Saturday 24 November 2001

Emi chief Levy to reveal rescue plans

Alain Levy, the record industry veteran who replaced Ken Berry as head of EMI Recorded Music last month, will take time out from his own "world tour" today to outline his rescue plan for the troubled company. The French multimillionaire, who is now in charge of stars including Mariah Carey and Mick Jagger, has been flying around the world since his appointment last month to meet all of the company's key executives.

M Levy will outline his plans for EMI's turnaround as the company reports a steep decline in first-half sales and profits. Analysts expect Eric Nicoli, the company's chairman, to report a 4 per cent decline in revenues to about Pounds 1.1 billion and a loss of up to Pounds 9.5 million, compared with a profit for the same period last year of Pounds 59.1 million.

M Levy, the former head of PolyGram, the Dutch music and film group, is understood to have ruled out a new wave of job cuts at EMI. However, the group is thought to be quietly losing employees on a department-by-department basis. EMI gave warning in September that full-year profits would slide by 20 per cent. Investors will now be keen to see how the company is performing in the key Christmas market. One of its biggest new releases is Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, a compilation of songs by the psychedelic rock band.

Mr Berry left last month amid growing concern over EMI's performance in the US. The former EMI chief's decision to sign Ms Carey for an estimated $80 million (Pounds 56 million) was criticised after the singer suffered a breakdown over the summer.

(The Times)

Many thanks to Michael.



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