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Paris – The media giant Vivendi embarked on major capitalist maneuvers, announcing Monday to buy the French publishing group Editis and consider the sale of nearly half of the capital of Universal Music Group (UMG) , in margin of semiannual results in progression, but below expectations.
The group entered into exclusive negotiations with the Spanish Grupo Planeta in order to acquire 100% of the capital of Editis, the second largest French publishing group, which includes houses by Nathan, Robert Laffont, Plon and Bordas. and the Cherche Midi.
" The acquisition of Editis would constitute a major step in the construction of an integrated group focused on media, content and communication ," explained Vivendi in its statement.
The transaction would be based on an enterprise value of 900 million euros for Editis, which had achieved in 2017 a turnover of just over 750 million euros.
At the same time, Vivendi announced its intention to find " one or more strategic partners " for UMG. He gives himself 18 months, after launching the operation in the fall, to find the ideal partners.
A time considered, the UMG IPO was finally not chosen because of " its complexity ," says the group.
These two transactions were announced at the same time as a net profit down 6.3% to 165 million euros in the first half, where Vivendi notably depreciated its stake in Telecom Italia to 512 million euros. euros.
The group chaired by Yannick Bolloré justified this decision by fears as to the application of the Italian operator's 2018-2020 industrial plan, " in view of the lesser power of Vivendi to participate in decisions relating to financial and operational policies of Telecom Italia ", according to a statement.
Vivendi, the largest shareholder of Telecom Italia (Tim) with 24% of the capital, lost control of the company's board of directors in early May, against the Elliott fund.
– Progress of UMG –
Upon its acquisition of Tim's capital in June 2015, Vivendi had paid € 1.0709 per share, far from the closing price on Monday evening at the Milan Stock Exchange, which is set at 0.66 euro.
For the first six months of the year, Vivendi's turnover increased by 18.3% to 6.46 billion euros, a lower figure of 50 million to the consensus of badysts surveyed by the Factset data provider.
This activity takes into account the consolidation of the Havas advertising subsidiary.
" At constant exchange rates and scope of consolidation, revenues increased by 4% compared to the first half of 2017, thanks to the growth of Universal Music Group (UMG) (+ 6.8%) and Cbad + Group (+ 1.3%) "the statement said.
Vivendi also benefited from the sale of its 27.27% stake in Ubisoft, a video game publisher, at the end of March, for a total amount of two billion euros.
Adjusted operating profit (Ebita) jumped 54% to 542 million euros, benefiting both from the consolidation of Havas and good performance by both UMG and the Cbad + group.
In detail, UMG, which represents more than 40% of the group's overall sales, saw its turnover fall by 1.4% to 2.63 billion euros. Vivendi reports good growth in online viewing, offsetting lower sales by download or physical sales.
The Cbad + Group progressed by 0.8% to 2.575 billion euros. It claims in particular a net growth of 271,000 subscribers to its channel Cbad + in France.
Havas posted a turnover of 1.02 billion euros, a decrease of 8% " mainly due to the negative effects of foreign exchange " explains the group.
In terms of outlook, Vivendi confirms its objective of Ebita before restructuring charges reaching nearly 450 million euros for the year for Cbad +, and anticipates better organic growth in net income at Havas in the second half of the year.
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