Canal+ reported full-year 2025 results that topped its own guidance on profitability and cash flow, even as MultiChoice, the African pay-TV giant it acquired last September, posted a 6% revenue decline and continued to lose subscribers.
The company also unveiled partnerships with Google Cloud, OpenAI and Sky, and confirmed it is exiting the loss-making Showmax streaming venture.
The London-listed company posted adjusted EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) of €527 million ($611 million) on its historical perimeter, against guidance of €515 million ($598 million). Revenues on that same basis fell 2.4% on a reported basis to €6.27 billion ($7.28 billion), though grew 0.9% organically once the impact of discontinued contracts – including Ligue 1, Disney and the UEFA Champions League sublicensing partnership – is stripped out. Cash flow from operations hit €587 million ($681 million), above the company’s guidance of more than €500 million ($580 million), while free cash flow came in at €428 million ($497 million) against guidance of more than €370 million ($429 million).
“2025 was a successful and transformational year for Canal+,” CEO Maxime Saada said. “We began the year facing significant challenges. The MultiChoice acquisition had yet to be completed, we had major unresolved legacy tax issues in France, profitability concerns in Europe and significant sports tenders still outstanding.”
On a combined basis for Canal+ and MultiChoice, the group now counts 42.3 million subscribers, revenues of €8.67 billion ($10.06 billion) and adjusted EBIT of €701 million ($813 million).
MultiChoice itself had a difficult 2025, with full-year revenues declining 6% to €2.4 billion ($2.78 billion) as its subscriber base slipped from 14.9 million to 14.4 million. The Africa-focused pay-TV operator – whose brands include DStv, GOtv, M-Net and SuperSport – has been battered by currency devaluation in Nigeria, power outages, cost inflation and a difficult transition to OTT, epitomized by the expensive failure of Showmax. Canal+ is exiting the loss-making Showmax contract, a move it says is partially driving an acceleration in synergy delivery – from the €150 million ($174 million) flagged in January to €250 million ($290 million) in 2026.
Canal+ said it would launch a €100 million ($116 million) growth boost plan to reverse MultiChoice’s fortunes, built around four pillars: local African content production, simplified commercial offers, a subscriber acquisition push backed by equipment subsidies and the recruitment of more than 1,000 salespeople across MultiChoice markets, and group-wide operational excellence. Canal+ also said it would initiate a voluntary severance plan at MultiChoice in support functions and launch a restructuring of Irdeto, MultiChoice’s technology and cybersecurity subsidiary. Canal+ also confirmed plans to pursue a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in the first half of 2026, a move that would allow South African investors direct access to the combined group’s shares.
Alongside the financial results, Canal+ unveiled two separate AI tie-ups, both set to go live in June 2026. The company announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud that will use the tech giant’s generative AI technologies to accelerate the indexing of Canal+’s content library, creating a multimodal database combining sound, video and text data to power more personalized recommendations on the Canal+ App. The partnership will also give Canal+’s production partners access to Veo3, Google’s generative AI video tool, for use in previsualization and creative experimentation.
“Content video indexing for Canal+ at scale gives the group a significant edge, notably by enabling us to deliver sharper discovery and truly enhanced personalized journeys on the Canal+ App across all our markets,” said Stéphane Baumier, Canal+’s chief technology officer. Matt Renner, president and chief revenue officer of Google Cloud, said the collaboration was a sign that “the intersection of creativity and compute power defines market leadership” in the current entertainment landscape.
Separately, Canal+ announced a deal with OpenAI to integrate the AI company’s frontier models into the Canal+ App’s search and discovery experience. Starting June 2026, subscribers will be able to search for content using natural language prompts – describing a mood, genre preference or specific type of story – rather than keyword queries. Canal+ described the feature as a “world-first innovation in the entertainment industry.” “Today, our subscribers already access the very best international and local content on the Canal+ App. With this technological collaboration, we are proud to take a major leap forward, redefining how audiences discover content,” Saada said. Ashley Kramer, VP of enterprise of OpenAI, said the partnership would make the entertainment experience “simpler, more intuitive, and more personal.”
Canal+ also announced a new content partnership with Sky to co-develop English-speaking drama, which Saada described as a further expression of the group’s ambition to develop globally successful IP. The company gave no financial details of the deal. That IP-building strategy is anchored in Canal+’s track record with franchises such as “Paddington,” which has generated close to €1.5 billion ($1.74 billion) in gross consumer sales since inception, and which the group cites as a model for the kind of internationally exportable brands it intends to replicate.
In Europe, Canal+ said adjusted EBIT margin improved from 4.6% to 5.5%, driven by content portfolio rationalisation including the discontinuation of its Ligue 1 and Disney agreements in France. The company also renewed its UEFA Champions League soccer rights in France through 2031. For 2026, Canal+ guided for flat revenue growth at the combined group level and adjusted EBIT of €735 million ($853 million), with CFFO (Cash Flow from Operating Activities) of more than €600 million ($696 million) and free cash flow of more than €250 million ($290 million), before VAT settlement and restructuring costs. In the medium term, the company targets adjusted EBIT above €850 million ($986 million), CFFO above €800 million ($928 million) and free cash flow above €500 million ($580 million).
Canal+’s board proposed a dividend increase of 10%, to be paid June 15, 2026, subject to shareholder approval at the company’s annual general meeting on May 29, 2026.
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