News

Debt Laden HMV To Appoint Administrators

• 14th Jan 2013

Music and DVD chain HMV, which employs about 4,350 staff, has confirmed it will appoint an administrator, making it the latest High Street casualty. Deloitte will run the 239-store chain while it assesses prospects for the business and seeks potential buyers.

Trading in HMV shares on the London Stock Exchange are being suspended, the company said in a statement. Started in 1921, HMV became one of the biggest names on the High Street, but has struggled against online retailing. The company has been in financial crisis for many months and on 13 December warned that it faced a possible breach of bank loan agreements.

In a statement late on Monday the company said: “The board regrets to announce that it has been unable to reach a position where it feels able to continue to trade outside of insolvency protection…“

The statement continued that the board “understand that it is the intention of the administrators, once appointed, to continue to trade whilst they seek a purchaser for the business“.

The retailer, whose first store was opened in London’s Oxford Street in 1921, has faced intense competition from online retailers, digital downloads, and supermarkets in recent years.

It may be too early to tell whether the closure of the chain will have a positive or negative effect on the independent music shop, but Jon Tolley from Kingston based Banquet Records has already penned a blog with his thoughts on the subject here: link

via bbc.co.uk/news