HMV hurt by weak games market

Slow sales of video games and aggressive competitor discounting has seen HMV’s profits slow for the 19 week period ending September 4th.

HMV’s UK and Ireland figures are down 14.9 per cent, while the entire Group’s performance – which includes HMV International and Waterstones – has seen sales slide 10.6 per cent.

However, HMV’s CEO Simon Fox is confident an improved line-up of products – especially for games – will result in a successful Christmas.

As was highlighted with the Group’s Preliminary Results on 30 June 2010, trading during the first quarter of the new financial year has been difficult, particularly in HMV UK & Ireland,” said Fox.

Where the World Cup disrupted the pipeline for new entertainment product, and the games market continued to be weak. In line with our new strategic plan, over the summer we progressed the changes to our stores that will enable us to drive our new fashion and enhanced technology offers. These initiatives, combined with a stronger product line-up, particularly in games, are key to the delivery of a successful Christmas.

We continue to make good progress on all three parts of our strategy, including the turnaround of Waterstone’s, where the initiatives to strengthen our specialist positioning, localise our store offer and revitalise our market leading brand have had a positive impact on trading.

Overall our plans for the peak trading period are in good shape, and our focus is on providing our customers with the best offers across all product categories and live venues.”