Lagardère Media reports acceleration in sales growth : + 6.8 % for the first 3 quarters

LAGARDÈRE’s consolidated sales for the first three quarters of 2000 increased 1 % to 8,768 million euros (57,514 million French Francs) from 8,684 million euros (56,963 million French francs) for the corresponding period of 1999.

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Sales of the Lagardère Media segment increased by 8.5 % in the first nine months of 2000, excluding changes in the group structure. Excluding the effects of exchange rates (primarily the rise of the dollar), this growth amounted to 4.2 %. This sales growth rate has increased compared to that experienced in the first 6 months of the year (+3.6 %).
Each of the five divisions of the Media segment – Book, Press, Distribution Services, Audiovisual, and Grolier Multimedia – reported sales growth. The company has recently combined its Audiovisual and Grolier Multimedia businesses to create the Lagardère Active division, which (considering comparable data) achieved the strongest growth in the segment.

The Automobile segment experienced a slight decline in sales. However, due to a strong third quarter, the decrease was lower than observed at the end of this year’s first half.

The High Technology segment now includes sales realized by EADS during its first quarter of existence (from July to September 2000), which are in line with the year-end objectives.

In the High Technology segment, the sales reported as of September 30, 2000 are represented by 33% of the sales of Aerospatiale Matra for the first two quarters of 2000 and 15.14% of the sales of EADS for the third quarter of 2000. In comparison, the sales reported as of September 30, 1999 were represented by 33% of the Aerospatiale Matra group sales.
In accordance with the French accounting standards used by Lagardere SCA, when hedging against exchange rate fluctuation, sales generated in foreign currencies are converted at a rate determined by the hedging mechanism (rather than at the current exchange rate). Third quarter EADS sales were restated to conform to these standards.

Under these conditions, and taking into account the extent of the changes mentioned above, it is not possible to provide a percentage variation from comparable data for the High Technology segment nor for the Lagardère group as a whole.