WMG posted $122 million in net income on $1.256 billion in revenue, for the three-month period ended Dec. 31. That represents a nearly 42% increase over the $86 million in net income; and a 4% increase over the 1.2 billion in revenue generated in its fiscal first quarter in the prior year.
After subtracting costs, that leaves operating income before depreciation and amortization of $236 million, up 9.8% from the $215 million in OIBDA in the fiscal first quarter of 2018. That means OIBDA margin grew almost a full percentage point to 18.8% from 17.9%; and after subtracting out depreciation and amortization, operating profit comes in at $165 million, a 12.2% increase over the $147 million in the year earlier period. So operating margin also increased to 13.2% of revenue from 12.
Moving over to a strong profit side of the income statement, the recorded music operation produced $241 million, a 14.2% increase over $211 million, which gives it an OIBDA margin of 22.2%. So, thanks to economies of scale and squeezing expenses, operating income totaled $191 million, a 17.2% increase over the $163 million, which drives operating margin up almost two percentage points to 17.6% from 15.7%.
Publishing financial results were also positive, if not as strong as recorded music. Revenue grew 4.8% to $173 million from $165 million for the fiscal first quarter but that was an increase of just $8 million. Performance revenue was the weak spot, falling 13.2% to $46 million from $53 million, and according to management’s conference call with Wall Street analysts the decline was just a matter of the timing of payments from performance rights organization.