Thirty Six Million Pounds Loss Throws HMV Future Into Doubt

HMV has announced half-year losses of £36 million, and have admitted that their future is very much in doubt.

Like for like sales had dropped 17.6 per cent for the 26 weeks to October 29, compared to the same figures from last year, and further conceded that they might have to sell their live music division to help improve finances.

HMV announced in January that they were to close 60 stores in the UK throughout 2011, after seeing its shares fall drastically, and in June agreed to a £220 million refinancing deal that financial experts described as "eye-watering."

HMV chief executive Simon Fox said in a statement: "This has been a challenging start to the year. However, we have taken decisive action to restructure the business and are now seeing the benefits of this, particularly in our Technology products business.

"Like all consumer-facing companies we are facing tough trading conditions but we continue to push forwards through this period. We remain well prepared for the key trading days ahead."

Shares in HMV are currently at 3.65p, a 5.7 per cent drop, which now means the retailer is valued at £16.4 million, although they did claim that their decision to focus on technology products was working, with comparitive sales up by 147 per cent compared to the same period in 2010.

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