Universal Music shares bounce after it beats income expectations

Strong sales: Sabrina Carpenter

Universal Music shares jumped yesterday after it beat revenue expectations.

Strong sales from the recording giant’s artists, such as Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, helped to push sales to £2.4billion in the third quarter, a 4.3 per cent increase compared to a year earlier. 

The world’s biggest music company saw its shares spike as much as 5 per cent in Amsterdam following the investor update. 

They finally closed 1.7 per cent higher.

Analysts had expected revenue in the three months to the end of September to reach £2.3billion.

Universal was boosted by a 7.6 per cent rise in subscription income. 

The firm said price increases put through by streaming platforms such as Spotify also drove revenue growth.

But sales of physical media dipped 2 per cent during the quarter as growth in vinyl sales failed to fully offset a drop in the numbers buying CDs.

Deutsche Bank analyst Silvia Cuneo said it had been a ‘solid quarter’ for the record label.