Vivendi's Profit Triples In First Quarter (ap)

Primary Navigation Secondary Navigation Search: All News Yahoo! News Only News Photos Audio/Video Vivendi's Profit Triples in First Quarter

Thu May 19, 7:18 AM ET PARIS - Vivendi Universal SA, one of Europe's biggest media companies, said Thursday its first-quarter earnings tripled, helped by lower tax and interest payments and a turnaround in its music and video games business.

Net profit jumped to 502 million euros ($634 million) from 166 million euros in the same period last year, topping most analysts' forecasts.

Publishing full figures under new International Financial Reporting Standards for the first time, Vivendi said operating profit rose 26 percent to 877 million euros ($1.11 billion) from 694 million euros.

Revenue rose 8 percent to 4.76 billion euros ($6.04 billion) from 4.39 billion euros.

Increased earnings at the Canal Plus pay-television unit and a sharp rise in the value of a convertible bond linked to the Spanish TV group Sogecable also boosted first-quarter earnings, Vivendi said, helping the company shrug off the impact of a weak U.S. dollar and more sluggish growth at its SFR-Cegetel telecommunications division.

Vivendi said Thursday's figures support its outlook for an adjusted net income — the earnings benchmark it prefers, which excludes one-time losses and gains — of at least 1.8 billion euros ($2.28 billion) this year, up from 1.38 billion euros in 2004. Adjusted net income in the first quarter came in at 512 million euros ($648 million), up from 160 million euros.

Shares in Vivendi rose 0.3 percent to 24.79 euros ($31.36) in Paris trading.

The results underscore a dramatic turnaround at Vivendi, which came close to financial collapse three years ago. Since then, Chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou has sold off a string of businesses to lower debt and lift earnings. Fourtou handed day-to-day management control to his former No. 2, Jean-Bernard Levy, three weeks ago.

Overall financial charges in the first quarter dropped to just 53 million euros ($67 million) from 257 million euros, thanks to lower debt levels and the revaluation of the Sogecable bond. Provisions for tax payments fell more than 25 percent to 163 million euros ($206 million), the result of a switch last August to a more favorable tax system.

Both the music and video games units posted operating profits after losses in the first quarter of last year. Higher sales volumes and lower restructuring charges helped the music business, while the video games business was boosted by strong sales of "World of Warcraft."

Operating profit at Canal Plus jumped to 132 million euros ($167 million) from 72 million euros as a stronger performance from its core French operations and a bounce-back at its Polish business buoyed profits.

SFR-Cegetel, Vivendi's telecommunications business, saw its operating profit rise just 2 percent to 567 million euros ($717 million) as fierce competition in France's high-speed Internet market eroded higher earnings from mobile phones.

RECOMMEND THIS STORY Recommend It: Not at All Somewhat Moderately Highly Very Highly

Average (Not Rated) AP AP AP AP AP Reuters Reuters USATODAY.com AP AP Sponsored Links ( ) A singular partner for direct marketing logistics, the development, planning, coordination and execution of direct marketing services and complete marketing solutions. www.dmx-direct.com Increase your search engine ranking, Web site visitors and sales through effective Internet marketing. webtronixdesign.com MarketingConcepts.com provides a full array of services: Call center, Web design, Web marketing, catalog design/production, marketing, Web hosting, co-locating and network and IS services. www.marketingconcepts.com RELATED QUOTES 30.36 -0.09 1963.88 -7.67 1159.36 -11.75 Delayed Data - Add headlines to your personalized My Yahoo! page Business - AP Earnings News Technology - Video Games Y! FINANCE WEEKEND

'Star Wars' galactic dollars, summer travel price shock, and low-cost cars.

- - Search: All News Yahoo! News Only News Photos Audio/Video Primary Navigation Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Go here to read more:http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050519/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_france_vivendi

Additional vivendi's profit triples in first quarter (ap) internet resources: