Vivendi keeps 2008 outlook, no need for cash call
Vivendi (VIV.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), armed with a fresh contract with The Rolling Stones and its new Activision Blizzard gaming venture, kept its 2008 profit goal as it posted a rise in second-quarter underlying earnings.
The owner of Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest record company, and France’s second biggest mobile operator, SFR, said it could fund recent deals without a rights issue and no acquisitions were pending.
Those deals include buying SFR buying fixed-line operator Neuf Cegetel and the formation of video games giant Activision Blizzard ATVID.O, which brought together its World of Warcraft online role-playing game with partner Activision Inc’s best-selling “Guitar Hero” franchise.
“We used less cash than expected to make our acquisitions. We can continue Vivendi’s expansion with the current balance sheet structure without tapping the market,” Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy told a conference call quick payday loan.
Levy had said in a newspaper interview in April that the group might need between 1 billion and 2 billion euros.
He told analysts on Monday that Vivendi was not eyeing any major acquisitions “in the next months”.
The company, whose best-selling artists include British soul singer Amy Winehouse, said it still expected 2008 profit growth similar to the 8 percent of 2007 on a like-for-like basis.
It said second-quarter group earnings before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA) rose 3.2 percent to 1.36 billion euros ($2 billion), slightly short of an average forecast of 1.39 billion from a Reuters poll of seven analysts.