| PRESS RELEASE |
| Financial information for the third quarter 2019 | October 17, 2019 |
Revenue for the third quarter: €6,169 million, +3% organic growth
- Revenue for the 3rd quarter 2019: €6,169 million
- +3% at constant scope and exchange rates
- +9% on a reported basis
- Revenue at the end of September 2019: €17,949 million
- +4% at constant scope and exchange rates
- +9% on a reported basis
Revenue for the third quarter 2019
At constant scope and exchange rates, the Group's revenue for the third quarter 2019 increased by 3% to €6,169 million. This development mainly includes:
- the slowdown in transportation and logistics business (-4%) due to declining air and sea volumes in freight forwarding, partially offset by the growth in port terminals;
- the virtual stability in oil logistics business (+0.4%) on the back of higher volumes, counterbalanced by the decrease in oil products prices;
- the growth in communication business (+7%), attributable to Vivendi which benefited from the strong growth at UMG (+16%);
- and the upturn in electricity storage and systems (+2%) which benefited from the growth in Bus operations.
Revenue as reported increased by 9% compared to revenue for the third quarter 2018, due in particular to the integration of Editis.
Revenue at the end of September 2019
At constant scope and exchange rates, revenue at the end of September 2019 increased by 4% to €17,949 million.
Revenue as reported increased by 9%, taking into account €560 million in changes in scope, mainly related to the integration of Editis, and €201 million in foreign positive exchange impacts, related to the decrease in the value of the euro against almost all currencies, particularly the US dollar.
| Change in revenue by business |
| (in millions of euros) | 3rd quarter | 9-month total | |||||||
| 2019 | 2018 | Reported | Organic | 2019 | 2018 | Reported | Organic | ||
| growth | growth | growth | growth | ||||||
| Transportation & Logistics | 1,462 | 1,514 | -3% | -4% | 4,436 | 4,461 | -1 % | -1% | |
| Oil Logistics | 645 | 641 | 1% | 0,4% | 1,923 | 1,900 | 1% | 1% | |
| Communications | 3,969 | 3,399 | 17% | 7% | 11,320 | 9,872 | 15% | 7% | |
| Electricity Storage & Systems | 85 | 83 | 2% | 2% | 244 | 265 | -8% | -8% | |
| Other (Agricultural Assets, Holding Companies) | 7 | 7 | 0% | 0% | 24 | 27 | -12% | -12% | |
| Total | 6,169 | 5,644 | 9% | 3% | 17,949 | 16,526 | 9% | 4% | |
At constant scope and exchange rates, compared to the first nine months of 2018, the main sectors changed as follows:
- Transportation & Logistics, Oil Logistics:
- revenue from the transportation and logistics business was down 1% due to declining revenue in freight forwarding and logistics, which was penalized by the widespread downturn in air and sea volumes. It also included the continuing growth in the activities of port terminals, notably with significant increases in volume by Abidjan Terminal in Ivory Coast, Benin Terminal, Conakry Terminal in Guinea, Togo Terminal, Freetown Terminal in Sierra Leone, and Congo Terminal, as well as a decrease in logistics and stevedoring business, primarily in East Africa. Lastly, growth in rail operations driven by hydrocarbon traffic and benefiting the increased locomotive fleet.
- revenue from oil logistics grew by 1% in view of the rise in the price of oil products and a slight decrease in volumes over the first nine months of 2019; this trend reversed in the 3rd quarter of 2019.
- revenue from the transportation and logistics business was down 1% due to declining revenue in freight forwarding and logistics, which was penalized by the widespread downturn in air and sea volumes. It also included the continuing growth in the activities of port terminals, notably with significant increases in volume by Abidjan Terminal in Ivory Coast, Benin Terminal, Conakry Terminal in Guinea, Togo Terminal, Freetown Terminal in Sierra Leone, and Congo Terminal, as well as a decrease in logistics and stevedoring business, primarily in East Africa. Lastly, growth in rail operations driven by hydrocarbon traffic and benefiting the increased locomotive fleet.
§ Communications: revenue in communications, which corresponds to Vivendi's business, saw organic growth of 7% compared to the first nine months of the 2018 fiscal year. Vivendi benefited from the growth at Universal Music Group (UMG) (+17.5%), thanks to the 23% increase in subscription and streaming revenues and the 15% jump in physical sales, as well as the consolidation of Editis up 7.1%. It also includes the 2% decline at Canal+ Group and the stability of revenue for Havas.
§ Electricity Storage & Systems: revenue from industrial activities (electricity storage, plastic films, dedicated terminals and systems) decreased by 8% compared to the first nine months of the 2018 fiscal year, due to the decline in the car-sharing business following the end of Autolib’, as well as the downturn in the dedicated terminals division (terminals and double-door chambers for stations and airports), which was penalized by passenger activity. However, it did benefit from the growth of Bluebus, with the sale of 38 buses, including 15 buses of 12 meters since the beginning of the year. By the end of 2019, 29 buses of 12 meters should be delivered, as well as 27 buses of 6 meters, bringing the annual total to 50 vehicles of 6 meters and 44 of 12 meters.
Significant and recent events:
§ DRPC launch
On 5 September 2019, DRPC (Dépôt Rouen Petit-Couronne) launched its oil depot located on the banks of the Seine River. This new oil deposit - whose shareholders are Bolloré Energy (70%) and Total Marketing France (30%) - is a strategic procurement logistics platform for the Normandy and Ile-de-France regions as well as Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports. Commissioned in early 2018, DRPC has storage capacity of 600,000 m3 over 27 tanks, so it can store all types of oil products. DRPC represents an investment of €100 million and three years of work to transform the tank yard of the former Petit-Couronne refinery into a modern, secure oil depot.
§ Vivendi's share buyback program
Between August 7, 2019 and October 16, 2019, Vivendi repurchased approximately 17.4 million of its own shares (1.3% of the share capital).
The current share buyback program runs until November 13, 2019. It covers a maximum of 130.93 million shares (10% of the share capital) at a maximum purchase price of €25 euros per share.
It is recalled that further to decisions taken by the Management Board on June 17, 2019 and July 25, 2019, a total of 94.679 million shares (7.23% of the share capital), were cancelled, including 64.7 million shares repurchased under the current program.
As of October 16, 2019, Vivendi directly held 25.3 million of its own shares, representing 1.9% of the share capital, including 18.2 million to be cancelled and 7.1 million to cover performance share plans.
At the end of September 2019, the Bolloré Group held 26.3% of Vivendi's share capital and still had 29.6% of voting rights.
§ UMG IPO
On August 6, 2019, Vivendi announced that it has entered into preliminary negotiations with Tencent Holdings Limited (“Tencent”) for a strategic investment totaling 10% of the share capital of UMG at an equity valuation of €30 billion for 100% of UMG on a fully-diluted basis. In addition, Tencent would have a one-year call option to acquire an additional 10% at the same price and terms.
The due diligence process and the finalization of the legal documentation is ongoing and should be completed in the coming weeks.
In addition, Vivendi is pursuing the process of potentially selling an additional minority stake in UMG to other partners, some of whom have already expressed an interest in investing at a similar price level.
§ Disposal of Wifirst
The Bolloré Group has reached an agreement with Amundi Private Equity Funds (Amundi PEF), Bpifrance, and Socadif Capital Investissements to dispose its 55% stake in Wifirst, an internet service provider specializing in Wi-Fi technology. The disposal of the stake in Wifirst generated around €115 million in cash and a consolidated capital gain of around €85 million.
| Change in revenue per quarter |
| (in millions of euros) | 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | ||||||
| 2019 | 2018 (1) | 2018 | 2019 | 2018 (1) | 2018 | 2019 | 2018 (1) | 2018 | |
| Transportation & Logistics | 1,483 | 1,448 | 1,435 | 1,491 | 1,521 | 1,511 | 1,462 | 1,529 | 1,514 |
| Oil Logistics | 665 | 671 | 670 | 613 | 592 | 590 | 645 | 643 | 641 |
| Communications | 3,458 | 3,271 | 3,123 | 3,893 | 3,614 | 3,349 | 3,969 | 3,703 | 3,399 |
| Electricity Storage & Systems | 75 | 90 | 89 | 85 | 94 | 93 | 85 | 84 | 83 |
| Other (Agricultural Assets, Holding Companies) | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Total | 5,690 | 5,490 | 5,327 | 6,090 | 5,831 | 5,555 | 6,169 | 5,965 | 5,644 |
(1) at constant scope and exchange rates
All amounts are expressed in millions of euros and rounded to the nearest decimal.
As a result, the sum of the rounded amounts may differ slightly from the reported total.
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