Refile: Universal Music Q3 subscription revenue growth tops expectations
REFILE-Universal Music Q3 subscription revenue growth tops expectations Adds missing text in paragraph 1
By Jerome Terroy
Oct 29 (Reuters) - Universal Music Group UMG.AS reported on Thursday a pick-up in subscription streaming revenue in the third quarter and said pressures on market share has moderated from the first half of the year.
"This quarter showed clear progress: subscription revenue growth accelerated and adjusted EBITDA margin, excluding Downtown, expanded by 40 basis points, led by stronger margins in Recorded Music," CFO Matt Ellis said.
Recorded Music subscription revenue grew 9.5% at constant currency, excluding Downtown — above the 8.2% growth analysts expected, according to an ING note published ahead of the results
The company reported revenue of 3.39 billion euros ($3.78 billion) in the quarter — up 11.7% at constant currency; excluding Downtown, the growth was 5.3%
Adjusted EBITDA rose 9% at constant currency to 729 million euros
Margin expansion in Recorded Music was partly offset by lower profitability in Music Publishing and Merchandising
Ad-supported streaming revenue grew 4.7%, excluding Downtown, while physical revenue increased 17.4%
Top sellers during the quarter included Mrs Green Apple, Olivia Rodrigo, Stray Kids, Ariana Grande and The Beatles, Universal said
Downtown, which owns a major music publisher and a other businesses that help musicians collect royalties, was acquired by Universal earlier this year
($1 = 0.8971 euros)
(Reporting by Jerome Terroy; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
((jerome.terroy@thomsonreuters.com;))