Profits at Irish arm of EMI down 50%

A SHARP fall in physical music sales drove profits at the Irisharm of multinational record company EMI down by almost 50 per centlast year.

Pretax profits at EMI Records (Ireland) tumbled to [euro]2million in 2010 from [euro]3.95 million a year earlier, newly-filedaccounts show.

EMI Group, which is now owned by Citigroup's private equity arm,has a roster of recording artists that includes Katy Perry, KylieMinogue and Irish music ensemble Celtic Woman.

Physical music sales at the group's Ballsbridge-based Irishsubsidiary halved in 2010. Although this was partially offset by a 7per cent uplift in digital sales, total turnover slumped by[euro]6.7 million to just under [euro]10 million in 2010.

A geographical breakdown of the company's sales show the declinewas far more severe in Ireland than in the UK, with Irish salesshrinking from [euro]15 million to [euro]8.5 million last year.

Despite the difficult environment, total accumulated profits grewto [euro]14.48 million.

Staff costs fell from [euro]1.75 million to [euro]1.38 million,with an average of 14 people employed during the year.

In the accounts, the company directors said the main risk facingthe business was the decline in music sales resulting from therecession, piracy and illegal downloading.

"Piracy - organised commercial physical piracy, the existence ofillegal internet file sharing networks, and the ubiquity oftechnological devices which enable unauthorised consumer copying ofmusic content - all represent risks," the directors said.

EMI Records (Ireland) was one of five major record companies totake a failed High Court action last year aimed at compellinginternet service provider UPC to take action to prevent illegalmusic downloading.