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Investors shun Canal Plus
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March 8, 2000: 4:28 a.m. ET
Mushrooming 1999 loss at French pay-TV operator as Italian unit slides
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Shares in French pay-TV operator Canal Plus slumped 6 percent in early trade Wednesday after the company posted a bigger-than-expected increase in its annual loss for 1999.
Canal Plus has been the darling of the French stock market this year, its shares almost tripling amid optimism about an expansion plan that aims to make the company Europe's largest multimedia TV player. However, the cost of that ambition was reflected in a report - released Tuesday after the market closed - that its net loss for 1999 ballooned to 336 million euros ($326 million) from a deficit of 28 million euros a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast of loss of 71 million euros for 1999.
Canal Plus (PAN) shares on Wednesday fell 6.4 percent to 295 euros.  The latest earnings figure reflected a 220 million-euro provision for the rollout of the company's program to provide free television access to the Internet and a heavy investment spend in Italy. Excluding one-time items, the net loss narrowed to 136 million euros last year from 157 million in 1998. Sales climbed 16 percent at 3.29 billion euros.
The company had warned that it would remain in the red in 1999, with the main drain at the operating level being its Italian TV arm, Telepiu. The unit's operating loss grew to 187 million euros last year from 146 million in 1998, reflecting a jump in costs after it acquired the rights to screen Italian soccer, although subscriber numbers jumped sharply to cement its leading position in the Italian pay-TV market. The unit is expected to record another significant loss in 2000.
Vivendi (PEX), the French media and utility group, owns 49 percent of Canal Plus. 
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Canal Plus
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