Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. $(WMG)$ edged up 0.2% in premarket trading Tuesday, music publishing and recording company reported first-quarter revenue that rose just above expectations, amid strength in the music publishing business, while profit declined.
Net income fell to $92 million, or 18 cents a share, from $117 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted income fell to $111 million from $144 million, but the company did not provide adjusted earnings per share.
The FactSet EPS consensus was 21 cents. Revenue grew 10.1% to $1.38 billion, topping the FactSet consensus of $1.36 billion, as recorded music revenue rose 8.3% to $1.15 billion and music publishing revenue increased 19.8% to $230 million.
Digital revenue represented 67.7% of total revenue, down from 68.8%, due to the recovery of artist services and expanded-rights revenue. The stock has tumbled 36.9% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 has declined 16.3%.