HMV: Sales on song as billionaire owner helps turn around high street icon
Sales at HMV have more than doubled in the last three years as its recovery under the ownership of Canadian billionaire Doug Putman continues at pace.
The high street staple has reported a turnover of £189.5m for the 12 months to 30 May, 2024, up from the £177.9m it achieved in the prior year.
The latest total comes after HMV’s sales stood at £150.7m in May 2022 and £90.3m in May 2021, a year significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the period from February 2019 to May 2020, HMV’s sales totalled £187.9m.
HMV was bought out of administration in February 2019 by Canada’s Sunrise Records in a deal which saved 100 stores and 1,487 jobs. However, 27 stores closed and 455 people lost their jobs.
The business had collapsed into administration in the previous December for the second time in six years.
Sunrise was founded in 1977 and was bought by Doug Putman in 2014.
The latest accounts for HMV, which have been filed with Companies House, also show that its operating profit dipped slightly from £5.2m to £4.9m during its latest financial year.
During the year the average number of people employed by the company rose from 1,375 to 1,544.
The parent company of Sunrise Records and Entertainment, DKB Group Holdings, reported a turnover rise from £178.9m to £191.4m, while operating profit dipped from £5.5m to £4.9m.
In November, Morning Wire reported that HMV had suspended plans to open more new stores in 2025, blaming the decision on the government’s tax-raising Budget.
Flooding and wars impact HMV
A statement signed off by the board said: “Traffic to the UK high street has been in decline for a number of years as customers increasingly shop online.
“Footfall decline risk is being managed by offering products with sufficient exclusivity or collectability that customers will make specific trips to the HMV stores to shop.
“It has also been managed via continued investment in our e-commerce platform.
“Trading in recent years has been impacted significantly by the conflict in Ukraine and an escalation of the Israel Palestine war could exacerbate oil driven inflation, squeezing consumer spending and driving up silly cost.
“More frequent extreme weather conditions and also weather impacting and flooding sites for the first time have begun to impact trading.”