Warner Music Group has issued official preliminary projected revenue for its current fiscal year (the 12 months to end of September 2020).
In a nutshell, WMG is expecting a flat-ish year, with recorded music revenue slightly down and music publishing revenue slightly up.
The bright spot in its numbers is no surprise: WMG expects that annual recorded music streaming revenue in the period will land somewhere between $2.39bn and $2.41bn, up by at least $261m on the $2.129bn in streaming revenue it generated in FY2019.
However, WMG told investors today that its annual growth in recorded music streaming revenue is “expected to be offset largely due to decreases in physical and artist services”.
With that in mind, the firm is projecting overall annual recorded music revenues (prior to inter-segment eliminations) somewhere between $3.795bn and $3.825bn for FY2020, slightly down on the $3.84bn posted in the prior fiscal year.
Meanwhile, annual music publishing revenues at WMG in FY2020 are expected to land between $645m and $665m, an increase on the $643m posted in the prior fiscal year.
Total annual revenues at WMG (including both recorded music and publishing) are expected to land between $4.435bn and $4.485bn in FY2020, slightly up on the $4.475bn posted in the 12 months to end of September 2019.
WMG’s adjusted annual EBITDA is estimated to have been in a range of approximately $825m to $845m for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020, as compared to $737m for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019.
The company’s cash and cash equivalents as of September 30 this year were approximately $550m, according to Warner’s filings.
The total consolidated indebtedness of WMG’s parent (Warner Music Group Corp) is estimated to have been approximately $3.1bn as of the end of September.
Warner is in the process of taking on more debt, with $250m of Secured Notes announced earlier today (October 19).
That money is being put towards the acquisition of “music and music-related assets” as part of deals agreed in principle earlier this month, for an aggregate cash consideration of $338m.Music Business Worldwide
