Glimmer of hope, but HMV loses £31m

Music and book retailer HMV today offered a glimmer of hope on trading, despite racking up half-year losses of £31.8m (€47.4m).

The group, which owns the Waterstone’s chain, said its Christmas sales benefited from measures to combat recent difficult trading conditions, including a new pricing structure at HMV and moves to improve its online offer.

In the UK and Ireland, like-for-like sales were up 0.7% in the five weeks to January 6, which represented an improvement on the trend seen in mid-December when HMV warned that annual profits were likely to be at the bottom end of expectations after a decline in the value of the UK music market.

Chief executive Simon Fox said: “The markets in which we operate continue to be very difficult. However, we delivered an improved performance at Christmas, particularly at HMV UK where we achieved strong gains in market share.”

He pledged to provide more details about the company’s recovery plan at a briefing in March.

In the 26 weeks to October 28, HMV said like-for-like sales fell 5.5% across the group, with the total sales figure of £767.2m (€1.1bn) lifted on a year earlier by new stores and the acquisition of bookshop chain Ottakar’s.

Operating losses of £31.8m (€47.4m) compared with profits of £2.8m (€4.2m) for the same period a year earlier.