Financial Round-Up: EMI, WMG, Live Nation, HMV and more
In August, EMI’s private equity owner, Maltby Capital (which was set up by Terra Firma), released an annual report that offered two important numbers. First, EMI’s net loss for the year ended March 31 was £512 million ($800 million). A big loss, yes, but an improvement over the previous year’s loss of £1.56 billion ($2.3 billion). Second, revenue improved about 5% to £1.65 billion ($2.5 billion).
In its fiscal third quarter, Warner Music Group reported a 15% drop in revenues to $652 million.
UMG’s revenue was $1.01 billion in the second quarter, up nearly 3% over the second quarter of 2009. But that followed a weak first quarter, and UMG’s revenue in the last 12 months were down nearly 8% versus the prior 12-month period.
In the quarter ended June 30, Sony Music’s sales increased 1.3% to $1.24 billion. Best-selling titles during the period included AC/DC’s soundtrack to “Iron Man 2,” music from the television show “Glee,” Usher’s Raymond vs. Raymond and Christina Aguilera’s Bionic.