Vivendi reports profit increase for 2011

French telecoms and entertainment group Vivendi reported an adjusted net profit increase of 9.4 percent for 2011 to 2.9 billion euros on solid growth in Brazil and the success of video game business Activision Blizzard. The firm said sales during the year were stable, increasing 0.5 percent to 28.8 billion euros ($38.4 billion) and operational profit rose 3.3 percent to 5.6 billion euros. The group reported a 48-percent increase in debt to 12 billion dollars at the end of the 2011. Vivendi's mobile telephone service, SFR, was hit by a new value-added-tax and price cuts imposed by regulators in France sending sales down by 3.1 percent to 12.18 billion euros.