HMV dented by weaker book market

By This Is Money
Updated: 04:20 EST, 29 April 2009

 

Sales at HMV have levelled off this year, with bookstore arm Waterstone's hit particularly hard.

HMV said like-for-like sales were down 4.5% in the last 16 weeks of its financial year, a further slide from the 3.8% fall it experienced across the 12 months.

The group said while children's books and fiction had remained resilient in the consumer downturn, higher priced non-fiction was hit particularly hard.

A spokeswoman for HMV said celebrity titles had seen the biggest fall in sales, but travel was also down slightly. 'It looks like people are either travelling less or the information is available online,' she said.

HMV said like-for-like sales across the group were flat compared with last year, while its UK and Ireland music stores saw a 1.9% rise in the 12 months to April 25.

It said it had made good progress on its live music joint venture with music company MAMA Group, which will see it take a stake in some of the UK's best known music and entertainment venues.

The firm said three sites - HMV Apollo and The Forum in London and the Edinburgh Picture House - had already been converted. London's Garage venue is also scheduled to be reopened in June.

HMV's chief executive Simon Fox said the group expected profits this year to be towards the upper end of market expectations, despite challenging conditions.

'This has been driven by strong trading in HMV UK & Ireland, which continues to benefit from initiatives to transform the business, and from maximising the opportunities arising from competitors exiting the market,' he said.

HMV said it acquired a further nine stores from the collapsed music, DVD and games retailer Zavvi in the last 16 weeks of the year, taking its total to 23.

Mr Fox said the downturn in the book market was in line with the company's expectations. Waterstone's is in the process of moves to centralise its supply chain to a single hub based in Burton-on-Trent, which the firm expects to help it cut costs.

Mr Fox added: 'We still have much to do, but I remain confident that the group's transformation plan remains on track to increase efficiency, revitalise our core business and establish new channels to market.'