Sales down at HMV

Music and books retailer HMV, which has several branches in Ireland, reported a sharp dip in summer sales today as it warned investors that there were few signs of an upturn on the high street.

Problems were most severe at its HMV stores, where like-for-like sales in the UK fell 11.5% in the three months to Saturday – nearly three times as fast as the decline over the previous eight weeks.