The boss of the investment firm which rescued HMV from collapse has claimed that the music retailer is now “very profitable”.
The high street music and entertainment chain went into administration in 2013 with 223 shops and more than 4,000 jobs put at risk.
However, 144 of the shops were bought by restructuring company Hilco three months later. The company’s boss Paul McGowan has told The Telegraph that the business is now “very profitable” and does not have a single loss-making store left in the UK.
After moving the London flagship store back to its original home on 363 Oxford Street – which the retailer had left in 2000 – it has since hosted in-store appearances from high profile artists including Paul McCartney.
The key to HMV’s success, McGowan says, has to focus on offering events that other retailers like Amazon and big supermarket chains can’t.
Record labels, he says, “want someone who is industry relevant… We can get a band from Number Five to Number One in the charts by holding an event here.”
Like-for-like sales in the second quarter of 2014, which doesn’t include store closures and new openings, rose 9.2 per cent. Physical album sales in HMV stores were also up 12 per cent, which drove the overall physical music market up 3 per cent.
In addition there are now plans to open four new stores and to re-enter Ireland with eight stand-alone shops and 46 concession stores.