of December 2022.
Revenues for the Canal+ Group’s film and TV production and distribution arm Studiocanal fell by 22.8%.
Vivendi said the drop was due to the fact that 2021 was an exceptional year for TV series and the postponement of the release of international films to 2023 to optimize their box-office performance.
It added that the revenue decrease had no impact on the unit’s EBITA, which increased compared to 2021. Studiocanal also came out as France’s leading French film distributor in 2022 with 8.9 million admissions, thanks to strong performances by local productions November, Rise, Superwho?, Goliath and Waiting for Bojangles.
Significant developments for parent company the Canal+ Group had been strengthening of offering late last year with the arrival of Paramount+, within the Canal+ offer.
Canal+ is the only platform in France that can include Paramount+ in its commercial offers and is the exclusive distributor of Paramount+ in French-speaking Switzerland. Other streaming services available via bundles on Canal+ include Netflix, Disney+, beIN and OCS.
Other recent game-changing developments for the Canal+ Group include its agreed acquisition of telecom group Orange’s OCS pay-TV package and its film and series co-production subsidiary Orange Studio. A memorandum of understanding for the operation was signed at the beginning of the year.
Another significant development was Canal+ Group’s expansion of its stake to 30.27% in the MultiChoice Group, the leading pay-TV operator in English and Portuguese-speaking Africa in more than 50 countries.
Vivendi said the move demonstrated its confidence in the pay-TV outfit and the African continent.
Other top-performing Vivendi subsidiaries included communications arm Havas, which saw revenues rise 18.1% year-on-year to $2.9B (€.7B Euros).
Vivendi noted the company had pursued a robust international acquisitions strategy over the past year acquiring companies in the UK, Australia and China.
Vivendi also praised the performance of video game specialist Gameloft.
It noted that for the fourth quarter of 2022, Gameloft’s revenues were $111M (106M Euros), up 30.7% compared to the same period of 2021, crossing for the first time the symbolic threshold of 100M Euros ($105M) for a quarter.
Revenues also reached an all-time high of $338M (321M Euros), up 21.2% compared to 2021.
Vivendi said the growth was the fruit of a strategic shift towards Console-PC-Mobile multi-platform games and the success of Disney Dreamlight Valley, which was developed and then published by Gameloft in September 2022.
Key aims for Vivendi over the coming year will be s planned takeover of French media group Lagardère, which is currently awaiting European Union approval, and the resolution of the future of Telecom Italia in which the conglomerate is determined to play a significant role.
In a results call, Yannick Bolloré, Chairman of Vivendi’s Supervisory Board, was also quizzed by analysts on whether Vivendi still had designs on a minority stake in Lionsgate’s Starz. He said a recent change in tack by Lionsgate to sell to its studio division instead meant he could not comment at this time.
Commenting on the overall results, Bolloré, said 2022 had been a positive year for the media and entertainment group.
“We have made good progress in implementing our strategic roadmap, which focuses on transformation, internationalization and greater integration of our businesses,” he said. “Vivendi’s international development, accompanied by a strong local presence, continued in 2022, making it more agile in a highly competitive environment.”
Must Read Stories
David Chase & ‘A Teacher’ Scribe Hannah Fidell Developing New Show At FX
Lucasfilm Sued For “Egregious” Axing Of Producer Karyn McCarthy From ‘The Acolyte’
Star Ram Charan On Reuniting With S.S. Rajamouli, “Great Exchange Of Culture” & More
‘Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham Talks Spinoff, Oliviers & Her ‘Fall Guy’ Bruises
Read More About:
Source: Read Full Article