Difficult day on the Paris Stock Exchange for Vivendi's shares, which at the end of the morning lost 6,5%, to 20,215 euros, after leaving almost 10% on the field. The sales on the shares of the French telecommunications group - the largest shareholder of Telecom Italia - were triggered by the quarterly accounts in the red.
Between July and September, the company led by Vioncent Bolloré made a loss of 201 million, against the profit of 839 million recorded in the same period last year. The performance was affected by an increase in taxation (159 million from 22 million in the quarter), the absence of capital gains which had increased the results in 2014 and the restructuring costs of Canal Plus, due to the new organization introduced last summer.
Adjusted net profit (a measure considered by Vivendi to be the most representative of the trend) fell by 9%, to 172 million in the quarter and increased by 13,4% in the nine months to 501 million. In the first nine months, Canal Plus recorded an increase in individual subscribers of 412 to 11,23 million, which reflects a decrease of 88 in France and an increase of 412 abroad (especially in Africa).
In the third quarter, Canal Plus recorded an Ebita of 162 million, down 21%. For Universal Music, the decline was 27% to 88 million. The group also confirmed the objectives for 2015 and announced "potentially high investments" for 2016 and 2017.
"The results of the third quarter are disappointing", with lower than expected performances for Canal Plus and Universal Music Group, comments a Parisian analyst, adding that "the visibility on the group is reduced, also given the announcement of two years of heavy investments ”.
Also for the analysts of Société Générale, the third quarter of Vivendi "is a disappointment" and the higher investments expected on Canal Plus will weigh on 2016-2017. During the conference call with analysts, late yesterday afternoon, the CEO of Vivendi, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, when asked about Telecom Italia (of which the French group is the largest shareholder with 20,03%) said that it is working on the possibility of requesting a presence on the board of directors at the meeting called for 15 December for the conversion of savings shares into ordinary shares.
The CEO reiterated that Vivendi is a long-term investor in Telecom, explained that the rise to 20,03% was achieved to protect himself from the post-conversion dilution of the Rnc and underlined that there was "no interaction" with Xavier Niel, the owner of Free who has a potential stake of 15% in Telecom.
