Canal+

Canal+ SA, the French subscription television company spun off from Vivendi and admitted to trading in London in December 2024, closed FY2025 with revenues of €6,949 million and Adjusted EBIT before exceptional items of €646 million. MultiChoice, the dominant pay-TV operator in sub-Saharan Africa and the company behind DStv, GOtv, M-Net and SuperSport, has been consolidated from 20 September 2025, contributing €683 million of revenue and €103 million of Adjusted EBIT over three months and eleven days. On a combined twelve-month basis the new group has 42.3 million subscribers, €8.665 billion of revenue, and €701 million of Adjusted EBIT before exceptional items excluding purchase-price-allocation effects, and operates in more than 70 countries. Canal+ states that it is number one in 40 of those countries.

The historical Canal+ perimeter was steadier than the reported group numbers suggest. Reported revenue there fell 2.4% to €6,266 million, but grew 1.0% organically after removing the effect of three discontinued contracts: the Disney distribution agreement that ended on 31 December 2024, the UEFA Champions League sublicensing partnership that ended at the same time, and the C8 free-to-air channel whose digital terrestrial licence the French regulator did not renew. Historical-perimeter Adjusted EBIT before exceptional items rose from €520m to €542m, and the operating margin from 8.1% to 8.7%. The year was also shaped by very large exceptional items: a settled French VAT dispute (a €363 million commitment, with the payment schedule still to be agreed), a settled cinema-financing dispute with the CNC, C8 closure costs and MultiChoice transaction costs. Financial net debt rose to €1,997 million from €355 million at end-2024.

Key indicators (FY2025)

Source: CANAL+ SA Annual Report and Accounts 2025. FY2024 figures restated for IFRS 5 to present Vietnam (VSTV) as a discontinued operation.

Ownership and corporate history

Canal+ began life in 1984 as France’s first private subscription television channel. It became part of Vivendi in 2000 and remained inside that diversified group, alongside Universal Music, Havas, Hachette and stakes in Telecom Italia, Telefónica and MediaForEurope, until the December 2024 break-up engineered by Vivendi’s controlling shareholder, Vincent Bolloré. Vivendi shareholders approved the spin-off on 9 December 2024; three new entities began trading on 16 December 2024: Canal+ on the London Stock Exchange, Havas NV on Euronext Amsterdam, and Louis Hachette Group on Euronext Growth in Paris. Each Vivendi shareholder received one share of each new entity for each Vivendi share. Canal+’s opening reference price was 290 pence, valuing the company at around £2.57 billion. It was one of London’s largest new listings of 2024.

The largest shareholder is Bolloré SE, the Paris-listed industrial holding company at the apex of Vincent Bolloré’s group. Bolloré SE directly held 30.4% of Canal+ at the time of listing, with a further stake held through Compagnie de l’Odet; the annual report confirms Bolloré holdings of more than 30% at year-end 2025. That makes Bolloré SE a “controlling shareholder” for the purposes of the UK Listing Rules.

The Supervisory Board is chaired by Yannick Bolloré, Vincent Bolloré’s eldest son, who is also Vice-Chairman of Bolloré SE. The Management Board is led by Maxime Saada, who has been Chief Executive of Canal+ for more than ten years. The Supervisory Board reports that the majority of its members are independent under the UK Corporate Governance Code, and that the company is able to operate independently of Bolloré SE

Asset map

The group reports in three segments: Europe, Africa & Asia, and Content production, distribution and other, plus the corporate centre. The MultiChoice acquisition substantially enlarged the Africa & Asia segment.

For journalism and audiovisual production, the most editorially significant elements are: the Canal+ premium pay-TV channels and the cinema-financing obligations attached to them in France; the rolling news channel CNEWS, which Canal+ says became France’s leading news channel by audience in 2025 and reached profitability (a company disclosure, not separately verified here from Médiamétrie/Arcom data); StudioCanal, the European film and television producer behind 2025 hits including Paddington in Peru ($210m global box office), Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy ($136m) and the BAFTA-honoured I Swear; SuperSport, the dominant sports broadcaster across sub-Saharan Africa; and Canal+ Africa as the principal commissioner of French-language African production.

The C8 channel, until 2025 the second free-to-air entertainment channel in the group and one of the most controversial in France, stopped broadcasting on 28 February 2025 after the French audiovisual regulator Arcom did not renew its DTT licence. The Conseil d’État dismissed C8’s appeal in February 2025; the annual report indicates that further legal proceedings have been pursued. The annual report also notes that a small number of further Arcom proceedings against CNEWS were pending at year-end.

Signals

The headline numbers tell two stories. The like-for-like one is small organic growth and a clear margin gain

Reported group revenue rose 8.3%, driven entirely by MultiChoice consolidation. On the historical perimeter, revenue shrank 2.4%, but only because three big contracts (Disney, UEFA Champions League sublicensing, C8) ended at the start of 2025, accounting for €216m of FY2024 revenue. Strip those out and the underlying business grew 1.0% organically. The margin gain from 8.1% to 8.7% is, on the company’s own analysis, primarily a France story, driven by content portfolio rationalisation (the Ligue 1 contract was also terminated in mid-2024), discipline on subscriber-acquisition costs, and the resolution of legacy disputes that had clouded the financial picture.

CNEWS reached profitability and, the company says, became France’s most-watched news channel

The company’;’s annual report reads: “Revenues generated by free-to-air television increased (excluding the impact of C8 closure), driven by exceptional performance of CNEWS, which became the leading news channel in France in 2025 in terms of audience and reached profitability.” For a channel that has been the subject of repeated Arcom regulatory action (including a 2024 Conseil d’État ruling that ordered it to better respect journalistic standards and pluralism) the editorial significance of profitability arriving alongside a leadership claim by audience is substantial. The annual report does not provide separate financials for CNEWS, does not quantify “profitability” at this level, and does not specify the audience-measurement basis on which the leadership claim is made. The channel sits inside the Europe segment.

The VAT settlement is large in cash terms and reshapes the historical-perimeter free cash flow picture

The second French tax dispute settled in 2025 concerned the VAT rate applicable to television subscriptions. The group has committed to pay €363 million to the French tax authorities, recognised as an exceptional item; the payment schedule has not been fixed. The cash impact is being explicitly excluded from the cash-flow measures Canal+ reports against guidance, hence the recurring formulation “before VAT settlement and restructuring costs”. The historical-perimeter CFFO before exceptional items was €648 million; free cash flow on the historical perimeter was €448 million (versus €46 million in 2024). The improvement reflects normal operating dynamics and the absence, so far, of the VAT cash outflow.

The 34% UGC investment is a vertical-integration move into cinema exhibition

Canal+ entered exclusive negotiations to acquire a 34% stake in UGC, one of the largest cinema chain operators in Europe, in September 2025; the transaction completed on 7 November 2025, with a path to outright control from 2028. The chain operates in France, Belgium and Spain, and owns a substantial film library and intellectual property. The investment is editorially significant because it brings the same group inside the value chain at three points: film financing (Canal+ as the lead pay-TV financier of French cinema), film production and distribution (StudioCanal), and theatrical exhibition (UGC).

The Bolloré-controlled perimeter is now four listed companies plus a residual investment vehicle

The four entities that emerged from the December 2024 Vivendi break-up (Canal+, Havas NV (Amsterdam-listed), Louis Hachette Group (Paris Euronext Growth-listed; itself the holding company for 66.53% of Lagardère and 100% of Prisma Media) and Vivendi SE itself, are all associated with the Bolloré industrial group. At Canal+, Bolloré SE is a controlling shareholder under UK Listing Rules. At Vivendi, the question of French-law control was reopened by the Cour de cassation’s 28 November 2025 quashing of the Paris Court of Appeal’s April 2025 ruling, with rehearing scheduled for 2026. Canal+’s own corporate governance disclosures emphasise the operational independence of management from Bolloré SE, and the company’s audit, financing and supervisory arrangements are described as conducted independently.

What to watch in 2026

The cost-synergy track record. The €250 million synergy target by end-2026 is the headline integration milestone. The FY2026 results, expected in March 2027, will be the first set of accounts to include twelve months of MultiChoice. Investors will read those accounts for the realisation rate.

Showmax discontinuation. Canal+ has said Showmax would be phased out by the end of April 2026, with discontinuation effective from 1 May 2026 and content migrated to the DStv platform. The 2026 accounts will show how cleanly the discontinuation is executed and whether the Africa OTT strategy modelled on Canal+ France can hold subscribers without a separate Showmax product.

MultiChoice subscriber stabilisation. A €100 million-plus content-cost increase is expected at MultiChoice in 2026 (described as not structural), alongside a €100 million “boost plan” investment in commercial activity. Whether the c.14.4 million subscriber base stabilises and grows is the main operational test.

CNEWS and any further Arcom intervention. With C8 now closed and the company’s first reported CNEWS-profitability statement on the public record, French regulatory and editorial scrutiny is likely to remain focused on CNEWS itself. The annual report notes “a couple of similar proceedings pending with ARCOM” against CNEWS at year-end.

The UGC integration. The 34% stake completed in November 2025 includes a path to control from 2028. Whether this is a passive financial investment, a vertical bundling play, or a step toward a more comprehensive cinema-financing-and-exhibition strategy will become clearer over 2026 and 2027.

Sources. Primary: CANAL+ SA, Annual Report and Accounts 2025, audited by Deloitte & Associés and Grant Thornton (financial year ended 31 December 2025), published on 24 March 2026 and available on canalplusgroup.com/en/results-and-publications and via the FCA National Storage Mechanism. The 2025 FY Preliminary Results & Strategic Update announcement of 11 March 2026 (London Stock Exchange RNS) and the Q1 2026 trading update. Bolloré SE H1 2025 and FY2025 results materials (for the 30.4% Canal+ shareholding figure and for the ongoing Vivendi-control litigation, including the Cour de cassation’s 28 November 2025 ruling). Vivendi SE FY2024 annual results press release of 6 March 2025 (for the spin-off mechanics, the 9 December 2024 Vivendi shareholders’ approval and the 16 December 2024 listing date). The official MultiChoice mandatory offer results announcement (for the R125 per share offer price, 92.54% acceptance rate and 94.39% holding ahead of squeeze-out); Reuters reporting on the offer value (approximately R35 billion / $2 billion for the remaining shares); MultiChoice JSE delisting announcement of 5 December 2025; ICASA presentation to the South African parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications on 17 March 2026 (for the final LicenceCo ownership structure: MCG 20%, Phuthuma Nathi 42.4%, Identity Partners Itai Consortium and Afrifund Consortium together 30%, Workers’ Trust 8%). Canal+ market announcements of 7 November 2025 (UGC stake completion). All financial figures are quoted in euros at the rates and presentation used in the audited consolidated financial statements; subscriber numbers and combined-group pro-forma figures are stated by Canal+ to be unaudited.