Vivendi Universal raised its 2004 earnings forecast as it reported a 19 percent increase in underlying third-quarter profit on Wednesday, driven mainly by strong mobile phone sales. On a published basis, operating profit generated by France's largest media company dropped 3.3 percent, reflecting the disposal of pay-television unit Canal Plus assets and the sale of most of its US entertainment activities.
Vivendi's telecoms, video games and Canal Plus businesses met expectations at the operating level but its music unit, home to artists such as U2 and Elton John, disappointed investors.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell to 866 million euros ($1.12 billion) in the three months to September 30 from 896 million in the same quarter last year. The outcome was slightly above an average forecast of 861 million euros from a Reuters poll of 13 analysts.
Vivendi's debt was lower than forecast. The company, which has been undergoing a deep restructuring after narrowly averting collapse two years ago, said net debt stood at 5.5 billion euros as of September 30, down from 12.8 billion last year.
Analysts in London and Paris were expecting net debt of between 5.5 billion euros and 6.2 billion euros.
One analyst suggested the reason for the lower debt could be that Vivendi had not yet spent an estimated 800 million euros on acquiring, as planned, a 16 percent stake in Maroc Telecom, of which it already owned 35 percent. The North African business is expected to be floated before the end of the year.
Late last month, Vivendi regained its investment-grade status from Moody's Investors Service, the third major credit rating agency to restore the rating, which makes it easier and cheaper for a company to borrow money.
Vivendi fell below investment grade in 2002 after former Chairman and Chief Executive Jean-Marie Messier went on a costly acquisition spree to turn the then utilities and construction conglomerate into a global telecoms and media giant.
Vivendi was one of many French conglomerates, along with Bouygues, Lagardere and Dassault, to invest in new technologies to boost earnings.
But its unprecedented acquisition spree left Vivendi with France's biggest ever corporate losses and the company nearly collapsed before veteran trouble-shooter Jean-Rene Fourtou was drafted in to clear up the mess.
Vivendi said on Wednesday it would post adjusted full-year earnings of more than 1.2 billion euros for 2004 - stripping out the impact of currency fluctuations, acquisitions and disposals and non-recurring items - above a previous forecast of more than 1 billion euros published in September.
"This is good news but was expected," said one Paris analyst. "Their previous guidance was too conservative."
Vivendi's quarterly net profit benefited from lower debt costs and a favourable tax treatment, rising to 776 million euros from 131 million last year.
Vivendi shares were trading down 0.1 percent at 22.36 euros in Paris at 1245 GMT, in line with the DJ Stoxx European media index which was down 0.40 percent. Traders said speculation about a large placing of Vivendi shares was weighing on the stock.
SFR Cegetel, which contributes the biggest chunk of Vivendi's earnings, generated operating profit of 613 million euros as forecast, up 15 percent from last year.
The music division, which is slowly recovering from the industry's worst downturn in history, reported operating profit of 29 million euros, below a Reuters average forecast of 56 million euros but up from 4 million euros last year.
"Music was the one area of disappointment despite strong revenue growth," Lehman Brothers wrote in a morning note.
Vivendi said the music division, which reported its second consecutive quarter of sales growth last week, had been affected by restructuring charges and higher marketing costs.
Disposals appeared to be the main cause of a fall in Canal Plus's operating profit to 96 million euros, in line with exceptions of around 100 million, down from 133 million last year.
"Canal Plus meets expectations, but there is not much detail on how this business is doing," said one Paris-based analyst.
The video games operation remained in the red as forecast, though its third-quarter operating loss narrowed to 29 million euros, below an average forecast loss of 42 million euros and compared to a loss of 58 million euros last year.