The share price has dropped for London based record label EMI after the major warned investors that music sales for the current year were 8-9% less than anticipated, meaning overall profits for the financial year to the end of 31 Mar are likely to be in the region of £138 million, about 15% lower that expected.
The lower than expected revenues were blamed on both poor post-Christmas record sales, and the fact that two major releases for the label
- new albums from Coldplay and Gorillaz - originally expected to be released within this financial year, have both been put back and will now not arrive in shops until after Mar.
In a statement EMI told investors: "EMI Music's sales, particularly re-orders, in January have also been lower than anticipated and this is expected to continue through February and March.
Therefore, for the full year, at constant currency, EMI Music's sales are now expected to be 8% to 9% lower than the prior year."
EMI chairman Alain Levy said the news was "disappointing", but said he remained optimistic about the coming year, adding:
"The physical music market is showing signs of stabilisation in many parts of the world and digital music, in all its forms, continues to develop at a rapid pace”.