HMV pins hopes on Christmas after cool summer

By KRISTY DORSEY
Published on 21/09/2012 23:07

STRUGGLING retailer HMV yesterday said its trading woes had continued over the summer as it pinned its recovery hopes on a strong line-up of festive releases.

The group, which has 250 stores, said like-for-like sales fell 11.6 per cent in the 20 weeks to 15 September, although the rate of decline slowed towards the end of the period as it benefited from fresh technology ranges.

New chief executive Trevor Moore expects trading to be boosted by a strong line-up of music, film and games launches ahead of Christmas, with offerings from former X Factor winners One Direction, plus Robbie Williams’s new album and a James Bond 50th anniversary DVD boxset to prove popular.

The launch of a new Samsung Galaxy tablet computer and Apple iPods should help the group’s strategy of selling more technology products.

The group did not blame its performance on disruption caused by the Olympics, but said there had been a “very quiet” release schedule of new music, DVDs and CDs in the period.

However, it claimed to have won a bigger share of the declining market for these products and said its drive to focus on new technology, such as headphones and tablet computers, was paying off.

Moore, previously with camera retailer Jessops, said: “These numbers reflect the challenging markets in which we operate.

“However, the like-for-like decline was less marked towards the end of the period and we should be helped in the remainder of the year by a strong pipeline of new releases in the music, DVD and games markets.”

HMV, which slumped to an annual loss of £16.2 million, has been embroiled in a turnaround struggle in recent years after being hit by the demise of the high street and competition from internet downloads. But it hopes to make profits of at least £10m this year.