Fitch affirms Vivendi

Fitch Ratings said it affirmed Vivendi SA's BBB issuer default and senior unsecured debt ratings.

The outlook is positive.

The agency said Vivendi's ratings continue to reflect its position as a large diversified multinational company with strong media and telecoms businesses across a number of different geographies and its conservative attitude to financial leverage.

The positive outlook reflects Fitch's expectation of improving performance in the company's media businesses, generating continued improvements in EBITDA and free cash flow, combined with the continued solid performance from the company's telecoms assets.

A key development will be the finalization of the merger of the Canal+ and TPS satellite platforms, in which Vivendi will retain a controlling stake. Fitch said it has for some time seen the presence of two competing satellite platforms in France as untenable, and the transaction, for which final competition authority approval was received on Aug. 31, should allow significant opportunity for margin improvement.

Net debt to EBITDA is 0.8x, according to the agency's calculations.

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