EMI's recording arm in the black

Guy Hands, the private equity boss of EMI, claims to have produced an early turnaround at the music giant's recording arm.

Hands, criticised by some of EMI's top artists for bringing in "suits" to run the business, said the recording arm had swung round by £100 million from losses of £45.1 million to profits of £59.2 million in the latest three months to the end of June.

Hands' Terra Firma paid £3.2 billion for EMI last year.

Hands told staff in an internal memo: "As we all know, the recorded music business is extremely volatile and we cannot count on future quarters always being this good."

The quarter included the launch of a Coldplay album, Viva La Vida, No 1 in 36 countries and the most preordered album on iTunes.

Hands said that revenues in the quarter rose by 61% to £288.1 million. He also highlighted the reduction in unsold CDs returned from 42% to just 16%.