REG - Canal+ S.A - CANAL+ Q1 FY25 Trading Update

Canal+ SAAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 5174G  Canal+ S.A  29 April 2025

 

Trading Update for the Three Months Ended 31 March 2025

 

Issy-les-Moulineaux, 29 April 2025

CANAL+ (LSE: CAN, the "Company", the "Group"), the global media and
entertainment company, today released its unaudited consolidated trading
statement for the three months ended 31 March 2025.

 

CANAL+ Revenue in Line with Expectations, Supporting its Ambition to Become a
Global Media and Entertainment Leader

 

·     Focus on continued profitable growth, in line with expectations

o  Group revenue of €1,547m, up +1.5% organically 1  (-2.5% on a reported
basis as expected, following the termination of various unprofitable contracts
in line with the Group's focus on profitability and cash generation);

o  Europe revenue up +0.8% organically(1), driven by a continued increase in
DtoC subscribers and offset by discontinued contracts and activities as
expected (-4.5% on a reported basis);

o  Africa and Asia revenue down -2.3% 2 , due to tough comparable Q1 FY24
boosted by AFCON 3  in 2024;

o  Content Production, Distribution and Other revenue up +8.2%(2), notably
thanks to box-office hits such as Paddington in Peru, Bridget Jones: Mad About
the Boy and We Live in Time.

 

·     Progress on MultiChoice Group acquisition, Europe segment
profitability and cash generation

o  MultiChoice Group transaction process milestone achieved in February 2025,
with announcement of intended post-transaction structure;

o  Various initiatives on track to enhance profitability of Europe segment,
such as the new agreement with the French cinema industry signed in Q1 FY25;

o  New organisational structure implemented to accelerate Group synergies and
focus on cash generation.

 

Maxime Saada, Chief Executive Officer of CANAL+, said:

 

"2024 was a pivotal year for CANAL+ as we achieved several key strategic
milestones. In the first quarter of 2025, we continued to build on this
momentum, moving towards our goal of becoming a global media and entertainment
leader, supported by strong financial discipline.

I am pleased to announce that CANAL+'s renewed focus on generating
profitable growth delivered an increase in first quarter organic revenue,
albeit offset by the closure of some non-profitable wholesale contracts. In
Europe, our strategy yielded results as we continued to grow revenue from
Direct-to-Consumer subscribers. In Africa and Asia, first
quarter revenue was slightly down, but this merely reflected the exceptional
impact on the comparable period the previous year of the hugely popular
biennial African Cup of Nations. A number of highly successful theatrical
releases from our in-house production teams at Studiocanal - including
'Paddington in Peru', 'Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy' and 'We Live in
Time' - substantially fueled CANAL+'s revenue in the Content Production,
Distribution and Other segment.

In the meantime, we continued to focus on enhancing cash generation. As I
have been saying since our listing, all our decisions are now made
through this lens. As such, the new agreement signed with the French
cinema industry is expected to generate significant cash savings from 2026,
while maintaining our exclusive ability to broadcast films 6 months after
theatrical release.

Regarding scale, we have moved forward on our planned combination with
MultiChoice, the leading PayTV operator in English and Portuguese-speaking
Africa, with a proposed structure that we believe would comply with local
regulations. We have extended the long stop date of our mandatory takeover
offer and remain confident that we will be able to close the transaction by
8 October this year. This operation will significantly strengthen our
presence in Africa, putting us in a strong position to unlock the huge
untapped potential of the booming African market and generate significant
synergies across Africa and beyond. We expect the implementation of these
synergies to start as soon as the operation is approved.

We have taken meaningful steps to enhance operational efficiencies and
maximise economies of scale across the Group by rolling out a new internal
organisation, which will improve synergies across our 52 territories. In the
meantime, we have continued to execute on our strategic priorities, including
expanding our reach through major global distribution partnerships with
top-tier industry players like Samsung.

Overall, we remain fully focused on achieving our objectives, with the start
of the year giving us confidence in our commitment to delivering sustainable
shareholder value."

 

Revenue for the Three Months Ended 31 March 2025

 

                                              Three months ended 31 March             % reported      % organic growth(1)      % LFL 4 
 (in millions of euros) 5                     2025                    2024
 Europe                                       1,146                   1,200           -4.5%           +0.8%                    -5.1%
 Africa & Asia                                267                     274             -2.3%           -2.3%                    -3.0%
 Content Production, Distribution and others  158                     146             +8.2%           +8.2%                    +7.0%
 Inter-segment revenues                       (24)                    (32)
 REVENUES                                     1,547                   1,587           -2.5%           +1.5%                    -3.2%

For the first quarter of 2025, the Group's revenue amounted to €1,547
million, up +1.5% organically(1) compared to the same period in 2024,
demonstrating the Group's solid underlying momentum. Taking into account
discontinued contracts and activities (termination of Disney+, UEFA Champions
League sublicensing partnership and closure of C8 channel), revenue was down
-2.5% on a reported basis.

Revenue from the Europe segment amounted to €1,146 million, up +0.8%
organically(1) compared to the first quarter of 2024. Taking into account the
discontinued contracts and activities, revenue was down -4.5%, reflecting the
impact of strategic decisions.

In mainland France, the Group's focus on more profitable customers continued
to drive DtoC revenue growth, coming from both portfolio and price increase.
Wholesale and sublicensing revenues declined as a result of discontinued
contracts and activities. Apart from the closure of C8, advertising revenues
grew, with strong performance of CNEWS which beat new audience records.

In the Overseas Territories, revenue decreased slightly, mainly due to
challenging market conditions and natural disasters, partially offset by
broadband subscriber growth.

In Poland, revenue continued to rise, primarily driven by an increase in ARPU.

In other European countries, revenue remained stable, sustained notably by OTT
subscription growth and stronger advertising performance.

 

Revenue from the Africa and Asia segment amounted to €267 million, down
-2.3% on a reported basis compared to the first quarter of 2024. This decline
was expected, following the exceptional positive revenue impact of the January
2024 AFCON(3) tournament, which is only held every two years, resulting in
lower subscription and advertising revenues this quarter.

GVA continued to expand high-speed internet access in Africa, with DtoC
subscribers increasing at a double-digit pace year-on-year. GVA's strong
growth resulted from the expansion of its Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network and
also from a strong commercial performance, with increased penetration in
eligible zones.

Revenue remained stable in Asia in spite of difficult market conditions.

 

Revenue from the Content Production, Distribution, and Other segment amounted
to €158 million, up +8.2% on a reported basis compared to the first quarter
of 2024. This growth was driven by the strong performance of both Studiocanal
and Dailymotion.

Studiocanal's revenue benefited from highly successful theatrical releases
across multiple geographies, such as Paddington in Peru, Bridget Jones: Mad
About the Boy and We Live in Time.

Dailymotion's revenue continued to grow at a double-digit rate thanks to its
ongoing efforts to expand its commercial footprint and programmatic network,
optimising campaign delivery through AI implementation and enhancing user
experience across its owned and operated platforms.

 

Q1 2025 Significant Events

 

Creation of CANAL+'s Foundation

On 16 January 2025, CANAL+ announced the creation of its Foundation,
supporting the right to culture for all.

With the expertise and talents of CANAL+, the Foundation's programmes will aim
to offer cultural experiences as well as training in all regions where the
group has a presence, like pre-existing initiatives such as "Create Joy",
which is committed to equal opportunities in the cultural and creative
industries, "CANAL+ University", which creates travelling training courses on
the African continent to develop the skills of young professionals, or
"Orphée", which allows vulnerable children in orphanages across Africa to
access education and entertainment.

 

Ongoing mandatory offer on MultiChoice Group

On 4 February 2025, CANAL+ and MultiChoice announced that they had concluded
their discussions regarding the intended post-transaction structure of
MultiChoice. CANAL+ and MultiChoice are confident that the envisaged structure
meets the requirements of all applicable laws, including the restrictions on
foreign ownership and control of broadcasting licences contained in the
Electronic Communications Act, 2005.

Extension of MultiChoice Group mandatory tender offer long stop date

The process of obtaining merger control clearance from the South African
competition authorities and other relevant regulatory processes are ongoing.
As disclosed in the full year 2024 results, these were not completed by 8
April 2025, which was the initial date on which all the conditions for the
implementation of the offer had to be fulfilled or waived.

In accordance with the terms of the offer as contained in the Combined
Circular, and after consultation with the TRP, MultiChoice has been notified
that CANAL+ has exercised its option to extend the long stop date for the
fulfilment of the offer conditions to 8 October 2025. The parties are of the
view that this provides ample time for the fulfilment of the Conditions. Save
for the extension of the long stop date, the terms of the offer remain
unchanged.

 

CANAL+ strengthens its global partnership with Samsung

On 17 February 2025, CANAL+ and Samsung Electronics, the world's largest Smart
TV manufacturer, extended their strategic partnership to cover over 40
territories globally. This new extended partnership reinforces Samsung's
strategic relationship with CANAL+ which will include the distribution of
CANAL+ applications on over 25 million Samsung Smart TVs.

 

CANAL+ reinforces its global organisation

On 15 April 2025, CANAL+ announced a change in the scope of its Management
Board members.

To address the Group's development plans and strengthen the synergies between
the various CANAL+ regions, now operating in 52 countries, Maxime Saada, CEO
of CANAL+, has chosen to extend the missions of the Management Board.

Since 1 March 2025, Jacques du Puy, Amandine Ferré and Anna Marsh have taken
on new responsibilities:

-     Jacques du Puy, Member of the Management Board, is now in charge of
Global PayTV, a new division bringing together all CANAL+'s pay TV activities,
namely those in France, Poland, Central Europe (Belgium, the Netherlands,
Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania), Africa and Asia.
This division steers the performance of the global PayTV activity and aims, on
the one hand, to provide a transversal vision of all PayTV and
telecommunication activities (in the French Overseas Territories and in
Africa), on the other hand, to leverage the expertise from the group's various
PayTV teams.

-     Amandine Ferré, Member of the Management Board, Chief Financial
Officer of CANAL+ and responsible for CSR, is now in charge of all the
financial functions of the Group and all its entities, which report directly
to her.

-     Anna Marsh, Member of the Management Board, has been appointed Chief
Content Officer of CANAL+, in addition to her responsibilities as Deputy CEO
of CANAL+ and CEO of STUDIOCANAL. This new role has four objectives: to
strengthen the deployment of a global content strategy at Group level;
facilitate the integration of global content while respecting the specifics of
each region; optimise the sharing of know-how between local and central teams;
and finally, identify success factors for acquisitions and productions based
on CANAL+ data.

 

Agreement reached with the French cinema industry

On 3 March 2025, the Group signed a new agreement with the French cinema
industry.

The agreement relates to CANAL+ and CINE+ OCS. It secures their advantageous
and unique place in the movie release schedules in France ("chronologie des
medias"), allowing them to broadcast films as early as 6 months after their
theatrical release. It takes effect retroactively from 1 January 2025 for a
period of 3 years, i.e. until 31 December 2027, and is tacitly renewable.

The Group's commitment amounts to a minimum of €480 million over the three
years of the agreement: €150 million in 2025, €160 million in 2026 and
€170 million in 2027.

 

Confirmed Outlook

Reflecting the performance of the first quarter of 2025, CANAL+ confirms its
full year 2025 outlook released on 4 March 2025 6 .

 

Financial Calendar

General Shareholder Meeting: 6 June 2025, to be held in Paris, France

H1 FY25 release: 29 July 2025

 

For further enquiries please contact:

 Alima Levy          ir@canal-plus.com (mailto:ir@canal-plus.com)

 Elvire Charbonnel   elvire.charbonnel@canal-plus.com (mailto:elvire.charbonnel@canal-plus.com)

 Olivia Abehassera   olivia.abehassera@canal-plus.com (mailto:olivia.abehassera@canal-plus.com)

 Karima Mhoumadi     karima.mhoumadi@canal-plus.com (mailto:karima.mhoumadi@canal-plus.com)

 

 

About CANAL+

Founded as a French subscription-TV channel 40 years ago, CANAL+ is now a
global media and entertainment company. The group has 26.9 million subscribers
worldwide, over 400 million monthly active users on its OTT and video
streaming platforms, and a total of more than 9,000 employees. It generates
revenue in 195 countries and operates directly in 52 countries, with leading
positions in PayTV in 20 of them. CANAL+ operates across the entire
audio-visual value chain, including production, broadcast, distribution and
aggregation.

It is home to Studiocanal, a leading film and television studio with worldwide
production and distribution capabilities; Dailymotion, major international
video platform powered by cutting-edge proprietary technology for video
delivery, advertising, and monetisation; Thema, a production and distribution
company specialising in creating and distributing diverse content and
channels; and telecommunication services, through GVA in Africa and CANAL+
Telecom in the French overseas jurisdictions and territories. It also operates
the iconic performance venues L'Olympia and Théâtre de l'Œuvre in France
and CanalOlympia in Africa.

CANAL+ has also significant equity stakes across Africa, Europe and Asia,
namely in MultiChoice (the Pay-TV leader in English and Portuguese-speaking
Africa), Viaplay (the Pay-TV leader in Scandinavia) and Viu (a leading OTT
platform in Southern-Asia). canalplusgroup.com/en

 

Important Disclaimers

Disclaimer

The trading update is based upon the unaudited management accounts of the
Company and has been prepared solely to provide additional information on
trading to the shareholders of CANAL. Accordingly, the Company makes no
representation or warranty as to the appropriateness, accuracy, completeness
or reliability of the information in this announcement and accordingly neither
the Company nor any of its directors accepts any liability to any person in
respect of this announcement or any information contained within it.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This announcement contains certain statements that are or may be
forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "expect", "intend",
"anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "target", and similar expressions of a
future or forward-looking nature are intended to identify such forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements address our expected future business
and financial performance and financial condition, and by definition address
matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. They are not historical
facts, nor are they guarantees of future performance; actual results may
differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and
developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward looking statements. These include, but are not limited to (i) the
general economic, business, political, regulatory and social conditions in the
key markets in which the Group operates, (ii) a significant event impacting
the Company's liquidity or ability to operate and deliver effectively in any
area of our business, (iii) significant change in regulation or legislation,
(iv) a significant change in demand for global content, and (v) a material
change in the Group strategy to respond to these and other factors. Certain of
these factors are discussed in more detail elsewhere in this announcement and
in the Company's Annual Report and Accounts published on 17 April 2025.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and, expect
as required by applicable law or regulation, CANAL+ undertakes no obligation
to update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be
made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.

 

Glossary of Terms

ARPU: Average revenue per user.

Direct to Consumer (DtoC): Self-distributed Consumer.

Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH): Installation and use of optical fibre from central
network to individual buildings to provide high-speed internet access,
enabling streaming of high-quality video services for instance.

Over-The-Top (OTT): Media services delivered directly to viewers via internet.

PayTV: Television services, usually with a linear component, for which users
pay a fee through a closed, managed platform.

 1  Organic growth: Reported Q1 2025 Group revenue growth (vs Q1 2024),
excluding the impact of discontinued contracts and activities (termination of
Disney+, UEFA Champions League sublicensing partnership and closure of C8
channel).

 2  On a reported basis.

 3  Africa Cup of Nations.

 4  Like-for-Like: Q1 2025 Group revenue growth (vs Q1 2024), at constant
scope and currency.

 5  Financial figures are rounded to the nearest million, hence small
differences may result in the totals.

 6  See the Company's Full year 2024 results press release published on 4
March 2025.

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