July 25 (Reuters) - French media conglomerate Vivendi

reported a 39.3% rise in first-half adjusted operating

profit to 619 million euros ($672.30 million) on Thursday,

helped notably by consolidation of the publishing group

Lagardère and growth in advertising business Havas.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Vivendi and the Bollore family own a combined 28% stake in

the world's biggest music label Universal Music Group.

UMG shares fell 23.5% on Thursday after UMG reported

lower-than-expected streaming and subscription revenue in the

second quarter, while rival Spotify ( SPOT ) posted on Tuesday

21% year-on-year growth in revenues from paid streaming.

Vivendi has offered to acquire the shares it doesn't already

own in South Africa's Multichoice in an effort to

compete with streaming giant Netflix ( NFLX ) in Africa.

KEY QUOTE(S)

"It's an overreaction in the market today", Vivendi CEO

Arnaud de Puyfontaine said regarding the drop in UMG's shares.

Asked about a potential offer from telecoms group Iliad for

Vivendi's stake in Telecom Italia, Puyfontaine said: "I am not

aware of any approach."

Puyfontaine spoke of "shock and sadness" in reaction to the

decision by France's broadcast regulator not to renew a licence

for Vincent Bolloré's entertainement TV channel C8.

CONTEXT

Vivendi confirmed on Monday its plans to list broadcaster

Canal+ in London and Havas in Amsterdam, with a final decision

expected by the end of October. An extraordinary shareholder

meeting could occur in December.

Swedish audio-streaming giant Spotify ( SPOT ) said on

Tuesday it saw 12% subscriber growth to 246 million, and

predicts a 34% higher operating income at 405 million euros in

the next quarter.

BY THE NUMBERS

Sales for the first six months rose to 9.05 billion euros

($9.83 billion), up 92.7% year-on-year, including mainly the

impact of the consolidation of Lagardère (+4,193 million euros).

($1 = 0.9211 euros)