EMI battling under £2.7bn loans burden

Music publisher EMI faces a crunch Christmas as it struggles to deal with £2.7 billion of loans from Citigroup.

Analysts today warned that it needs to generate enough cash by March to meet its obligations with the bank. It also needs a bumper festive season to revive its struggling music business.

Terra Firma, the private-equity firm run by Guy Hands which bought EMI for £2.4 billion at the height of the buyout boom in May last year, may be forced to inject funds to prevent a default on the loans.

EMI is set for a tough Christmas, the busiest part of the year for music sales. Its headline CD releases hardly set the pulse racing for music fans.

They include a new album from Tom Jones, and one from Coldplay that is made up of songs which did not make it on to the band's last hit album, Viva La Vida.

Terra Firma put £10 million into the company three months ago to stop it defaulting on its loans, although it is unclear how big the new injection would need to be.