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| HMV Group losses widen as sales decline | HMV Group losses widen as sales decline |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Losses have increased sharply at HMV Group following a big fall in sales. | Losses have increased sharply at HMV Group following a big fall in sales. |
| The music, video, games and book retailer made a pre-tax loss of £41.3m in the six months to 23 October, compared with a £24.9m loss last year. | The music, video, games and book retailer made a pre-tax loss of £41.3m in the six months to 23 October, compared with a £24.9m loss last year. |
| Like-for-like sales - which pulls out the impact of new store openings - at its main HMV UK business fell 16.1%. | Like-for-like sales - which pulls out the impact of new store openings - at its main HMV UK business fell 16.1%. |
| Sales by the same measurement were down 3.2% at its book chain Waterstone's. HMV Group said Christmas sales would now be key for its full-year results. | Sales by the same measurement were down 3.2% at its book chain Waterstone's. HMV Group said Christmas sales would now be key for its full-year results. |
| HMV Group's revenues for the six months totalled £749.5m, down 6% from a year ago. | HMV Group's revenues for the six months totalled £749.5m, down 6% from a year ago. |
| During the six months the company said it had worked hard to diversify the range of products available at its HMV stores, adding clothing lines and the sale of Apple's iPad tablet computer. | During the six months the company said it had worked hard to diversify the range of products available at its HMV stores, adding clothing lines and the sale of Apple's iPad tablet computer. |
| This came as the business saw a 10% fall in the sale of CDs, and an 8% decline in DVD sales. Sales of computer games dropped even further, losing 12%. | |
| HMV Group also announced that it is to close the smaller of its two HMV stores on London's Oxford Street. | |
| Overseas woes | |
| Simon Fox, HMV Group chief executive, said its HMV business was facing "tough trading conditions" in the UK, and that the firm's progress in product diversification "was not sufficient to offset weak entertainment markets". | Simon Fox, HMV Group chief executive, said its HMV business was facing "tough trading conditions" in the UK, and that the firm's progress in product diversification "was not sufficient to offset weak entertainment markets". |
| HMV Group is also moving into the live music sector and now has 12 live music venues. | |
| Like-for-like sales at the overseas HMV stores declined by 8.9%. | |
| This was led by HMV Canada, which saw a 10.2% fall. However, same-store sales were up 2.4% at HMV's seven stores in Hong Kong and Singapore. | |
| At Waterstone's, HMV Group said it was continuing efforts to make sure that the range of books on sale at individual stores was "tailored to each local market". | |
| As for current trading in the UK, HMV Group said it had not been helped by the recent snow, saying this had "significantly affected customer footfall, and consequently makes trading patterns hard to determine at this stage". |