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By Jerome Terroy
Oct 29 (Reuters) - Universal Music Group reported on Thursday a pick-up in subscription streaming revenue in the third quarter and said pressures on market share has moderated from the first half of the year.
"This quarter showed clear progress: subscription revenue growth accelerated and adjusted EBITDA margin, excluding Downtown, expanded by 40 basis points, led by stronger margins in Recorded Music," CFO Matt Ellis said.
• Recorded Music subscription revenue grew 9.5% at constant currency, excluding Downtown — above the 8.2% growth analysts expected, according to an ING note published ahead of the results
• The company reported revenue of 3.39 billion euros ($3.78 billion) in the quarter — up 11.7% at constant currency; excluding Downtown, the growth was 5.3%
• Adjusted EBITDA rose 9% at constant currency to 729 million euros
• Margin expansion in Recorded Music was partly offset by lower profitability in Music Publishing and Merchandising
• Ad-supported streaming revenue grew 4.7%, excluding Downtown, while physical revenue increased 17.4%
• Top sellers during the quarter included Mrs Green Apple, Olivia Rodrigo, Stray Kids, Ariana Grande and The Beatles, Universal said
• Downtown, which owns a major music publisher and a other businesses that help musicians collect royalties, was acquired by Universal earlier this year
($1 = 0.8971 euros)
(Reporting by Jerome Terroy; Editing by Joyjeet Das)