Vivendi SE ($VIV)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Vivendi conference call regarding its 2025 annual results. The call will be structured in two parts. First, a presentation by the Vivendi Group management team represented by Mr. Arnaud de Puyfontaine; and Francois Laroze, CFO. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over to the management team. Gentlemen, please go ahead.

Hello, good evening, and thank you for being with us this evening. We will, with Francois comment on the full year 2025 annual results. So I will start by the key highlights and to get stretched to the point. 2025 marks Vivendi's first fiscal year in its new structure following the spin-off in December 2024. The group has refocused over the past 12 months, its business portfolio on content, media and entertainment, following the divestment of its telecom assets in Italy and Spain. Gameloft continued its strong momentum, driven by its successful transformation despite the challenging environment for the video game industry. And the group pursued its strategy of reducing corporate operating costs at headquarters. And now I'm going to hand over to Francois.

Thank you, Arnaud. Good evening, everyone. So I will walk you through the main figures of this year 2025, starting by the key figures of the P&L with these revenues of EUR 307 million, EBITDA of EUR 45 million compared with minus EUR 1 million last year and net income group share of EUR 20 million for the year 2025. On the portfolio of listed financial assets, we are at EUR 5.5 billion compared with EUR 6.8 billion at the end of previous year, and we'll come back on it. In terms of financial net debt, our net debt is at EUR 1.5 billion before the loan to Lagardere, this EUR 1.5 billion to be compared with EUR 2.5 billion 1 year before. If we now move to our portfolio of listed company, no major move since our previous communication, but the stake in MFE, MediaForEurope which went down from 1980 to 15%, 92% due to the dilution after the deal of MFE with ProSieben in Germany. For the other stakes, we are at the level we were during our last communication, i.e., almost 10% for Universal, 19% for Banijay, 11% for Prisa, and 13% for Lagardere. In terms of valuation of our portfolio, the listed financial portfolio is at EUR 5.532 billion, mainly coming from UMG, EUR 4 billion. Banijay is almost EUR 700 million. Lagardere, EUR 350 million, and MFE, EUR 400 million. In terms of dividend received from these financial assets, it has represented EUR 158 million for the year 2025. Now let's have a look at the evolution of our portfolio between the end of the year 2024 and in the year 2025. It went down from EUR 7.2 billion to EUR 5.8 billion. This is the overall portfolio, the one I described as listed company, to which we had the Gameloft stake and the treasury shares. So we moved from EUR 7.2 billion to EUR 5.9 billion, let's say. Partly the evolution comes from acquisition and sale of the period. We have disposed mainly Telecom Italia and Telefonica, representing a divestment of EUR 1.4 billion during the period. And in the same time, we have acquired new shares of Lagardere for EUR 296 million, which was the end of the tender offer with [indiscernible], which have been exercised during the first half 2025. So it's a net investment of EUR 1.1 billion, EUR 1.053 billion And in the same time, we have had evolution of our existing portfolio. The main evolution is about UMG, which went down by EUR 453 million. It's the evolution of the stock price between the end of the year 2025, roughly EUR 24 per share to the end of the year 2025, roughly EUR 22 per share. There has been a positive evolution of TIM before the disposal, which is EUR 206 million, and that explains the total change of portfolio of EUR 294 million. A few words now on Gameloft. Gameloft, which has done a very positive year. The revenue is up by 4.2% in organic and the EBITDA almost doubled from EUR 8 million to EUR 15 million. And you see the evolution by region with a very sound performance of North America. Let's say, on Gameloft, that Gameloft has worked hard on its cost basis and now take advantage of this reduction of cost with a good performance of main games, including Disney Dreamlight Valley, which is the game #1 in the Gameloft portfolio. In terms of financial net debt evolution from EUR 2.573 billion at the end of the previous year to EUR 1.5 billion at the end of this year, mainly coming, as you can imagine, from the divestiture I just described, EUR 1.5 billion, Telecom Italia, Telefonica mainly, and the acquisition of the Lagardere share for EUR 296 million. The CFFO has been very solid. The cash flow from operation at EUR 68 million. We have paid dividend for EUR 40 million, interest and tax for EUR 42 million, and we have the impact of the discontinued operation, mainly coming from the end of the split operation, we have generated EUR 82 million of discontinued operation, which leads us to this EUR 1.5 billion net debt at the end of the year 2025. This EUR 1.5 billion on the next chart, you will see where it's coming from. We have still our margin loan with 5 banks for EUR 1.350 billion. In addition, we have some short-term marketable securities for EUR 352 million, mainly in UCP. So we have this EUR 1.7 billion financial net debt and EUR 200 million of gross cash position, which leads to the EUR 1.5 billion net debt position at the end of the year 2025. If we now move to our P&L, the revenues, I said, EUR 307 million, up by 4.3% in organic, mainly coming from Gameloft, which reflects the good performance I've already described. And by business unit, the EBITDA, you see the positive evolution of Gameloft, I have already described and a very positive evolution also of the corporate costs, which are coming from EUR 126 million to EUR 99 million, which is the route we are on to reduce our HQ cost for the coming months. To finish, I will describe the net income group share, which is a profit of EUR 20 million compared with the huge loss of last year due to the split operation starting from the EBITDA I have just described at EUR 45 million. Then you have a few things to say, but the level of the interest at EUR 73 million and mitigated by the income from operation, which are the dividend coming from Lagardere, MFE and Banijay. So the net financial cost is at 0 with the interest being at interest plus the other financial charge being at the level of the income received from our subsidiaries. That leads to this EUR 20 million net income group share. So that's where we are in a nutshell. And what we can tell you is that with the Q1 revenues will be released on April 21 day of the next shareholder meeting and that during this shareholder meeting will be proposed a dividend of EUR 0.04 per share, which is a yield of almost 2% at the current stock price in line with the guidance we gave during the time of the split. This dividend will be paid on April 24. So that's where we are for this year 2025. And with Arnaud, we are now at your disposal to answer any questions.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Laura Metayer from Morgan Stanley.

I just have one question, please. Do you have an update on the cash and portfolio allocation strategy, please?

Could you repeat because the sound is quite bad, and we -- I don't know.

Okay. Sorry about this. Do you have any update on the cash and portfolio allocation strategy, please?

Thank you, Laura, for your question. As you have seen during 2025, we exited our position in Telecom Italia and Telefonica. And as regard to the future and based on our current portfolio, we are monitoring the situation of the different assets and preparing for the right timing as regard to an exit when the time is there and the value that we can expect from our different stake is going to be there. And as regard to the proceeds, the proceeds are going to be used on three different objectives. Number one is going to be dividend paid to our shareholders. Second is going to be the decrease of our level of debt. And the remaining being allocated to situation and companies that are going to be part of our next equity story. So we are currently preparing different options available to us in the future, and that's work in progress. You want to add something, Francois?

No, I think you've been extensive. Thank you.

The next question comes from Eric Ravary from CIC CIB.

First one is on your core price cost. So you announced restructuring at the headquarters. So what is the level of corporate cost that you are targeting after this restructuring plan implementation? Second question is on your portfolio. Is there any change in your holdings since the beginning of the year? And also a question on Universal Music. Could you make a comment on what the current market valuation of UMG and also the decision by the management team to postpone the dual listing in the U.S.? And final question is on treasury shares. So you just canceled EUR 7 million of treasury shares. out of the remaining EUR 27.9 million, how much have to be canceled before year-end, please?

Okay. Thank you, Eric. Starting by the corporate growth. As I said, we are on the route to reduce this corporate cost. We have done a positive evolution in 2025. We aim to keep on reducing and the target is roughly to be at let's say, between the 2025 and 2027 once the plan would be achieved to be a reduction of, let's say, around 20% of our existing costs. We are still negotiating the plan. So we can't give you any precise figures. But we could give you some more flavor in, I would say, one or two months' time once the plan has been fully negotiated and implemented. On the portfolio, Eric, could you tell me about your question precisely with... Sorry, since the beginning of the year, unfortunately, the main evolution is about UMG as the other stake has been quite stable. And UMG, you know the story, we at EUR 22 million -- EUR 22 per share at the end of the year 2025 when we closed the accounts. And we are roughly today at EUR 18, sometimes below. It's EUR 4. We have EUR 181 million of shares. So it's EUR 720 million of reduction of our portfolio. So that's the main evolution of the shares, and we have not set any shares. we have kept the portfolio as it was during this first 2 months. I will hand over to Arnaud on the UMG questions on the treasury shares. We still have 27,000 shares to cancel. Most of them will be canceled during the month of July. And it's -- I think it's 17 in July and the rest between now and July. So at the end of the month of July, will have canceled all our shares the one we had in our portfolio early this year. So now I give the floor to Arnaud.

As regard to the situation of Universal Music Group, well, obviously, we have seen the numbers which have been released and those numbers are pretty compelling. They were good results. And obviously, the trend of the share price over the past few weeks has been pretty disappointing. So we do think that, obviously, question mark as regard to AI impact in the business model and so on and so forth is the big issue. I guess that markets and the street doesn't like uncertainty. And I really think that at this level of price and compared to the target price of main analysts were far away from the true value of the business. So we, at Vivendi, do trust the solution range and the management team to be able to ride through that period and to prove that the business has a much -- should have a much greater value as it is today. And I remain optimistic and positive as regard to the forecast. And as regard to the listing, well, as a shareholder of the company, we do back every initiative as regard to value creation for the shareholder. I've not been in the details of this project of double listing in New York, so I can't comment and make any statement as regard to the situation. Again, as a proactive shareholder and with the willingness to support any initiative to create value, we'll do that. Don't know whether this U.S. listing would reach this objective. So I can't comment any more on that specific topic. Any more questions?

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Silvia Cuneo from Deutsche Bank.

I just wanted to ask about something from your press release about how you remain committed to the strategy of developing businesses you control and actively managing your portfolio of investments. So I wanted to ask if you see for example, opportunities in gaming or adjacencies for Gameloft or perhaps other subsectors? And yes, if you could help us with the thinking of what areas could be most of interest for you. And then secondly, regarding your views around how AI could change the gaming space in the medium term? And if there is any applications and implementations you are doing within Gameloft.

Well, thank you, Silvia. With Francois, we are going to do our best to be comprehensive. But at least 50% of your question were just blurred by electronic influence. I'm not sure that we're going to be comprehensive. So if there are a few questions that we are not answering, please tell us. I understand that you wanted to have vision as regard to which target we could have in terms of M&A in the future and the place of Gameloft in that environment. So Vivendi is going to remain an investor in media entertainment, information and content operation. And as we speak, our team is working on different opportunities. Opportunities should be opportunities of growth and matching this wide range of opportunities. And we are currently are working on a different scenario to be ready when the time comes. As regard to Gameloft, well, you have seen the numbers 2025 compared to 2024. And we are happy about the trend. And we do think that in a market which has gone through many changes and a kind of a situation of decline. Gameloft has performed well. And for two main reasons. A, really redefinition of the management organization and the cost base of our operation focusing on the big hitters that could really make a difference, our blockbusters and canceling the kind of operations, which were not as positive. And while transforming the company from a mobile game operation into multi-platform operations. The level of quality of our studio, the level of quality of our publishing team create the right dynamic to be able to make a difference. And yes, we do think that the gaming environment with those solid foundation that Gameloft has established over the past few months and the numbers that have been delivered is opening for us perspective, and we are currently working on the different opportunities. That's for the gaming. And as regard to AI, I think that AI is two things, is how can it improve our creativity and the capacity on the different line of business to focus our resources in people and creative people to make a difference and to use AI to be faster in developing new creative assets and to -- with a cost base that is going to benefit from the efficiencies that AI is generating on the one hand, and at corporate level, creating an environment where here also, we're going to make sure that resource available are going to be focused on what is going to create the true value for the shareholder. As we know, AI is being on a day-to-day basis. It's a period of uncertainty on the kind of size of the importance of AI in the operation, but we are in the creative business. And in the creative business, there was a famous sentence as regard to, can AI be creative. And I think that this is a sentence equivalent to the one which could ask whether submarines know how to swim. And we do think that it's a transformation factor, obviously, in our operations, but I'm believing that in the creative world, among others, but we are in the creative business. AI will be benefit to the operation and is opening for our different operations, more opportunities than threat. And maybe, Francois, do you want to add something? Have I missed something, Silvia, in your question?

No. That is all. Thank you very much.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Well, I'm going to speak on behalf of Francois and I and our team. Thank you very much for your attendance. Thank you very much from your question. Thank you very much for your support. And have a good evening and speak to you all in the near future. Thank you very much. Good evening.