• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 10, 2022

Global entertainment, media and marketing company Vivendi issued full-year 2021 results late Wednesday and credited a strong recovery at Havas and two other units—Canal+ Group and Editis—as being the firm’s main growth drivers in 2021. 

Vivendi revenues last year were up 10.4% to €9.6 billion ($10.6 billion). 

Havas Group’s net revenues for the year were €2.34 billion ($2.6 billion), up 9.2%, and back up to its pre-COVID level (full-year 2019). Organic revenue growth (which excludes currency and M&A impact) for 2021 was 10.4%. 

In the fourth quarter Havas Group achieved organic growth of 9.3% including what Vivendi termed “excellent” performances from all regions “with positive contributions from all divisions: Creative, Media and Health Communications.” 

The firm had a strong year on the new business front, winning creative assignments from Volkswagen and Telecom Italia, media duties for IAG airline group and Unilever (Western Europe) and healthcare wins from Abbvie and Novartis to name just a few. 

The North America and Europe regions were cited as the biggest contributors to organic growth. 

Full-year pretax earnings were €239 million, significantly ahead of both 2020 and 2019 (€121 million and €225 million respectively). Strong organic growth, a stricter cost program and a restructuring charge were credited as the main drivers of the earnings rise. 

Vivendi's Supervisory Board, led by Yannick Bolloré, who is also CEO of Havas, met yesterday to discuss developments in Ukraine. The company reported that it is “doing its utmost to provide significant logistical and financial aid to the Gameloft and Havas Group teams present in the country.” Gameloft is a video game publisher now owned by Vivendi. 

While Vivendi's financial exposure in Ukraine and Russia is "very low," the company said it “remains extremely vigilant about the direct or indirect impact that the conflict may have on its business activities and is preparing for any eventuality.”