Strong subscription revenue, improved margins and successful new releases by Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Post Malone helped Universal Music Group (UMG) post revenue of 2.9 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in the third quarter, up 4.3% year over year (4.9% at constant currency).
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reached 621 million euros ($683 million), up 8.2% from the prior-year period. The Amsterdam-listed company’s adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 21.6% from 21.1% in the prior-year quarter and was helped by cost savings from the organizational redesign announced in February and lower A&R and marketing costs, CFO Boyd Muir said during Thursday’s earnings call.
UMG had a typically strong quarter of chart-topping new releases. CEO Lucian Grainge noted during the call that Carpenter’s album Short n’ Sweet, released Aug. 23, went to No. 1 in 15 countries and topped the Billboard 200 in the United States for four nonconsecutive weeks.Elsewhere, Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess topped Billboard’s Album Sales Chart in September, while Post Malone’s latest project, F-1 Trillion, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and also summited the Top Country Albums chart. Island also has a top 10 hit in the United Kingdom with Gigi Perez’s “Sailor Song,” which peaked at No. 28 in the United States.
Muir affirmed UMG’s previously announced guidance of an 8% to 10% compound annual growth rate for recorded-music subscription revenue through 2028.
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