London — French pay-TV company Canal+ reported a jump in free cash flow in the first half even as revenue fell by an expected 3.3%, and said it was on track to meet a full-year earnings target of about €515m.
Its shares were up 2% at 234p at 9.20am in volatile morning trading.
The group, which was spun off from Vivendi in December and listed in London, reported revenue of €3.09bn for the six months to end-June on Tuesday.
Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes came in at €246m, down 21.6% on the same period in 2024 due to the end of a Uefa Championship sublicensing deal and a one-off gain a year earlier.
CEO Maxime Saada said the strategy of combining in-house content with sports and streamers on its platform was a unique strength.
“We are now taking super-aggregation beyond Europe by extending our historic partnership with Netflix to 24 French-speaking African countries, the first deal of its kind on the continent,” he said in a statement.
Wholesale subscribers fell by 353,000 globally, offset slightly by 0.2% growth in its direct-to-consumer customer base, despite the non-renewal of Ligue 1 and Disney deals in France.
In Asia, Vietnam was a weak spot. “The Vietnam business is being closely assessed as its performance has been meaningfully affected by the market environment,” the company said.
Free cash flow rose to €370m versus €128m a year ago, benefiting from a normalisation in tax payments in France and cash optimisation.
Bank of America said the numbers were “soft at first glance but solid on an underlying basis”, citing improved core pay-TV activities and unexpectedly strong free cash flow.
The group, which produced the movie Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, received approval for its $2bn takeover of SA broadcaster MultiChoice earlier this month.
It confirmed the deal was on track to close by October 8.
Reuters
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