Vivendi Universal and Sony upbeat despite music dip. (News).

Vivendi Universal chief Jean-Marie Messier unveiled better-than-expected first quarter results for the company last week during an annual meeting at which he faced heckling from shareholders.

Messier, whose sacking of the chief executive of Canal Plus brought to a head protests in France, reported a 12% rise in revenues for the opening three months of the year to 7.1bn [euro] (4.9bn [pounds sterling]), although Universal Music Group's revenue declined 6%. There was also a 61% drop in operating income on the same quarter last year.

But shareholders rejected Messier's executive share option scheme. He said he would put the matter before shareholders again.

UMG's declines were attributed to a lighter release schedule than quarter one 2001 and a "sluggish" global market, while big albums from Eminem, U2 and Limp Bizkit am due in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, music sales for Sony Corporation's Sony Music Entertainment division rose 5% to [yen] 642.8bn (3.5bn [pounds sterling]), although the dollar value of its US music operation fell 4% for the year ending March 31 2002. It cited "contraction of the global music industry", digital piracy and the impact of September 11 ...