The Lagardère Unlimited sports marketing division of media conglomerate Lagardère has posted a 6.6-per-cent year-on-year fall in turnover in 2014.
Lagardère reported sales of €394m ($440.9m) for its Unlimited arm. The group said the “expected impact” of the football calendar, mainly driven by no Africa Cup of Nations national team tournament in 2014 and the continued phasing out of the media rights trading activities from the Sportfive International agency, explained the reduction in sales volume.
Lagardère added that these factors were partly offset by the good performances of women’s tennis and football competitions organised in Asia, and hospitality operations related to the Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
The group added that Lagardère Unlimited’s “recovery is on track”, with recurring EBIT, which excludes items such as one-off capital gains, restructuring or acquisition costs, of €4m, up €15m.
The firm said the division was able to achieve a positive operating profit despite a slow year in sports events for Lagardère Unlimited in 2014, the cost-saving plan linked to the halt of the main media rights selling activities at Sportfive International, and the shutdown of loss-making businesses.
On a whole, the French media group reported a dramatic fall in net profit to €41m from €1.31bn in 2013. However, the 2013 figure had been boosted by the capital gain from the sale of its stake in aircraft manufacturer Airbus, formerly known as EADS.
In other news, Lagardère said its supervisory board has extended chief executive Arnaud Lagardère’s tenure at the helm of the group for another six years, with effect from March 26.
Lagardère Unlimited operates the Sportfive, World Sport Group and IEC in Sports agencies.