The proposed IPO will net the department store group’s top three executives a paper fortune of about £100m and hand a further £50m to the next 300 or so managers.
Rob Templeman, the chief executive, John Lovering, the chairman, and Chris Woodhouse, the finance director, who own just under 12 per cent between them, are expected to cash in 30 per cent of their holding, which will be worth up to £33m. Potential investors queried the scope to grow a business that was taken private only in December 2003 and has already repaid its private-equity backers’ original investment more than twice over. Debenhams’ £1.8bn return to the stock market received a frosty reception from some of the City’s top fund managers, who warned yesterday the flotation attempt could fail unless the price was set at the bottom of the 195p-to 250p-a-share range. Citigroup, which raised its 2006 profits estimate from £145m to £158m, said the 2007 financial year could benefit from releases from stars such as Corinne Bailey Rae, Norah Jones, Joss Stone and Utada..

The company also said it would restructure its Japanese business to boost market share and profitability in the country.Analysts raised forecasts for 2006 and 2007. I think there’s a strong probability that digital sales will start to compensate for the decline of physical sales for the global recorded music industry this year.”EMI reported that the operating profit in its recorded music division had jumped 15 per cent and said it would deliver an extra £30m of cost savings. Mark Harrington, an analyst at ABN Amro, said: “Digital sales represent a much greater proportion of total sales than we expected. In the US, more than 16 per cent of her sales were in a digital format.Universal, the world’s largest music company, has reported that digital sales for the first quarter accounted for 10 per cent of total revenues. Other hits included records from Robbie Williams, which sold 6 million, Gorillaz, which sold 5.5 million, and the newcomer KT Tunstall, who sold 2.5 million.

Digital sales increased by more than 150 per cent to £110m – accounting for more than 5.5 per cent of group revenues.Within EMI’s recorded music division, sales were up 2 per cent – compared with a 3 per cent decline in the overall market.”EMI Music gained market share in the year, outperforming a global recorded music market which remained challenging in some regions,” the company said.EMI’s successes were led by Coldplay’s X&Y, which sold more than 9 million copies to become the bestselling album in the world last year It was also the highest-selling digital album in the US. A trading update from the company yesterday, before full-year results, beat City expectations, with EMI shares closing up 8 per cent at 277.25p.
The company, the world’s third-largest music group, said full-year revenues would be up almost 4 per cent for the year ended March 2006. The music group EMI is set to enjoy its first year of growth for five years, with digital sales more than doubling and artists such as Coldplay and KT Tunstall driving sales. Charles Dallara, its managing director, said: “That would not only be in line with progress on European integration but also help increase the voice of emerging markets.”Mr de Rato declined to give details of his proposals for a multilateral forum, but said it would bring together “systemically important countries to work through the impact of global imbalances”..

Turkey, Mexico and Korea would look for higher shares.Last week the Institute of International Finance, which represents 345 of the world’s biggest financial institutions, called for Europe to accept a lower voting share. My proposals will be to increase [some countries' voting rights] and that means that countries will adapt to their actual size and there are clear examples of countries that have changed in the last 15 years.”There has been growing pressure for a shake-up of the IMF to reflect the changes in the economy since 1992, the date of the last major reform to voting powers.Critics highlight Belgium has 2.16 per cent of the executive board vote, compared with China’s 2.98 per cent, though Belgium’s economy is only one-third the size of China’s. This is about making the institution legitimate and representative of countries based on their places in the world economy. It has proposed that individual European countries that have votes join under one European Union vote, a suggestion that has not gone down well with the European countries involved.Mr Rato said: “I am very glad to see that the biggest shareholder in the fund has expressed its support for the agenda It is not a question of losers and winners. However, these quotas are changed only every five years, with the next review due in 2008.The US indicated this week it was prepared to give up part of its 17 per cent vote – but only on condition that the European Union, whose members have 44 per cent and seven seats on the 24-strong board, give up some of their share. “The emergence of strong new economies has to be recognised,” Mr de Rato said.