HMV reclaims position as UK’s biggest physical music retailer
Entertainment retailer HMV has reclaimed its position as the UK’s biggest seller of physical music.
Owner Hilco Capital, which bought HMV in 2013, said the retailer’s like-for-like CD sales increased by 1.5% in 2014 while sales of vinyl albums surged by 170% to mark its highest level of vinyl sales since the mid-1990s.
DVD and Blu-ray sales rose by 0.5%.
Total sales climbed to £365.7 million from £311.2 million in the previous year.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Trading was especially strong in the two weeks before Christmas, with the retailer accounting for one in three DVD or CD sales sold across the UK. This made it the biggest physical music and film retailer in the country.
Paul McGowan, chief executive of Hilco, said: “HMV has captured more and more market share in a year when major new movie releases have been scarce and there have been only a few major album successes.
“With a bumper year of new releases already planned for 2015 we expect to have overall growth in like-for-like DVD and Blu-ray sales as well as continued growth in the physical music sector with vinyl also expected to continue its revival.”
