The French media group Vivendi has announced a reduction in losses for the first six months of 2003 as it seeks to extricate itself from a severe debt crisis.
The company said yesterday that net debt was down to €13.7 billion from more than €35 billion this time last year following the sale of a number of superfluous assets. It is hoped that additional savings will accrue from a merger of Vivendi Universal Entertainment and the US television network NBC (see
Vivendi-NBC Merger In The Offing).
Vivendi made a first half loss of €632 million, compared to a €12.3 billion loss in the same period last year. The group’s telecoms and television assets performed strongly but the music and games units continued to struggle.
Chief executive Jean-René Fourtou is hopeful of a return to profit for the full year and expects Vivendi to pay a dividend to shareholders from 2005.
Viacom In other news, the US media giant Viacom has cut its 2003 earnings outlook as a result of disappointing local advertising sales. The group now expects mid to high single digit growth in revenues as opposed to its earlier forecast of mid-teen percentage growth.
