Vivendi has reported a 0.3 percent profit rise for the second quarter of the financial year.

Profit, which the company refers to as adjusted net income, was up to €757 million for the quarter, while revenues jumped 15.1 percent to €5.988 billion and operating profit rose 3.2 percent to €1.364 billion.

The company noted the performance of World of Warcraft as one of its operating highlights of the first half of the year.

“Activity during the first half of 2008 was outstanding at Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. The company continued to make strong headway with World of Warcraft, adding 1.8 million incremental subscribers compared to the end of June 2007. After reaching the 10 million subscriber milestone at the end of 2007, World of Warcraft’s subscriber base grew to more than 10.9 million by the end of the first half of 2008,” Vivendi said in a statement.

Blizzard Entertainment’s first half EBITA (earnings before interest, tax and amortization) amounted to €197 million “excluding the allocation of company overheads”, while Vivendi Games’ EBITA totaled €92 million.

“Sierra Entertainment’s negative EBITA of -€80 million (excluding allocations of company overheads) was affected by increased investment in Sierra product development, higher marketing costs, mainly for SpiderwickTM and The Bourne ConspiracyTM, as well as higher royalty costs related to accelerated expenses of prepaid advances on current year releases and pre-release expenses on certain 2009 releases,” the company said.

“Vivendi’s performance during the second quarter 2008 reflects the quality and dynamism of our business units in a tighter economic environment,” commented Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman of Vivendi’s management board.