SOC. D EDITION DE CANAL PLUS September 3, 2015
SECP - 1st half year of 2015
This release concerns the half-year results of SECP, a 93.64% directly and indirectly owned subsidiary of Vivendi
At its meeting on September 1, 2015, the Board of Directors of SECP approved the Company's financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2015, which are as follows:
| Consolidated data (€ millions) | H1 2015 | H1 2014 | Change |
| Revenues Subscriptions | 815 | 819 | 0% |
| Revenues Advertising and other | 96 | 105 | -8% |
| Total Revenues | 912 | 924 | -1% |
| Operating expenses | (807) | (803) | 0% |
| Distribution commission | (72) | (88) | -18% |
| Guaranteed operating income | 33 | 32 | 2% |
| Financial income | 2 | 0 | |
| Income tax | (14) | (13) | 11% |
| Consolidated net income | 21 | 20 | 6% |
| Net income attributable to the Group | 21 | 20 | 6% |
A limited review of the financial statements was conducted by the Statutory Auditors.
Highlights in the first half of 2015
On May 7, 2015, SECP renewed its agreement with all professional film-making organizations. This 5-year agreement (2015-2019) sustains the long-standing virtuous partnership established between CANAL+ and the French film industry. Under the agreement, SECP is required to invest annually 12.5% of its subscription earnings and advertising revenue in the funding of European cinematographic works.
The CANAL+ and France Télévisions groups entered into a sub-license agreement concerning the rights to screen the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, giving the Canal+ Group full rights to broadcast those Olympic Games in France, on its CANAL+ and CANAL+ SPORT channels, as well as associated services.
On June 26, 2015, the Sport+ channel stopped broadcasting. This theme channel operated by SECP no longer fitted into the Ý Group's channel offering, given the highly competitive sports rights market. However, the Golf+ channel is still being broadcast.
On May 27, 2015, Vivendi filed a public tender offer for the Company's shares (the Offer), at the price of €7.60 per SECP share. On July 6, 2015, Vivendi raised the price of its offer to €8 per SECP share, while the other terms of the Offer remained unchanged.
The Offer was approved by the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) on July 7 and ran from July 9, 2015 to August 12, 2015 inclusive.
On August 17, 2015, the AMF published the result of the Offer, stating that the shares tendered represented 45.20% of SECP's capital and voting rights, thereby raising Vivendi's directly and indirectly held stake in SECP to 93.64%.
Given the positive outcome of the Offer, it will be reopened from August 31 to September 11, 2015 inclusive.
On July 7, 2015, SECP's Board of Directors co-opted Maxime Saada, CEO of the CANAL+ Group, as Director and also appointed him CEO of the Company.
Key indicators
At the end of June 2015, the total portfolio of subscriptions* to CANAL+ channels amounted to 5.5 million subscriptions, down 98,000 compared to the end of 2014.
In a still challenging competitive environment, between January and June 2015, the CANAL+ CHANNELS recorded an audience share of 3.8% (stable with respect to January-June 2014) among individuals four years of age and older throughout France.
The first half of 2015 marks the close of a TV season (September 2014-June 2015) which recorded an audience share of 13.4% (up 0.3 point versus September 2013-June 2014) for the CANAL+ CHANNELS among subscribers (excluding CANAL+ A LA DEMANDE).
CANAL+ A LA DEMANDE posted further growth, asserting itself as an increasingly significant service which achieved an average audience share of 1.4% among subscribers over the season. Over the 1st half of 2015, the service attracted an average of 550,000 viewers per day.
Revenue
For the first half of 2015, SECP's consolidated revenue amounted to €912 million, down 1% compared to the first half of 2014, in a challenging economic and competitive environment.
Earnings
Operating expenses, excluding distribution commissions, rose €4 million over the preceding year, largely due to the rise in the cost of Sports programs.
Given the way the distribution commissions negotiated with Group Ý are calculated, 2015 operating income represents 3.3 % of subscription fees, within a window of €66.4 million and €74.9 million. At June 30, 2015, operating income amounted to €33 million.
After accounting for net financial income and income tax expense, consolidated net income was €21 million. The profit for the period attributable to the owners of the parent was €21 million.
The Company's cash position at the end of the period was €212 million, up €97 million compared to the end of December 2014.
SECP has made public and filed its 2015 half-year financial report with the French Financial Markets Authority. The half-year financial report may be viewed on the Company's website at the address indicated below.
*individual and group subscriptions, in France, Overseas Departments and Africa |
| Investor Relations | Corporate Communication | |
| Marine Schenfele | Laurence Gallot | Antoine Banet-Rivet |
| +33 (0)1 71 35 35 36 | +33 (0)1 71 35 02 22 | +33 (0)1 71 35 00 26 |
| Website: http://actionnaires.canalplus.fr/ | ||
| Email : relations-actionnaires@canal-plus.com: mailto:relations-actionnaires@canal-plus.com | ||
http://hugin.info/135428/R/1949171/708671.pdf
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Canal + via Globenewswire
