Sales Fall at Vivendi’s U.S. Unit

Vivendi Universal on Thursday reported weaker-than-anticipated revenue from its U.S. entertainment operation, possibly making it more difficult for the French company to fetch the price it wants for the Universal movie studio, theme parks and TV businesses.

Sales at Vivendi Universal Entertainment -- the unit being auctioned -- dropped 15% to $1.7 billion in the second quarter, Vivendi said. Adjusting for currency fluctuations and disposals, the division’s sales fell 4% in the period. Vivendi will release its full second-quarter results later.

The sales figure reflected declines at Universal’s TV production group, which saw reduced syndication revenue from the show “Just Shoot Me.” Theme park operations also were soft.

Revenue for Universal Pictures -- which released “Bruce Almighty” and “The Hulk” in the second quarter -- was basically flat compared with last year, according to the company.

Those results could trigger lower market valuations for the entertainment operation, putting further pressure on Vivendi to reduce its current asking price of $14 billion, analysts said.

“They didn’t have a great quarter,” said Mark Harrington, an analyst with Bear Stearns in London. “On the back of the numbers that came out today, the value of VUE will likely come down to somewhere between $12-to-$13 billion.”

That unit fared much better than Universal Music Group, which is not for sale. Its revenue fell 19% to $1.2 billion amid an industrywide slump.

Vivendi’s revenue overall declined 60% to $6.9 billion, which was below the consensus estimate among leading analysts of $7.3 billion. Adjusting the numbers for asset sales and excluding exchange rate valuations, the decline was 6%.