In the UK and Ireland, total sales fell by 3.7 per cent for the year to date, with like-for-like sales down by 9.2 per cent. By comparison, like-for-like sales at HMV Canada were up by 7.7 per cent, and up by 6.6 per cent at HMV Asia Pacific.
“Conditions for High Street retailing in the UK have been tough during our financial year to date, and there are few signs of an improvement,” commented HMV chairman David Kapplar.
“In the meantime we are taking the right actions to reduce costs, and to ensure that we are well positioned for the important Christmas trading period, where we look forward to new CD albums from Robbie Williams and Franz Ferdinand, Star Wars Episode III and War of the Worlds on DVD, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 games console and new books from Zadie Smith, Alexander McCall Smith, Jamie Oliver and John Peel.
HMV plans to open 25 new stores during the full financial year.
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