Transporter drives Lagardère Active

The delivery of new shows – notably, season two of Transporter: The Series – helped boost Lagardère Active’s performance in the fourth quarter.

The TV division of France-based Lagardère’s media arm turned in a 9.9% uptick in revenues over the course of the year, thanks in part to the Transporter film series spin-off.

Overall, Lagardère Active turned in revenues of €958 million (US$1.1 billion) for the full year, down 3.8%, or down 5.4% on a like-for-like basis. The difference was attributed to the positive effect of the acquisition of production outfit Groupe Réservoir and the consolidation of the Gulli channel, offset by the sale of a number of press titles.

Lagardère Active’s performance was pulled down somewhat by the performance of its publishing activities, with magazine revenue down 6.4%.

Overall advertising revenue declined by 2.6%, an improvement on the 4.9% fall recorded in the third quarter. However, distribution revenues fell by 7.1%.