Vivendi beats growth expectations after Universal spin-off

PARIS (Reuters) - French media group Vivendi, which spun-off Universal Music Group last month, said on Thursday third-quarter sales rose by 10% from a year earlier, driven by strong growth at its pay-TV unit Canal Plus.

Group revenue advanced to 2.48 billion euros ($2.89 billion), the Paris-based company said in a statement, beating the 2.26 billion euro Visible Alpha analyst consensus provided by Jefferies.

Sales at Canal Plus, now Vivendi's biggest business unit, rose 6.5%, boosted by its international activities and a 35% jump in revenue from Studiocanal, which produces and distributes Canal Plus movies, as cinemas reopened.

With a market value of about 12 billion euros, Vivendi is worth a little more than a third of its value before the spin-off of Universal, its most-prized asset.

The world's biggest music label, which represents musicians and song catalogues from Billie Eilish to The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, saw its market value leap to 45 billion euros ($52 billion) in Europe's largest listing of the year.

Vivendi still owns 10% of Universal and is also home to publishing group Editis and advertising group Havas.

The group , which is controlled by French tycoon Vincent Bollore, didn't provide full-year targets.

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Matthieu Protard, Kirsten Donovan)