£43m shares blow as Sanctuary warns

IRON Maiden-to-Beyonce music group Sanctuary's shares plunged 27%, or 11½p, to a two-year low of 31½p today after it warned this year's profits will fall well short of last year's.

The alert wiped £43m off the company's stock market value, dropping it to just £117m.

It blamed 'significant slippage of record releases' for its woes, echoing closely its much larger rival EMI's warning over the delay in releasing this month's X&Y album from Coldplay. It also blamed extra costs as it grew overseas.

Sanctuary, which bought Elton John's management company for £16m this year, said first-half profits would be 40% down on last year's £10.6m but the decline in full-year profits from the previous £24.8m 'should not be as great as at the interim stage'.

This would be partly because some of the albums that slipped out of the first half will now be released in the second half.

It said it would be more clear about prospects for the full year when it reports interim results at the end of this month. However, it declined to update investors on the bid approach it received at the beginning of June.

The board, led by executive chairman Andy Taylor, is now undertaking a review of all its operating divisions - which include merchandising and touring as well as recording - with an emphasis on improving cash generation, profitability and reducing debt.