HMV Insists Future Is Bright Despite Poor Christmas Sales

HMV's boses have insisted that the future of the company is 'secure' despite huge losses over the Christmas season.

The retailer reported half-year losses of £36 million, just before Christmas.

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 to the Guardian: ""Undoubtedly trading conditions and the consumer environment remain challenging, but we remain confident in HMV's future prospects and that it will be around for some time to come".

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 comparative sales up by 147 per cent compared to the same period in 2010.