It was due before the end of March but will now be released on 6 June

It was due before the end of March but will now be released on 6 June.Alain Levy, the head of recorded music business, said: “Artists are not there to worry about shareholders. It’s hard enough to be a worldwide talent.”EMI warned in February that profits would be hit by the postponement of the Coldplay album and a delay in releasing the Gorillaz’s album, Demon Days, released this week. EMI has also cited lower-than-anticipated reorders of previously released material in the fourth quarter.The company reported profits down to £141.9m yesterday, for the year to the end of March, from £163.3m the previous year. I think shareholders are the greatest evil of this modern world Deadlines mean nothing to us. We’ll sink the whole company if we have to.”EMI’s chairman, Eric Nicoli, tried to make light of the comments yesterday, saying simply, with a shrug: “He’s an artist.”Mr Nicoli added: “Chris is a brilliant musician, focused on his music His intention was to produce the best album he could. The relationship [with Mr Martin] is excellent.”He said that while the postponement of the release of X&Y was “unhelpful”, meaning it fell outside EMI’s 2004-05 financial year, “we have no discomfort in supporting artists”.The company declined to comment on reports that Coldplay were promised a special bonus to deliver the album on time. EMI’s relationship with the Coldplay singer Chris Martin is “excellent’, it insisted yesterday, despite delays in the release of his band’s album and his recent tirade against EMI and its shareholders.

Cost savings have come from a 5 per cent improvement in aircraft utilisation, a 5 per cent rise in productivity among cabin crew and a 3 per cent cut so far in non-flying staff.. EMI reported a drop in annual profits of more than £21m yesterday.In a television interview this month, Mr Martin showed no sympathy for EMI He said: “I don’t really care about EMI I’m not really concerned about that. “What characterises easyJet is a very clear business model and customer proposition but it is not clear what bmi stands for any longer. They are in danger of destroying their brand equity.”EasyJet flies 187 routes from 15 bases in Europe and 35 per cent of its passengers originate from outside the UK By September it will operate 40 routes to and from Germany.

It is unclear what their strategy is because a low-cost operation won’t work at Heathrow,” Mr Webster said. Cost reductions are the key reason why it expects to be able to absorb most of the increase in fuel costs.Mr Webster, who announced his retirement last week after nearly 10 years at the helm, said easyJet had also been helped by a sharp rise in revenues from ancillary activities such as car hire, insurance and hotel bookings. These were up by 45 per cent to £40m in the first six months.He predicted “further significant failures” in the no-frills sector in the approach to winter and criticised the move by easyjet’s rival bmi to scrap business class seats on most of its aircraft and start offering low-cost fares from Heathrow, starting at £25 one-way.”Bmi continues to confuse us. Shares in easyJet slipped yesterday after the low-cost airline warned that rising fuel costs and tough competition would hold back growth this year. In 2000, the company was discovered to have used dubious marketing practices and fraud to inflate condom sales.Operating profit for the year to 31 March was up £8.5m to £39.8m, stripping out the effect of the disposal of SSL’s last remaining medical products divisions.

Its shares have fallen from a high of 331.5p this year as bid speculation has faded, but were up 1.75p to 265p yesterday.. Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong trading conglomerate controlled by the billionaire Li Ka-Shing, is to buy Merchant Retail, the UK business behind The Perfume Shop. The market is expecting full-year pre-tax profits in the £50m-£55m range.EasyJet continued to make inroads into costs in the first half and its chief executive Ray Webster said he expected a further improvement in efficiency in the second six months with the airline planning to reduce its “non-flying” staff levels by 10 per cent. Group sales were 9 per cent higher in the year to 26 March to £193.8m, while profits before tax were 2 per cent up at £16.8m Its shares closed up 2.5p at 194.5p.. These factors have combined to make the board cautious about the medium-term prospects for The Perfume Shop business,” Merchant Retail said.Despite Merchant Retail’s bearish outlook, Hutchison is confident it can still expand its latest acquisition.AS Watson’s group managing director, Ian Wade, said: “We look forward to bringing our resources and international experience to grow Merchant Retail’s business in the UK.”Merchant Retail has 114 The Perfume Shops in the UK and Ireland and owns the Jersey-based De Gruchy department store. Alongside the news of its offer from Hutchison, Merchant Retail issued its annual results yesterday which contained a stark warning for the outlook for the British high street.It said: “Trading conditions on the high street since Christmas can certainly be described as challenging and sales this year will be hard won.”It warned that while The Perfume Shop chain had generated a like-for-like sales increase of 3.6 per cent for the first seven weeks of the new financial year, it was under competitive pressure from discount retailers and market entrants with aggressive expansion plans.”In addition, consumer spending has shown weakness in recent months. “We have focused on our objective of eliminating less profitable styles, and are continuing with our strategy of investing in new ranges which are appealing to younger consumers and of widening our distribution to mainstream retail stores in a number of selected markets,” he said.SSL has been cutting manufacturing, distribution and administrative costs as part of a recovery programme under Mr Watts, chief executive since April 2004.