Canal+, the global media and entertainment group that took control of MultiChoice last year, has confirmed it will conduct a secondary listing on the JSE on 3 June, becoming the first French company to do so.

The inward listing remains subject to final approval from the bourse, which the company said is “expected to be imminent”. It will fulfil a commitment Canal+ made to the South African competition authorities as a condition of its acquisition of MultiChoice. The JSE listing will run alongside Canal+’s primary listing in London.

Canal+ said the listing would “enhance the long-term liquidity and tradability” of its shares and give South African investors exposure to a global media business with operations in more than 70 countries and over 40 million subscribers.

The listing announcement came alongside Canal+’s first-quarter trading update, which showed combined group revenue broadly flat year on year at €2.17-billion (-0.4%) on a restated basis including MultiChoice. Excluding MultiChoice, Canal+ revenue grew 1.8% to €1.57-billion, helped by stronger pay-TV performance in French-speaking Africa and a 9% lift in content production and distribution after the acquisition of Italian production house Lucky Red.

MultiChoice revenue, however, fell 6.2% to €617-million for the three months to 31 March, or 4% on a like-for-like basis. Subscription revenue was “almost flat” on a constant-currency basis – which, given the trajectory of the past two years, is not a bad outcome – but non-subscription revenue declined on the back of higher equipment subsidies for new subscribers, lower content sales, weaker insurance commissions and “some one-off items” recorded in the prior year. Advertising was a bright spot, lifted by the SA20 cricket and Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournaments.

‘Execution phase’

Showmax, the streaming service that competes with Netflix in Africa, will be retired on 30 April. From 1 May, Showmax revenue will be reported as a discontinued operation. Showmax pulled in just €9-million in the first quarter, down 25% year on year as the migration to MultiChoice’s DStv platform ran down.

With the top management team appointed and “in place”, the integration of MultiChoice has moved into what Canal+ group CEO Maxime Saada called the “operational execution phase” of strategy.

Read: DStv drops premium paywall on Fifa World Cup in Canal+-era shift

The MultiChoice voluntary severance plan, which has been looming over staff since the takeover, is “now being implemented”. The Irdeto restructuring is “on track and entering the formal consultation phase required ahead of implementation”.

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