The following is an internal memo from EMI's Elio Leoni-Sceti to his staff:
Dear all:
Over the past couple of days, there have been some misleading and inaccurate media reports about EMI's financial position. You may receive questions from artists and business partners.
The facts are as follows:
EMI's financial structure
EMI has an extremely stable and flexible financial structure. Our debt, which is provided by Citigroup, is what is known as "covenant-lite." In other words there are no traditional covenants.
Normal corporate loans have covenants--if a company breaches them, the lender automatically takes control of the assets. Instead, under Terra Firma's agreement with Citigroup, we have some financial ratios that we are tested on at certain dates. If those ratios are not met at the required times, our holding company Maltby injects small amounts of additional investment capital which are called "equity cures."
Those equity cures were expected and are provided for. They come out of a fund that Terra Firma established for Maltby/EMI nearly two years ago in the full knowledge that, as we transformed the business, there would be a need for some additional investment capital. In the last financial year, we were on budget with our equity cures.
EMI Music's financial performance
Thanks to your skill and hard work, EMI Music is delivering strong growth in operating profits and cash flow, and we have maintained market share, despite being in a period of major reorganization.
That period is now behind us, and we are looking forward to an exciting new chapter as we roll out our consumer-focused strategy designed to provide the best service to artists and
customers.
I hope this will help you to answer any questions arising from the recent reports.
All the best
Elio
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