EMI: Goodbye Nicoli

EMI chief exec Eric Nicoli and chief financial officer Martin Stewart are being replaced by two new company heads appointed from within Terra Firma, the venture capital outfit that paid £3.2 billion to take the U.K.’s only major record company private in July.

They’ll be replaced by Chris Roling, who will take Nicoli’s post, and Ashley Unwin, who will become director of business transformation for EMI Group and EMI Music.

Both are expected to take up their roles September 18th, with EMI’s de-listing from the stock market completing the takeover.

Nicoli and Stewart are both in line for multimillion-pound "golden goodbye" payments, but so far EMI hasn’t commented on the figures.

The EMI group’s annual report shows that dumping Nicoli is likely to cost the company at least £1.7 million, with Stewart’s exit at about £1.3 million.

The 55-year-old chief, whose time as company head saw it cut costs to offset falling revenues, is also believed to have £1.8 million worth of shares and options worth about £250,000.

EMI has confirmed that Roger Faxon, chairman and chief executive of its music publishing arm, is staying in position.

The group’s most recent annual results showed the record company’s year-on-year profits before tax and adjustments falling from £118.1 million to a loss of £263.6 million.

The music publishing operation saw full-year underlying earnings up 4.2 percent to £105.6 million.