FALLING CD sales and piracy left profits trailing by 14 per cent at music group, EMI’s Irish subsidiary last year, the latest figures show.
Pretax profits at EMI Records (Ireland) fell 14 per cent to €3.9 million in 2009 from €4.5 million the previous year, according to accounts recently lodged with the Companies’ Registration Office (CRO).
The EMI label is home to contemporary recording artists such as Lily Allen and Bat for Lashes. It was also The Beatles’ label, and the company re-issued all the group’s albums last year to mark the 40th anniversary of their split in 1969.
Turnover dipped by €1.4 million to €16.4 million during the company’s 2009 financial year, which ended on March 31st.
Directors William Kavanagh and David Gogan blamed a fall in physical sales for the decline in turnover in their report filed with the results.
They also warn that piracy and downloading and sharing music from the internet pose an ongoing threat to the business.
“Declining recorded music sales, economic recession, physical piracy, illegal downloading and growing competition for discretionary consumer spending and retail shelf space have all contributed to this decline,” the directors’ report states.
“Organised commercial physical piracy, the existence of illegal internet file sharing networks and the ubiquity of technological devices, which enable unauthorised consumer copying of music content, all represent risks to our business.”
The company ended the year with a strong balance sheet. The company ended the year with €12 million in shareholders’ funds.
It owed its creditors €3.7 million. All debts were due to be paid within 12 months of the balance-sheet date of March 31st.
Its pension liabilities stood at close to €3.8 million. The company operates a defined-benefit scheme for its Irish workers. It employed 13 people last year, down from 15 in 2008.
Private equity firm Terra Firma Capital owns EMI. The company is contemplating selling its fabled Abbey Road studios in London, where The Beatles recorded much of their work.
Yesterday, EMI’s 1970s progressive rock signing Pink Floyd won a case in the British High Court preventing the company from releasing single downloads from its concept albums, which include the The Wall, which was the soundtrack to the film of the same name which featured Live Aid promotor Bob Geldof.
