Warner Music posts a $57 million third quarter loss

Warner Music have posted a $57 million net loss on the quarter up to 30 September. Revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% year-on-year to $764 million, helped by the acquisition of the Parlophone Label Group. Warner Music's CFO Brian Roberts said that the decline in profits (and in revenues if Parlophone is taken out of the mix) was down to a "light release schedule" in the quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, particularly in Japan where the summer quarter in 2012 included three major artist releases. For the financial year, which ended with this quarter, the company posted net losses of $198 million on revenues of $2.87 billion, compared to $112 million on £2.78 billion the previous year. Roberts said that the acquisition of Parlophone had contributed to the losses, though the merger would result in $70 million in cost savings over the next two years.