Further losses for Vivendi

Investors in multi-media group Vivendi Universal were braced for more bad news this morning after a report said that the group will announce a huge write-down for the second quarter in a row.
In April Vivendi revealed it was taking a €17bn (£10.8bn) charge against goodwill and on August 13 the Wall Street Journal Europe reported that the group, now under new management, will take another €10bn hit to take account of falling share values.
Vivendi declined to comment ahead of today's announcement of its latest figures.
In addition to any write-offs, analysts will be looking at what Jean-René Fourtou, the man brought in to run the company after former chairman and chief executive Jean-Marie Messier was forced out, will say about the group's future.
Vivendi managers have been conducting a strategic review of the group that Mr Messier turned from a utilities business into a multi-media empire spanning music, film and television with an acquisition spree that has left it with debts put at up to €19bn. Mr Fourtou is under pressure to cut the debt through asset disposals. The group is expected to sell its US videogames business but most attention will focus on whether it will sell its stake in the French mobile phone company SFR.
(GB)