SANCTUARY MUCH

The Sanctuary Group—a U.K. entertainment group that owns the world's largest independent catalog of rights—announced Monday (1/15) that its first-half profits were up 84%, driven mostly by the acquisition of Castle Music and CMC International Records.

According to a statement distributed on the U.K.'s Regulatory News Service, in the year ended Sept. 30, 2000, net income for the company rose from 2.1 million pounds, or 1.65 pence a share, to 3.8 million pounds ($5.6 million), or 1.88 pence a share.

Sanctuary Chief Executive Andy Taylor said the acquisition of Castle and CMC "enabled us to reshape our records activities into a single global operator, namely Sanctuary Records. We're building up our ownership of music rights."

The company's music division includes such artists as The Who, Small Faces and Curtis Mayfield. Its U.S. artist management business was boosted by the recruitment of Deke Arlon, who brought with him artists such as former Kinks frontman Ray Davies. The company also includes a concert-booking agency, Helter Skelter, which has a roster of about 300 acts including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kraftwerk.

Sanctuary bought CMC in March for 4.4 million pounds and Castle in May for 46 million pounds.