EMI Group, the world's third-largest record company, said today that it expected annual profit to rise by around 12% after digital music sales soared.
The company, home to artists such as Coldplay and The Rolling Stones, said it had also identified an additional £30m sterling of annual cost savings.
'Overall, the group expects to report full year revenue growth of close to 4%, with digital revenues more than doubling to over £110m,' it said in a statement. 'Group profit before tax, amortisation and exceptional items is expected to have increased by approximately 12%,' it added.
The company said its EMI Music unit expected to show revenues up 2% for the year on a constant currency basis, with second half sales seen marginally ahead of the previous year's level.
It said digital music revenues continued to show rapid growth, increasing by more than 150% at constant currency and accounted for over 5.5% of the unit's sales for the year.
The company said that from the £30m of annual cost savings it had targeted, it expected that not less than £10m would be delivered in the financial year to the end of March 2007, with the full rate seen achieved by the close of the following year.
EMI Music Publishing was expected to show 2.5% revenue growth on a constant currency basis. It said digital revenues from the unit, including ringtones and online services, also grew strongly.
