05/10/2008 (12:13 am)
HMV sees profits near top of range, shares jump
British music and books retailer HMV Group Plc (HMV.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said it was confident full-year profits would be towards the upper end of market expectations, driven by strong demand for games, boosting its shares by more than 6 percent.
“HMV has clearly benefited from a strong games market. However we continue to outpace this fast-growing market,” Chief Executive Simon Fox told reporters on a conference call on Friday.
“It’s a good market and we’re certainly expecting double-digit sales growth from games in the year ahead”.
HMV, which owns bookseller Waterstone’s as well as music shops under its own name, said group like-for-like sales grew by 10.1 percent in the 16 weeks to April 26, and by 7.3 percent for the full year.
Like-for-like sales at HMV UK and Ireland grew 13.8 percent in the last 16 weeks of the year to April 26 and by 11.4 percent for the year as a whole.
Fox said that stripping computer games out of the numbers, HMV UK’s like-for-like sales growth was more than 8 percent in the 16 weeks, reflecting “accelerating market-share gains” in music and DVDs.
Like-for-like sales at Waterstone’s climbed 6.6 percent in the last 16 weeks and by 3.3 percent for the year.
Shares in HMV, which have outperformed the UK general retailers’ index .FTASX5370 by around 102 percent in the past 12 months, were 6.4 percent higher at 158.75 pence by 3:35 a.m low rates payday advance. EDT (0735 GMT), valuing the company at 624.3 million pounds ($1.2 billion).
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