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The Warner Music group has confirmed that it is considering making a further offer for British rival EMI.

News of the potential bid comes after troubled EMI rejected an earlier $4.2 billion (£2.13 billion) takeover offer from the New York-based company in March.

EMI, whose artists include Robbie Williams and the Beatles, has since agreed to a $4.7 billion (£2.4 billion) cash bid by private equity group Terra Firma.

However Warner Music says that it is still "actively" considering making an offer for EMI, which last month reported a 15.8 per cent fall in group revenue for the year to March 31st and which has been subject to growing takeover speculation amid declining sales.

"Such an offer would be pre-conditional on appropriate anti-trust clearances being obtained (or the pre-conditions waived) but not subject to any other pre-condition," said Warner Music, which stressed that a further announcement regarding its plans would be made in due course.

The American music group, which is being advised by investment bank Goldman Sachs and the Lehman Brothers, added that the announcement did not amount to a firm intention by the company to make an offer for EMI.

Warner Music and EMI have made a number of bids for each other over the past seven years and analysts have been waiting to see whether the former will make a higher offer for its rival, which has been struggling due to the growing trend for the digital downloading of music.

EMI, which announced plans to cut hundreds of jobs as part of a restructuring programme earlier this year, has also seen disappointing sales from several high-profile album releases.