Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and releases from Katy Perry and Lily Allen helped EMI Music more than treble earnings in the year to the end of March – its first full year under Terra Firma’s ownership.
Earnings before interest and tax rose over 200% to £163 million (£51m) driven largely by a £48 million year on year reduction in the cost of returns and other overhead savings from the radical restructuring the company underwent last year.
The company now believes it is on track to deliver the £200m of cost savings identified at the time of its acquisition by the private equity group. EMI also generated operating cash flow of £190m (£142m) during the year and turnover was up 4% to £1,072, although market share remained broadly the same at 9.5% (9.7%).
EMI Music chief executive Elio Leoni-Sceti says the results are an important first step in building EMI’s future. He adds, “We cannot afford to be complacent however since there is still a great deal of work to be done to restore EMI to its former greatness and we are doing it in the face of challenging economic conditions. Looking ahead we have some exciting new releases coming up, a much deeper understanding of the music consumer and a new engaged relationship with our artists to build on. Now it has established this platform, EMI can look to the future with confidence and optimism.”
EMI’s current year is off to a strong start with Depeche Mode’s Sounds of the Universe debuting at number one in 20 countries.
The company’s release schedule for the year includes new albums from Air, Gorillaz, Norah Jones, Massive Attack, Kylie Minogue, KT Tunstall and Robbie Williams. EMI is also gearing up for September 9 when it will release the original Beatles catalogue, digitally re-mastered for the first time and the same date as the widely anticipated The Beatles: Rock Band video game.
Source: musicweek.com
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