EMI profits hit

EMI Group PLC, one of the world's biggest music companies, reported a small loss for the first half of its fiscal year Friday but said it expected an improvement in the second half which will reflect the release of several new albums that are already selling well.

EMI, whose artists include Coldplay, Norah Jones, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams, said it was confident the global music industry would begin growing again after a sales slump from 2000 to 2003.

Chairman Eric Nicoli said the global industry recorded a decline of 1.3 percent for the first half of fiscal 2004, an improvement on the 9.6 decline for the same period in 2003.