Vivendi SE (VIV) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, welcome to this -- the AGM of Vivendi for 2020. Let me, first and foremost, to extend -- on behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board to extend very warm greetings to all those who are affected by the pandemic. The victims, of course, and their nearest and dearest. If you'd allow me, I'd also like to express our solidarity and our admiration -- genuine admiration for all those who are on the front line, fighting against this disease. As you will have noticed, this year, our AGM is somewhat different. It is exclusively broadcast online and over Dailymotion. The reason why we have decided to stick to the initial time line for this meeting is to guarantee continuity. To inform you, to answer your questions, and also to -- because our group is on the move, maybe more than ever in this difficult -- in these difficult times. We have been able to establish and ascertain business continuity by focusing and while focusing on one priority, the health and safety of our teams. This current situation deserve and requires adaptation, of course. But our group, your group has been able to rise to the challenge, is able to do so, indeed, thanks to the nimbleness and commitment of each and every one of our 45,000 staff members across the world. I'd like to make a special tribute to them here. I'd like to also pay tribute to the members of the Management Board and their staff who are fully mobilized in the current period. Let us now move on to formalities. Our AGM was -- has seen its notice published in the BALO on the 1st of April 2020 and also in [ Le Petit de Fisch ] on the same day and through letters sent to registered shareholders. As I have said, our assembly, our meeting is being broadcast from headquarters under the provisions of the order 2020-321 of 25th of March on changes to meetings and practicalities of meetings. So the high table includes here all the legally prescribed documents. Let me remind you that we are called upon to look at the following items: report and accounts for financial year in 2019; the dividends; the renewing of my term of [ office ]; the appointment of Laurent Dassault as a member of the Supervisory Board; authorization to the Management Board to purchase the company's shares, and if need be to cancel them; the approval of the registered party agreements and the commitments, the statutory auditor's report, the approval of the compensation policies for company officers; the authorization to the Management Board to make a bid to repurchase shares; and the harmonization of the bylaws following recent legislative changes. Having looked at the votes received up until yesterday, 3:00 p.m., we have an attendance of 65.99%. Therefore, we have a quorum, and the meeting may duly sit. Let me say also that some 4,800 shareholders have used the voting platform that was made available to them. The Management Board on the 17th of April appointed the following tellers: Mr. Frédéric Crépin, member of the Board and Group Secretary; and Mr. Hervé Philippe, member of the Board and CFO, in accordance once again of -- with the order of the 25th of March 2020. I suggest that we call once again on Mr. Frédéric Crépin to serve as Secretary for this assembly. [ Mr. Donny Callip ], bailiff, has verified the votes and proxies received up until 3:00 p.m. on the eve of the meeting. Mr. Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Chairman of the Management Board; and Frédéric Crépin and Hervé Philippe will join us here today. I'd like to thank all the members of the Management Board and staff members who -- and their staff, rather, who are following this online. I'd also like to make a special mention of all the members of the Supervisory Boards who are also following us online. As you can see, there will be 5 parts to our assembly. First of all, a review of the overall performance, then a review of the various business units report by the statutory auditors and the various committees, question and answers and lastly, resolutions. Before I give the floor to Arnaud de Puyfontaine, the Chairman of the Management Board, ladies and gentlemen, let me mention the current circumstances. As any other crisis, this current crisis will bring us to learn from the present but also learn for the future. In these difficult times, we are reminded how much there is a need to have culture, to be -- to marvel, to have your mind open, to travel and how much this is, not just an accessory to mankind, but indeed, a basic need of mankind. From the beginning of the epidemic, the demand for films, series, music, video games, books and more generally, cultural contents have been -- has been supporting billions of people across the world under lockdown, wherever they may be, and unsurprisingly so. Let me just remind you a survey we published last year. 83% of people across the world, according to that survey, consider that entertainment is a vital need, 83%. A basic need. Now we have further evidence of this nowadays. The current crisis has been highlighting the key role Vivendi plays in society. It is our strong point and also a great opportunity. But more than anything, it is a great responsibility for us and a responsibility, vis-à-vis, all our stakeholders. Namely 3 things, I believe. First of all, showing solidarity, then promoting diverse creation, and lastly, setting an example. Showing solidarity first. Well, that is an absolute necessity in the current crisis. All our teams are mobilized to act, to contribute to the global solidarity effort against coronavirus. I'd like to pay tribute to them. At Universal Music, many artists are organizing home concerts, broadcast and social media. Canal+ was readily available and fully available. In March, we have Fortnite and the ad receipts were gifted to Fondation de France. Editis has been making available textbooks online. Gameloft has been giving free contents to its gamers, and Havas has been supporting health care professionals and diffusing -- or rather broadcasting information content. Not to mention, of course, what happens at Dailymotion or within the Vivendi Village. Though we show an evidence of solidarity in the current circumstances. Let me just say that this has already been sustaining us and for a long time. Look simply at Create Joy, which we've been funding for 10 years now to support young people in difficulties. I can confirm, ladies and gentlemen, that we will be doing so well beyond the crisis. Secondly, promoting diverse creation. That is at the heart of a strategic project. The crisis is reminding us of how vital creation is. I've said that already. At Vivendi, we have set a specific mission for ourselves, promoting creation, diverse creation. Indeed, this is too often at risk because of the standardization resulting from global -- cultural globalization and also threatened by this wish to fall back on oneself and to exclude the other. Promoting creation is promoting the voices wherever they come from, supporting them, supporting talents and local talents and local repertoires, helping them to travel and become global successes. That's what we do in all our businesses. In Universal Music, for instance, about 2/3 of our sales come from local repertoires. Promoted creation also means running risks, investing in unusual contents, supporting emerging talents. And there again, that is a commitment from all of our entities. Look at, for instance, what Canal+ is doing. Groupe Canal+, supporting some 600 films every year and enabling them to be showed. Promoting creation at -- lastly is making sure the creation is available and accessible to the greatest number of people possible. And that is a strong point of Vivendi. We want to be present across the value chain, bringing about content, but also making sure we can showcase them through our media, through our broadcasting platforms and through content-wholesome events. That is a constant concern. And cultural diversity is our responsibility for the people of the world and for future generation. Thirdly, setting an example. There again, the health crisis reminds us of all the other challenges we have to rise to. Look, for instance, at climate change. The coronavirus has shown us that we can take radical decisions when necessary. It also reminds us that solutions to global challenges can and must be collective. We must and can all do what we need vis-à-vis the climate emergency. And companies have something to do. Vivendi has also and already been doing so for some time. Look at what Havas has been doing, being appointed the most eco-responsible or environmentally responsible communications group last year and also spearheading the common ground initiative at the UN. Canal+ has also joined [ Eco fraude ], and Editis is the only publishing, French publishing house, to sit on the Board of the FSC, the standard setting eco-environmental label for sustainable paper. And of course, all our staff are already mobilized. We, as a group, have already decided to refer to the criteria set by the task force on climate-related financial disclosures. And to abide by these principles. And that's a significant commitment. We've also decided to go one step further by going along with the science-based target initiative. We will, therefore, publish our road map of -- for greenhouse gases reduction across the group and hope to reach and achieve carbon neutrality. Another item that is particularly dear to my heart is gender equality. We have many number of programs within the group to support women and enable them to have -- to come into positions of responsibility. Look at the UMShe program at UMG, for instance, or femme-forward at Havas. And I think that we can be pleased to have 49% of women in senior management in Vivendi. But that's obviously enough. We have committed to push forward gender equality within the corporate structures at the group level and in the various entities. The Supervisory Board is perfectly gender equal. And we recognize that other things must be done, for instance, so looking at bringing more women into the Management Board. More generally, we must set an example, given the variety of challenges of our societies today, the way we hire, promote, train our staff, making sure that we have full inclusion and fair diversity. I can't, of course, mention all the social issues that we are working on. There are many and they -- we -- you know that the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee monitors this very carefully. And I'd like to warmly greet the Chairman of the CSR Committee, Paulo Cardoso; and the members of the committee for their work. They are sparing us on and enabling our group, on a day-to-day basis, to maintain a dialogue with the stakeholders and take up these challenges. Dear shareholders, this sense of responsibility that I have outlined is our compass, our guide for the current times, but also will go on being so in the future. We know how uncertain the future is. The world will probably be -- not be quite the same as it was before the crisis. But there is something we can rely on, and that is the key role Vivendi, our group, will be playing and our contents, too. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, let me also welcome on your behalf, our new partners and associates, Tencent. The agreement reached on opening up the shareholder base of Universal Music gives us great opportunities. It also is a testament to Tencent's confidence in our group in the current circumstances. And then that's a strong signal in the current circumstances. As sort of a key signal of what role we will have to play in the future. Thanks to our teams. Thanks to our strategic choices. Thanks to our partners. Thanks to the support and the trust in each and every one of you, we have been able to do so. Thank you. I'm delighted to be able to welcome here, Arnaud de Puyfontaine. You know him well. Good afternoon, Arnaud. Could you maybe tell us more about what the Management Board sees as achievements to 2019?

Well, yes, of course. 2019 was a good year, a milestone in the implementation of our industrial project, namely to build a group at the heart of the entertainment ecosystems of contents and of media. At the crossroads of these industries, Vivendi is specific in that we can develop contents and entertainment contents across the value chain, from creation to distribution. Our strategic choices have been fruitful. On a like-for-like basis, our sales and EBITA have gone up 5.6% and 10.8%. That is the strongest increase since 2015 when we repositioned ourselves strategically. At the same time, we went on investing massively into content, EUR 3.4 billion were injected into creation in 2019, for instance. 25% more than last -- than 2018. We had never before, over the last few years, granted development of contents quite so many resources. We've also increased the bridges between our various business units and businesses so that they could work together, and we'll show you that over the course of this meeting. Lastly, 2019 was a new year for value creation. Here, you can see the share price since 2014, and that's a key performance index of our group over the -- over time. Of course, COVID-19 has had an impact on the share price over the last few weeks. But as you can see, the trend for Vivendi is clearly above the CAC 40 over 2014, 2020.

Well, thank you, Arnaud, for this. Can you tell us more about the highlights of 2019?

Yes. Well, first of all, opening up the shareholdership of Universal Music. A month ago, we finalized and closed the deal signed on the 31st of December, and so 10% of Universal Music to an international consortium spearheaded by Tencent, and we are delighted, as you have said, Yannick, to welcome them as our partners. The operation was conducted on the base value of EUR 13 billion for 100% of the capital. I'd like to thank from the bottom of our heart, Sir Lucian Grainge and UMG, and Vivendi teams for taking this and bringing it to fruition in a difficult environment. This has been a -- and will give you Universal Music, great opportunities, growth opportunities, indeed, in China, where we have one of the largest music markets in the world. It's also opening Vivendi as a whole interesting prospects for -- in a country where creative industries are already quite strong or have strong potential, for instance, video games, cinema or publishing. The agreement that we have signed is only an initial stage. The consortium under Tencent can't acquire a further 10% by the 15th of January 2021. We are also looking at opening up and taking onboard other minority stakeholders and shareholders. Lastly, we are looking at listing UMG at the latest in 2023. Second, for 2019, another highlight, the further internationalization of our business. Canal+ is transforming its business in France and has in -- since September, finally acquired M7, one of the largest companies of pay-per-view television across Europe. And in so doing, we -- Canal+ is increasing its foothold and adding 7 new countries and 20 million subscribers. Moreover, Canal+ is opening up in Africa to non-French-speaking countries. And Havas is increasing its foothold too with 7 acquisitions, 3 of which occurred in India, which increased threefold its size on the market. And lastly -- or thirdly, rather, Editis and integrating it in Vivendi. Last year, I mentioned how sensible it was for us to purchase Editis. And the integration has occurred successfully. That is normal given the complementarity, its DNA and its proximity to other Vivendi businesses. Publishing really is a great store of stories and franchises. Look, for instance, also at other cooperations with other parts of the group, for instance, the Harlan Coben launch at Olympia. It mobilized the Canal+, UMG, BTC, Olympia Production. And also to make books more appealing to a greater number, we are looking at including books on the myCanal platform for more than 2 million subscribers in France. Now these new bridges between our businesses and our work means that we can push our projects further, and that is precisely the beauty of the industrial project I was mentioning earlier.

Well, thank you, Arnaud. 2019 clearly was a rich year for 2019. Can you tell us more about Telecom Italia?

Well, yes. Over the last few months, we have established normalized relationships within the Telecom Italia Board, following the changes in governance and support the positive changes announces -- announced by Luigi Gubitosi, the Managing Director. We are pleased also to see and rightly so that all Italian stakeholders recognize us as an industrial shareholder committed in the long term. Lastly, in Italy, our goals are the same. We want to make sure that we can support the success of Telecom Italia and tie close ties with content and media in the country.

Thank you. And what about the future? What about the next few months and years then?

Well, obviously, there are uncertainties related to the health crisis, to the economic environment following this crisis, and we need to be cautious. However, we are confident for the future of Vivendi for 2 reasons. First of all, as you were reminding us, we are lucky enough to operate in a future-driven field. Entertainment has always been at the heart of social life since the theaters of antiquities, the troubadours of medieval times. Admittedly, times are changing, but in 100 years time, you can be sure that entertainment will be vital for people still whatever the actual modalities. Secondly, and again, the reason why we contend the future with confidence. That I'm thinking of our group ourself. Vivendi has all that it takes to succeed in this changing environment. First of all, the strength of our talents. Now this may be self-evident, but in creative industries, maybe more so than in other fields, the most important thing are the women and men who work. Our first and prime duty and our prime success is to draw to us the most successful artists and creators, whether they be singers, writers or video game designers. They are the key to our success in the short and long run. In 2019, out of the 10 performers who sold their music most -- well, 8 were UMG artists. And 6 of the Editis authors and writers were in the top 10 in France. And it is the same across the board. We must create the right conditions and bring about the conducive conditions for our talents to thrive. Secondly, content and the strength of content. The quality of content, I could say, areas and excess of music, say, 40,000 new pieces of music made available every day. And what can bring about success? Well, quality, originality, impact and meaning. Thirdly, our third asset is that we have a large group, and I'm thinking here of our foothold across the world and across entertainment segments. Why is this important? Well, because from a financial point of view, having a foothold in a number of countries and different businesses means that we can weather unfortunate circumstances here or there. But it also means that on the international entertainment stage, where there are -- there is so much convergence, scale is and remains a key to success provided that is, we do not get overburdened by structure and red tape. And that brings me to my fourth strength, our fourth strength, nimbleness and innovation. Our group is a collection of local initiatives conducted by strong entrepreneurial business teams that can really adapt. Look at Gameloft, which have changed its model to open them up their practice to the increase of PC console and online platform games. Or Vivendi Village, for instance, able to increase -- seize opportunities in 4 years -- over 4 years, 14 concert halls under the CanalOlympia heading. We built in 10 African countries. And it is this nimbleness that has enabled us to become more digital, and we now see quite how relevant that was. So these are strong points. The strong points that our 45,000 staff members breathe life into on a day-to-day basis, and I'd like to thank and -- them and pay tribute to them. This will enable us to reach our goal to pursue our work to become a global leader on content, media and communication. And this is done through the support and thanks to the support of our reference shareholder, Groupe Bolloré. I'd like, of course, to pay tribute to the whole teams and Vincent Bolloré himself. I'm delighted as Chairman of the Management Board to be able to benefit from his advice and experience. Now to fulfill this ambition, I know that we can rely on your support, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to thank you however far away from one another we may be today. It is with your trust that we will be able to go forward with our strategic project and create value in the long run.

Thank you. That was a very inspiring presentation, if you'll allow me. As you were saying, one of the greater assets of Vivendi is precisely our ability to bring together the various businesses so as to create value. Now to give you a presentation of some of our cross-cutting projects for 2019, I'd like to give the floor now to the Senior Vice President of Vivendi Brand Marketing, Maria Garrido.

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Thank you, Maria. Arnaud and I are pleased to have here Hervé Philippe, member of the Board and CFO. If you'll allow me, I suggest we move on to the financial results for last year. Hervé, can you tell us more about the key numbers for last year?

[Foreign Language] Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good afternoon. It is now my pleasure to introduce to you the financial statements for 2019 of our group, starting with the consolidated financial statements, particularly the highlights for 2019. In 2019, once again, we recorded very good performance with a growth of 14% of our revenue as you can see on the top line. This is fueled by the growth of Universal Music Group and Canal+, and this is also due to the consolidation of Editis as of the 1st of February 2019. Excluding the currency effect and changes in the consolidation scope, the growth of our revenues amounted to plus 5.6% after having recorded plus 5% in 2017 and 2018. On the second line, the adjusted earnings or EBITDA rose to more than EUR 1.5 billion, up by 18.5%. I'll get back to that later. On the third line, in IFRS standards, the operational earnings or EBIT has shown an increase of 16.9%. On the fourth line, the net income of the group is a profit of EUR 1.741 billion. This is a strong increase of 50.5%. I will now go in more detail and present the consolidated financial statements of the group. You could see the first line that show the key performance figures for the group in 2019, but we'll get back to that in more detail in a few minutes. But I would like to, in fact, comment how we moved from the earnings -- the operating income or EBIT to the overall group's net income, which is at the very bottom of the slide. I'd like to draw your attention specifically to 2 very important lines that show the nonrecurring items or the one-off elements in 2019. First of all, we have a line called other financial charges and income. In 2018, it included the impairment of our participating interest in Telecom Italia, for EUR 1 billion. In 2019, it was not necessary to impair our participating interest. Then you have a line income taxes reported to net income. You can see that in 2019, the income -- the tax includes some favorable impacts. The tax in 2019 is positive by EUR 140 million. It includes an income of EUR 473 million, following the final settlement of the tax disputes in France dating back to 2012 and 2015. Excluding this impact, the tax in the net income would be a net charge of EUR 333 million, which is a normal taxation rate. These elements had a negative impact on the net income level in 2018 and have a favorable effect in 2019, which brings the net income to EUR 1.583 billion in 2019 compared to EUR 127 million in '18. I would like to remind you that because of the new IFRS standards, the 2018 earnings did not increase the capital gain of EUR 1.2 billion completed during the disposal of our interest in Ubisoft that we had received in cash, and it had been directly recognized in the results. In 2019, the adjusted net income, which is more representative of the economic activity of the group amounted to EUR 1.741 billion, up 50.5%.

Thank you, Hervé. Let us move on now to the group revenue. It has grown significantly compared to last year. Could you say a few words about these developments? And can you tell us an overview of the performance of our main business activities?

Of course, Arnaud. As you can see here on this document, the consolidated revenue of the group increased by 14.1% in 2019. The earnings of Universal Music Group exceeded the EUR 7 billion in 2019 with a growth rate of 14% at the constant perimeter and exchange rate. UMG has enjoyed a strong growth of its revenue coming from the subscription to streaming platforms. The turnover of the Canal+ Group has increased slightly compared to 2018 of -- to almost EUR 5.3 billion. The slight drop in France was compensated by the increase in our international business and the acquisition of M7 in Central and Eastern Europe. The Havas revenue in 2019 amounted to almost EUR 2.4 billion. The contribution of Editis in 2019 amounted to almost EUR 700 million for 11 months. And the other businesses of the group, including Gameloft, Vivendi Village and new initiatives, completed about EUR 400 million of revenue in 2019. Looking now at the adjusted earnings or EBITDA. It's increased for the entire group by 10.8%. And like-for-like at constant exchange rate in 2019, fueled particularly by the growth of profitability of Universal Music. The EBITA of Canal+ was impacted in 2019 by the costs related to the transformation plan in France announced in July 2019. Before the restructuring expenses, the EBITDA of the Canal+ group amounted to EUR 435 million. Let us now look in more detail at the results of the major businesses, starting with Universal Music Group. The middle chart shows you the performance achieved by UMG in 2019. Organic growth of UMG's revenue reached 14% after 2 consecutive years in 2017 and 2018, where UMG had already posted 10% growth of its revenue. This growth is actually fueled by the very sound performance of UMG artists and by the acceleration of the growth of the subscription and streaming services. You could see on the left of the slide, that there's been an acceleration expressed in millions of euros, EUR 729 million additional revenue generated in 2019 against EUR 625 million in 2018. Fueled by the increase in revenue, the profitability of Universal Music Group has strongly increased in 2019. On the right-hand side, you could see that the adjusted earnings amounted to more than EUR 1.1 billion in 2019, which is an organic growth of 22.3%. Let us now move on to the Canal+ Group. 2019 was impacted by the very good performance of international business. As shown on the left-hand side of the slide, the portfolio of subscribers to the Canal+ Group exceeded the threshold of 20 million at the end of 2019. And international subscribers now account for more than half of the subscriber base. On the right-hand side, you see a presentation of M7, which is the wonderful acquisition finalized by the Canal+ Group in September for a bit more than EUR 1 billion. M7 generates almost roughly EUR 400 million of turnover per annum and is highly profitable. This acquisition shows a major acceleration of the group and its international development, particularly on the European continent. Let us now move on to Havas. You could see that it's recorded very strong results in 2019. On the left-hand side, you see the breakdown of earnings by the division for Havas in 2019. Particularly, you could see the very significant share of Havas Health. That accounts for almost 20% of the group's earnings. If you look on the right-hand side, you can see that in 2019, the cash generation called the CFFO within the Vivendi Group remained very strong with EUR 239 million in 2019, which is an increase of 3.8% compared to 2018. Havas is an essential contributor to cash generation within the Vivendi Group. Let us now zoom in on Editis. The acquisition of which was finalized on the 31st of January 2019. Editis, let me remind you, is the second largest publishing group in France. 2019 was, in fact, the first fiscal year for Editis back in the scope of Vivendi. The integration with a very smooth process and had a very positive impact for the entire group. You could see here the main key figures for Editis for the first 11 months. Editis has enjoyed a unique set of assets, thanks to its rich portfolio of literary authors, but it also enjoys an excellent position when it comes to educational publishing because of the reform in 2019 of the reform process in high schools in France and other asset is the [ interform ] distribution platform.

Thank you very much, Hervé. After this overview of our business, a few words about the balance sheet of our group?

Yes, of course. I know you can see here the balance sheet, the consolidated balance sheet in December with consolidated equity for the amount of EUR 15.6 billion. The net -- debt net (sic) [ net debt ] of the group amounted to EUR 4.1 billion at the end of 2019, accounting for about 1/4 of our equity before collecting the income from the disposal of 10% of UMG to Tencent for about EUR 2.8 billion. We will see this in the next slide. And we could see the changes in the cash position. During 2019, we moved from a position of EUR 0.2 billion at the end of 2018 to a net debt position of EUR 4.1 billion at the end of 2019. Now this evolution reflects, first of all, as you can see in the middle of the return of EUR 3.3 billion paid to the shareholders, including EUR 2.7 billion as part of the share buyback plan and EUR 0.6 billion paid out as dividends in April of 2019. In 2019, Vivendi also completed 2 major acquisitions. We've already talked about that. Editis for EUR 800 million and M7 for EUR 1.1 billion. It is important to note, however, that at the end of March 2020, we finalized the disposal of 10% of UMG on the basis of an enterprise value of EUR 30 billion from 100% of UMG's equity. So we cashed in a net amount of EUR 2.8 billion in cash, thus reducing our net debt position. Let me take this opportunity also to tell you that following this very profitable operation. The gross cash position of Vivendi amounted to more than EUR 4.8 billion at the end of March. Vivendi now has EUR 2.3 billion of credit lines that are immediately available with maturities extending until 2024, '25. Our bond debt amounts to EUR 5.4 billion with repayments spread over time until 2028. So we are on solid financial ground. And this was confirmed by Moody's on the 31st of March with a very good rating to our debt, Baa2 with a stable outlook. The debt net amounts to EUR 2.4 billion on the 31st of March 2020, which gives us a gearing of about 15% calculated on the basis of the equity on the 31st of December 2019. Let us also mention the possible disposal of an additional 10% of UMG to Tencent that would further improve the situation with almost EUR 3 billion of additional cash. Now if you allow me, I would like to say now a few words about the statutory financial statements of Vivendi SA for fiscal year 2019. By the way, we'll be called Vivendi SA as of January 2020. So we would look, first of all, at the balance sheet at the end of December 2019, a very strong balance sheet with equity exceeding EUR 18 billion, after the capital reductions completed in the course of the fiscal year that have allowed for the cancellation of 10% of the shares repurchased as part of the share buyback plan that was approved by your shareholders' assembly in April. On the next slide, you could see here the earnings of the Vivendi SA company, typical of a parent company. Most of the financial proceeds of the Vivendi SA company come from the dividends received from UMG in the United States for EUR 1 billion, an exceptional profit of EUR 672 million, integrates mainly the capital gain from the disposal of the Ubisoft Security in March and a reversal of the risk provision following the final settlement in December of the tax dispute in France, dating back to 2012 and 2015. So the net income of Vivendi SA amounted to EUR 1.7 billion in 2019. Now concerning the income appropriation, you're being asked to approve for the year 2019, the payment of an ordinary dividend of EUR 0.60 per -- EUR 0.60 per share, which is a reasonable amount. In total, it will give us EUR 700 million. This is much lower than the dividend received by Vivendi from the American UMG Company. And the payment of the dividend will take place as of the 23rd of April 2020. After this payment, the balance of retained earnings would be EUR 3 billion.

Thank you very much, Hervé, for the very complete presentation for 2019. Just a few words about what was published this morning. Vivendi published the revenue for the first quarter. What is the key message here?

Yes, of course, I'm going to talk to you about the revenue figure for the first quarter. And of course, you could find all the details on our website. As I said this morning, in the first quarter of 2020, the revenue of Vivendi amounted to more than EUR 3.8 billion against EUR 3.5 billion over the same period in 2019. Growth of almost 12%, 4.4% organic growth. The main changes in the scope are due, of course, to the integration of Editis, integration that took place on the 1st of February 2019 and M7 was integrated into the Canal+ Group in -- at mid-September 2019. I will comment in detail now the revenues for the 2 main businesses, UMG and Group Canal. For the other activities, Havas and Editis, they have already been impacted by the start of the crisis in March. Talking now about Canal+ Group. The revenue amounted to EUR 1.372 billion against EUR 1.252 billion in the first quarter of 2019. This growth is fueled mainly by our international business. It has posted a very strong growth of the subscriber base over 1 year and this is linked, particularly to the integration of M7. In France, the revenues of the first quarter is slightly down by 0.7% at constant currency and perimeter, and this was impacted by the drop in our advertising income. Talking about the Studiocanal. Unfortunately, we have not been able to show films in theaters of late because of the circumstances. Now to complete the presentation, with the revenue of Universal Music in the first quarter, we have a revenue of EUR 1.7 billion. It's an increase of 12.7% with a constant perimeter and a currency compared to the same period of 2019. The revenues from recorded music increased by 13%, thanks to the increase in the income from the subscription and streaming services, plus 16.5%. Growth in euros is just as strong as last year. Music publishing is also growing by 17%. Merchandising is down by about 5% because it was impacted, of course, by the cancellation of concerts. Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Hervé. Arnaud, if you agree, let us now hand over to the group's various business lines representatives. Now for obvious public health reasons that are due to the present circumstances, we have decided to present you some recorded messages of the representatives for the different businesses of the group, and we shall start with the Chairman of the Canal+ Board of Management and President of Dailymotion, who will give us a comprehensive overview of his team's greatest achievements. Over to you, Maxime Saada.

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Thank you very much, Maxime. Yannick, I suggest we now move on to music. Universal Music signed again, wonderful, remarkable performance last year. Let's hear about it from the Chairman of the Universal Music France Management Board, I hand over to Olivier Nusse.

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Many thanks, Olivier, for this wonderful tribute to Christophe. Christophe, a great singer. Thank you very much and congratulations on behalf of the Vivendi Group, to Lucian Grainge and to all the teams of the Universal Music Group for the remarkable work that they achieved once again in 2019. Let us now move on to the Havas Group. For presentation, as was the case last year, we'll then hand over to the group's CFO, François Laroze, over to you.

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Thank you, François. I would like once again to stress the remarkable work done by UMG. You've seen one of its many campaigns. I would like to stress, once again, the unique nature of the relationship between Havas and Vivendi. The resulting value proposition is unique on the market of creative industries. Havas is positioned across the entire contents, the production chain. From the creation of contents to the distribution of contents. It has allowed for the emergence of new entertainment experience while fostering the development of joint projects. In 2019, under the authority of Havas, several major brands, Logitech, Michelin and others, have been able to capitalize on the expertise of the Vivendi business units to revisit their relationship with consumers. Havas is a major link in the industrial project of Vivendi that I was mentioning in my introduction.

Thank you very much, Arnaud. This is much appreciated.

Let's now move on to the Editis Group, which, as you mentioned, joined the Vivendi family last year. As was said, intellectual property talents are at the heart of Editis' business model. And just as any content starts with a nice story, so the group has great ambitions for Editis, which is the jewel of global publishing that joined the Vivendi family in 2019. Michèle Benbunan has now joined our family for the last 6 months in order to head the Editis business unit. I welcome her arrival. I'm very happy to know that Editis will be able to capitalize on Michèle's experience. She has very deep knowledge of both publishers and authors. She'd been working for them and with them for the last 25 years. She has an ability to work very easily with the different distribution issues and inventory issues. Michèle, welcome to us -- to our shareholders' meeting. Could you tell us, in a nutshell, what Editis is all about.

[Foreign Language]

Many thanks, Michèle. I'm sorry, our shareholders did not get to meet you in person at the Olympia Theater this year, but they will next year.

Absolutely, Arnaud. But I'm sure you've all been able to see for yourself what are the assets of Editis and Michèle's qualities in the recorded message. Let us now move on to a different creative environment, video games with Gameloft. We will now give the floor to Stéphane Roussel, the CEO of Gameloft, and a member of Vivendi's Management Board starting with a video to start the presentation. [Presentation]

[Foreign Language]

Thank you very much, Stéphane. Gameloft is in a good position to become a real game changer in the video games market. Now to complete our overview of the different businesses segments, a few words about the Vivendi Village project. My dear, Yannick, let us now listen to its President, Simon Gillham, also a member of Vivendi's Management Board.

[Foreign Language] [Presentation]

Thanks a lot, Simon. We saw these festivals, and we're missing these festivals, of course. I suggest we now move on to the third part of our shareholders' meeting with the reports on the Supervisory Board's Committee's work. For the Audit Committee, we'll hand over to its chairperson. You know her well. Her name is Cathia Lawson-Hall, and she will report on her work. Dear Cathia, over to you.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you. Thank you, Dear Cathia, and many thanks, of course, to all of the members of the Audit Committee. Dear Arnaud, I suggest we now move on to the report of the Governance Compensation and Nominations Committee, over to its Chairman, who's also the Vice Chair of Vivendi Supervisory Committee, Mr. Philippe Bénacin.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you very much, Dear Philippe, and many thanks, indeed, to all the members of the Governance Compensation and Nominations Committee. I'd now like to hand over to Mr. Thierry Quéron of the Deloitte Firm, who will present on behalf of the Audit Board a summary of their reports.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you. Thank you to our auditor. We will now move to the Q&A session. Arnaud and myself are very happy to welcome amongst us the secretary general of this shareholders' meeting, who's also the Secretary General of our group. You know him well, dear shareholders. His name is Frédéric Crépin. Over to you, Frédéric.

Thank you very much. This year, we got 19 written questions from 3 shareholders, and I'll read them out for you. First of all, the number of questions, 12, from the Forum for Responsible Investment (sic) [ Principles for Responsible Investment ]. First question: What is the list of your businesses in compatible with the Paris Agreement? And what actions are you taking to pull out from this? The answer is the group's business include few significant industrial and environmental risks. Indeed, it is mainly based in services, and most of the assets of the group are intangible. However, climate change, fighting against climate change and protecting the environment are part of Vivendi's responsible approach. Therefore, as Yannick said, the group decided in 2020 to join the SBT initiative to determine its low-carbon compatible trend in agreement with the Paris Agreement. And we will, therefore, circulate this road map by the end of this year on greenhouse gases and make sure that we can reach carbon neutrality. Second question: How have you adjusted your CapEx and development plans with the Paris Agreement? Answer: In acquisition and investment decisions, take into account a number of things: energy consumption, pollution, biodiversity, greenhouse gases. Future investments and in line with CapEx or development plans will therefore be assessed in this light to make sure that it can be comparable with a low-carbon trajectory and the Vivendi road map, environmental road map. Question 3: How do you assess your impact -- the impact of your business on global ecosystems, and notably, biodiversity? Answer: As we have said, we -- our business does not have a direct impact, a significant impact on biodiversity. As concerns to Editis, using paper may have an impact on deforestation. To preserve biodiversity, Editis, for the last 11 years, has been involved in an environmentally responsible approach relating to manufacturing and recycling of paper. We are -- Editis, in fact, is the only publisher in France sitting on the Board of the FSC and which guarantees full traceability of the manufacturing process. Question 4: The coronavirus crisis is going to significantly weaken the economic fabric, and more specifically, SMEs and various SMEs? If so, what do you intend to do to change the terms of payment to your suppliers? Answer: Many measures have been taken to support our suppliers across the world, Example, at Groupe Canal+, immediate payment to -- of CNC dues a listing of vulnerable service providers and producers to avoid a lack of payment and also a discount of 95% for advertising for the BPI aimed at SMEs; for Editis, immediate credit and loan to support bookshops, EUR 40 million worth of it; UMG, measures to support the record stores, 100% of the 17,000 rights holders payments have been made; for Havas, no refusal to pay; Gameloft, immediate payment of suppliers. Fifth question: How are you preparing your staff for the 21st century? Answer: Businesses have already almost all gone to digital. Music with streaming, video games with mobile, digital advertising with e-books. And we are going on to develop this by training our staff. Moreover, teleworking has also been growing in the group for a number of years, thanks to a number of agreements with the unions regardless of the current health situation. Sixth question: Do you have a definition for the decent wage, different from local basic minimum and minimum wage? If so, what is it? Answer: In 80 countries, we use qualified workers, and this notion of decent wage is not therefore relevant. We make sure that our staff have health insurance and also health and death insurance, in some instances, where -- in many instances, where it isn't, in fact, usually available Seven: In your project sharing -- profit-sharing agreements, do you take into account environmental and social criteria? Answer: We are considering a switch for all the staff to these profit-sharing agreements, and they are modified and reviewed every 3 years. As concerns, save as you earn projects, how many of the funds have a label for responsibility? Answer: some 4% to 40% -- 20% to 40% of the funds, depending on the entities, an average of 25% in the group. Question: The breakdown of taxes by countries, is it discussed by the Management Board and/or the Audit Committee? Answer: The tax on earnings as expenses or earnings and the taxes paid by geography are found in the universal registration document for Vivendi. This is examined by the Audit Committee, which reports to the Supervisory Committee. As Vivendi has been consolidated with Bolloré since the 26th of April 2017, the corresponding declaration is fined by Groupe Bolloré. Ten: The social cohesion issues and wage gaps, are they reviewed by the Management Board? Answer: These issues are covered by the Supervisory Board and are part of the basic values of Vivendi. And since this year, we have been in the corporate governance report, publishing equity ratios for the last 5 years and the compensation levels for company officers. This is taken into account for the remuneration policy and compensation policy by the Governance Appointments and Compensation Committee. 11: The policy to guarantee equal payment carriers and access to responsibilities for men and women, is this policy covered and discussed at the Management Board? Answer: In accordance with the law, every year, the Supervisory Board looks at the employment and training conditions applicable to women and when -- and men and discuss this. The Supervisory Board is very committed to the issue of diversity and wishes to see an increase in the share of women in Executive Committees and operational activities. As concerns the Management Board, the Supervisory Board has set itself a goal of appointing 2 women by the end of 2021. The Executive Committees or Management Committees include 35% of women as things stand. We have also, as concerns, the issues of senior management included from the Supervisory Board a number of mentoring and networking actions. There are also actions at UMG, Groupe Canal and Havas to support this. 12: Do you intend to publish the opinion of the unions on the extra financial performance declaration? Answer: The consultation of the Social and Economic Committee does not include the extra financial performance, but the Vivendi Committee is, in fact, very much aware of this as it is as the issue is covered in the corporate governance report. Now questions put by PhiTrust. Firstly, as concerns, the way in which written questions were sent before the meeting. Answer: In accordance with the law, Vivendi answered the questions that are put to the Chairman of the Management Board by registered post up until 4 days before the meeting. Electronic means of communication are just an option or possibility. Given the current exceptional circumstance in accordance with the AMF recommendations, Vivendi has extended the deadline to the last working day prior to the assembly. That is Friday, 17th of April and not Tuesday, 14th. Second question on governance, on the governance structure. Answer: As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Yannick Bolloré, discharges his duties as under the law and the constitution of the company and the group. As CEO of Havas, he implements the decisions of the Board in Havas. This is not a problem and does not impact the balance of power as many members of the Supervisory Board and shareholders are satisfied. As concerns the Management Board, the Supervisory Board considered that Gilles Alix and Cédric de Bailliencourt should be able to bring their expertise to the Management Board and to avoid any conflict of interest that they do not take part in any votes or discussions likely to involve both groups. Another question now on the role of the [ sensor ], the independent -- the lead independent director. Answer: In 2019, Mr. Vincent Bolloré brought his position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Vivendi and of CEO of Bolloré to an end. He illustrates his intent to step back as a [ sensor ], an unpaid position. He brings his expertise and helps bring about the integration plan as initiated in 2014. As a staff member, paid member of Vivendi, he is an adviser of the Chairman of the Management Board. His great experience is exceptional and can contribute to creating value for Vivendi and all shareholders. His employment contract has been submitted to the Supervisory Board, and his remuneration and compensation is shared and is made public in accordance with the decisions relating to related parties. Question on Resolution 28. Answer: The renewing of this authorization for another 12 months enables the Management Board to have greater flexibility than it would have had under Resolution 6 and 27 with a 10% cap. This is just a possibility. And indeed, the Management Board did not act upon it in 2019. Last question put by [ François Laroze ], a member of the Comité des actionnaires. And in this respect, I'd like to thank the Comité des actionnaires for what it does and the role it plays in maintaining our relationship with all shareholders. The question relates to the outlook for Groupe Canal+. The response of the Management Board is as follows: Adjusting to an ever-changing and increasingly changing world is what Groupe Canal+ will have to handle in developing offers and applications. The future of Groupe Canal+ will hinge on its ability to change the traditional broadcasting group it was, which is why we're looking at content, internationalization and switch to digital. With the recent agreements, Groupe Canal+ is consolidating its position as a publisher and an aggregator as it enables it to bring together on one single platform all the wealth of content from Canal+ and the best possible contents and services from partners such as Netflix, Disney, HBO via OCS and beIN Sports. MyCanal is at the heart of all this so that our subscribers can have access to this on all its support and every moment to have a unique visioning approach. Thank you. The resolutions now.

Please allow me, first of all, to talk about the fifth resolution concerning the appointment of Laurent Dassault as a member of the Supervisory Board. It is an appointment that I support wholeheartedly. I know Laurent Dassault very well, and I know that he can make a great contribution because of his excellent track record in the business world, both in France and abroad. And also thanks to his sound knowledge of the media industry. His unfailing dedication for artistic creation, his participation in many charitable initiatives fit in perfectly well with the sense of responsibility in our group. I was talking about that at the beginning of the shareholders' meeting. Handing over now to Frédéric Crépin once again.

Thank you, Yannick. We have 30 resolutions that were put to the vote of your shareholders presented by the Management Board and your Supervisory Board. The first resolution is the approval of the parent company financial statements for fiscal year 2019, 99.92% adoption rate. Second resolution, approval of the consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2019, adopted with 99.91% of the vote. Third resolution, allocation of earnings for fiscal year 2019, determination of the dividend and its payment date, $0.60 per share on the 23rd of April, carried with 99.52% of the votes. Fourth resolution, renewal of the term of office of Yannick Bolloré as a member of the Supervisory Board carried with 74.22% of the votes. Fifth resolution appointment of Laurent Dassault as a member of the Supervisory Board carried with 99.54% of the votes. Sixth resolution, authorization to be granted to the Management Board to allow the company to purchase its own shares up to a limit of 10% of the company's share capital, EUR 26 per share maximum. And we have 97.30% (sic) [ 97.37% ] of votes. Then seventh resolution, approval of the statutory auditors' special report drawn up pursuant to Article 225 (sic) [ Article L. 225-88 ] of the French Commercial Code, 70.49%. Eighth resolution, approval of the information referred to in Article L. 225-37-3 I of the French Commercial Code set out in the corporate governance report, carried, 76.52% of the votes. Ninth resolution, approval of the components of compensation and benefits in kind paid to Yannick Bolloré, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, carried with 68.73% of the votes. 10th resolution, approval of the components of compensation in 2019 to Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Chairman of the Management Board, carried with 76.27% of the votes. 11th resolution, approval of the components of compensation in 2019 to Gilles Alix, member of the Management Board, carried with 73% (sic) [ 68.13% ] of the votes. Then 12th resolution, approval of the components of compensation paid to Cédric de Bailliencourt in 2019. He's a member of the Management Board. 73.52% of the votes, resolution carried. 13th resolution, approval of the components of compensation in 2019 to Frédéric Crépin, member of the Management Board. We have 76.75% (sic) [ 76.15% ]. 14th resolution, approval of the components of compensation paid to Simon Gillham, and 76.11%, resolution carried. Approval of the components of compensation paid to Hervé Philippe. He's a member of the Management Board, 76.11% adoption rate. 16th resolution, approval of the components of compensation paid to Stéphane Roussel, member of the Management Board, carried with 76.15% of votes. 17th resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman and members of the Supervisory Board for 2020, carried with 75.98% of the votes. 18th resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Management Board for 2020, carried with 76.55% of the votes. 19th resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the members of the Management Board for 2020, resolution carried with 75.76% of the votes. 20th resolution, approval of the statutory auditors' special report related to the amendment to the commitment granted to Arnaud de Puyfontaine under the supplemental defined-benefit pension scheme, carried 74.33% of the votes. 21st resolution, approval of the statutory auditors' special report relating to the amendment to the commitment granted to Gilles Alix under the supplemental defined-benefit pension plan, carried with 72.32% of the votes. 22nd resolution, approval of the statutory auditor's special report related to the amendment to the commitment granted to Cédric de Bailliencourt under the supplemental defined-benefit pension plan, carried with 74.42% of the votes. 23rd resolution, approval of the statutory auditors' special report related to the amendment to the commitment granted to Frédéric Crépin under the supplemental defined-benefit pension plan, 74.33% adoption rate. 24th resolution, approval of the statutory auditors' special report related to the amendment to the commitment granted to Simon Gillham, 72.30%. 25th resolution, approval of the statutory auditors' special report related to the amendment to the commitment granted to Hervé Philippe under the supplemental defined-benefit pension plan, carried with 72.30%. 26th resolution, approval of the statutory auditors' special report related to the amendment to the commitment granted to Stéphane Roussel under the supplemental defined-benefit pension plan, carried with 74.33%. 27th resolution, authorization to be granted to the Management Board to reduce the share capital of the company by way of the cancellation of shares, 10% maximum of the share capital, adopted, 99.12% of the votes. 28th resolution, authorization given to the Management Board for repurchase of the shares with a maximum limit of 30% of the share capital to reduce the share capital maximum repurchase by share 26% (sic) [ purchase price of EUR 26 per share ], carried with 69.36%. 29th resolution, harmonization of Article 8-II of the company's bylaws with the new legal requirements related to employee representation on the Supervisory Board, resolution carried with 99.99% of the votes. 30th resolution, powers to carry out formalities, 99.52% carried. Thank you very much.

Well, thank you, Frédéric. I'm very happy, of course, that we managed to adopt all of these resolutions in the shareholders' meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, thank you. Thank you for having participated in this General Shareholders' Meeting. Thank you for your confidence, for the trust that you've shown us. I would like to extend my thanks to all the teams who contributed to the organization and the smooth running of this shareholders' meeting. Once again, of course, I'm very sorry that we could not all meet in person this year, but it was very important to say, once again, that Vivendi is really on the move more than ever and that we continue with our business more than ever. Of course, you may count on us. You may count on us to guarantee the safe working of all of our employees worldwide and the business continuity of your group, which I'll meet again, dear shareholders, at the Olympia Theater for our 2021 Shareholders' Meeting. Take good care of yourselves, and this is now the end of the shareholders' meeting. Thank you. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]