Vivendi third-quarter revenue up 7.2% on strong Universal performance

Reuters
The Vivendi logo is pictured at the main entrance of the entertainment-to-telecoms conglomerate headquarters in Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - French media conglomerate Vivendi reported a 7.2% rise in comparable third-quarter sales on Thursday, beating estimates thanks to a continued strong performance by its music division Universal.

The Paris-based group said revenues advanced to 3.97 billion euros ($4.42 billion), beating an analyst consensus of 3.85 billion, according to Credit Suisse.

Vivendi confirmed that it was still looking for other investors in Universal after previously announcing talks with China's Tencent Holdings Ltd for a sale of up to 20% of the unit. ($1 = 0.8989 euros)

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Sudip Kar-Gupta, Editing by Sarah White)