Like-for-like sales for the in the 53 weeks to April 30 increased by 1.1 per cent. Profit before tax was up 9.9 per cent to£136.2 million on the back of key product launches in both the music and bookselling arms of the business.
HMV chief executive officer Alan Giles said: 'The UK trading environment became more difficult and the outlook remains uncertain. However, interest in our product categories remains buoyant, with first-week sales of Coldplay's X&Y album the second highest in UK chart history, an improving DVD release schedule, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince attracting significant advance orders and new hardware consoles poised to ignite the market for games software.'
In the 7 weeks to June 18, like-for-like sales were down 1 per cent, although total sales growth reached 2.3 per cent.
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