Canal+ has confirmed it will complete a secondary listing on the JSE in the first half of 2026 – within the next four months – giving South African investors direct access to shares in the French media group that now controls MultiChoice.
Canal+ currently trades on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The JSE listing forms part of a broader strategy that positions Africa as a growth engine for the company, it said.
Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada said the group has “become the pay-TV leader in Africa – the continent offering the strongest growth potential in our sector”.
The combined Canal+ and MultiChoice group now has 42.3 million subscribers worldwide, with operations in more than 70 countries and combined revenue of €8.7-billion. Canal+ has set an ambition of reaching 50 to 100 million subscribers, with Africa central to that target.
In annual results published on Wednesday for the period ended 31 December 2025, Canal+ said that in French-speaking Africa, its pay-TV business recorded what it described as an historic year of subscriber growth, with 2025 delivering one of the top three annual increases to the subscriber base in the past 15 years, driven in part by the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
MultiChoice woes
The group also extended its partnership with Netflix to 20 countries in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa as part of its so-called “super-aggregation” strategy of bundling third-party streaming services with its own content.
Canal+’s fibre-to-the-home business in Africa, GVA, grew revenues by around 30% and expanded its footprint with a launch in Benin. The company said GVA is now “close to reaching the critical scale required to achieve break-even profitability” and plans to continue expanding selectively.
Read: Canal+ unveils big plan to stem DStv’s decline
In Myanmar, Canal+ said performance was “exceptional”, with both the subscriber base and revenue nearly doubling thanks to exclusive English Premier League rights, despite the disruption caused by an earthquake in March.
However, the African growth story is complicated by MultiChoice’s continued decline. The business lost 500 000 subscribers in 2025, with revenue falling 6% and adjusted earnings before interest and tax dropping 14%. Canal+ is investing €100-million in a turnaround plan but has warned the recovery will “take time”.
Saada struck a confident tone on the outlook, saying Canal+ enters 2026 “from a position of strength, clarity and confidence” and describing the coming year as one of “convergence” between the two businesses.
For 2026, Canal+ is guiding for combined adjusted Ebit of €735-million and is targeting more than €850-million in the medium term. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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