U.K. Entertainment Retail Giant HMV's Stock Drops on Weak Sales

LONDON - The stock of British music and video games retailer HMV Group fell Friday after the company said its sales in stores that have been opened for at least a year fell 11.6 percent for the 20-week period ended Sept. 15.

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"As anticipated the summer has seen a very quiet new release schedule in the group's core music, visual and games markets and, whilst the group has increased share in these markets, it has continued to experience significant market value declines," HMV said.

As of 1:40pm London time, the stock was down 8.2 percent at 2.8 pence ($0.05).

"These numbers reflect the challenging markets in which we operate," said CEO Trevor Moore. "However, the like-for-like decline was less marked towards the end of the period and we should be helped in the remainder of the year by a strong pipeline of new releases in the music, DVD and games markets ahead of Christmas."

On another positive note, HMV said: "Sales of portable digital technology devices, products and services continue to grow strongly, driven by the program of store refits and the continuing evolution and development of our in-store service proposition." 
 
After the recent sale of the Hammersmith Apollo live music venue for £32 million ($52 million), HMV said Friday that "the strategic review of the remaining HMV Live business is ongoing."

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai