CANAL+ Africa Turnaround Gains Ground, Profit Jumps 68%

CANAL+’s acquisition of MultiChoice is now showing up in the group’s numbers.

First half 2026 group revenue rose 40% year on year to €4,287 million ($4.6 billion), and adjusted EBIT before exceptional items climbed 68% to €433 million.

The group attributes the gains to cost synergies from the MultiChoice deal and to a subscriber increase tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup at MultiChoice’s South African business.

“Following the acquisition of MultiChoice, our increased scale is starting to deliver the benefits we expected,” CEO Maxime Saada said in unveiling the results. “We have achieved half of our €250 million synergies target and remain well on track for the year, and we confirm our full year and medium term guidance.”

On the earnings call, Saada described the enlarged group as a media and entertainment company anchored in Europe and Africa, with 85% of revenue recurring through subscriptions.

CFO Amandine Ferré said the €559 million in cash from operations came from ongoing cash optimisation initiatives and favourable payment timing.

Africa Segment Profitability Rises on Cost Synergies

Africa and Asia, the segment that includes MultiChoice, delivered some of the group’s largest profitability gains. Revenue for the region grew 1.2% like for like to €1,723 million, while adjusted EBIT rose 21% to €269 million, lifting the segment margin from 13.1% to 15.6%. Subscribers in the region grew 7% to 22.6 million, helped by the World Cup.

CANAL+’s existing African operations, excluding MultiChoice, run at a higher margin than MultiChoice itself. Management said it is narrowing that gap through cost synergies rather than new investment.

Cost Synergies Reach Half of Full Year Target

CANAL+ said it has realised €120 million of its €250 million full year synergy target, all of it within MultiChoice. Ferré broke down the figure on the earnings call, saying €52 million came from the discontinuation of Showmax and the remaining €70 million came from renegotiated content costs, a voluntary severance plan, and lower hardware prices tied to the group’s combined scale.

Management said remaining synergy work, including broadcasting infrastructure optimisation, technology contract renegotiation, and the restructuring of Irdeto, MultiChoice’s technology and cybersecurity unit, would land mostly in the second half.

Subscriber Acquisition Up 40% on World Cup and Marketing Push

CANAL+ said subscriber acquisition rose 40% compared with the first half of 2025 in MultiChoice countries, and that June was the best subscriber acquisition month in South Africa in a decade.

The company pointed to its World Cup advertising campaign featuring Idris Elba and the launch of the Novelas+ channel in South Africa as drivers of new sign ups. On the call, Saada said French speaking Africa did not carry pay TV rights to the World Cup, but Canal+ still broadcast 44 matches through free to air channel aggregation and local counter programming, which he said still supported acquisitions in the region.

BNP Paribas analyst Nicolas Langlet said momentum at MultiChoice had improved sequentially, driven by the World Cup and the early effects of the group’s growth plan, and said the reinvestment strategy should support subscriber growth into year end.

Retention Still Unclear After World Cup Boost

Management said it is too early to measure how many World Cup era subscribers will stay on. Asked directly about retention trends, Saada said “retention is actually pretty good,” but added that the subscriber base had temporarily peaked during the tournament, similar to the pattern seen around the Africa Cup of Nations, and that the group expects some falloff as the World Cup effect fades.

Country Level Gains: Kenya, Uganda and South Africa Lead

The clearest evidence of the turnaround sits at country level, where CANAL+ used the group’s combined scale to cut equipment costs and expand its retail footprint. Saada said the group is not simply reopening old retail points, but converting independent stores that had stopped selling MultiChoice products once volumes and commissions made the arrangement unprofitable.

Price renegotiations with suppliers, made possible by the group’s larger combined scale, were paired with direct subscriber subsidies to lower the cost of getting connected. CANAL+ also chose not to raise subscription prices in markets where increases would typically be considered around May.

StudioCanal Builds on Box Office Momentum

Saada called it a strong six months on and off screen for StudioCanal, pointing to box office results including “Guru” in France and “Pressure” in the United States. He said the studio’s pipeline, including “Paddington 4,” Zack Snyder’s remake of “Escape From New York,” the group’s first major South African production “The Road Home,” and the French adaptation “Les Misérables,” should sustain that performance into the second half.

The content production and distribution segment, which covers StudioCanal and Dailymotion, saw revenue rise 9.9% in the first half. Adjusted EBIT for the segment fell from €30 million to €28 million, a decline of about 7%, which the group attributed to front loaded costs. Management said it expects margin in the segment to improve in the second half.

What to Watch in H2

Management flagged that some of the half’s strength will not repeat. The World Cup subscriber boost in Africa, favourable content cost timing, and beneficial payment phasing all supported H1 results and are expected to partly reverse in the second half. MultiChoice’s own turnaround plan investments, which the company calls its Boost plan, are also weighted more heavily toward H2: Ferré said only a small share of a planned €100 million in Boost spending, and a similar share of a separate €100 million in cost inflation impact, fell in the first half, with the bulk still to come.

Over the medium term, CANAL+ is targeting adjusted EBIT above €850 million, cash from operations above €800 million, and free cash flow above €500 million. Management said it expects to rebuild MultiChoice’s subscriber base to more than 17 million within three to five years.