HMV enters administration for second time in six years

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Music retailer HMV confirmed it has called in KPMG as administrators.

The move, the second in six years, involves 2,200 staff at 125 stores.

Owners Hilco, which took the company out of its first administration in 2013, blamed extremely “weak Christmas footfall and a further deterioration in the UK market for CD and DVD”.

It said the stores would continue to trade while negotiations were held with major suppliers and it looked for buyers.

Paul McGowan, executive chairman of HMV and its owner Hilco Capital, said: “In the six years since the HMV business was rescued from a previous Administration process the entire team has been immensely hard-working and engaged with the business and has captured market share from all of its competitors.

“As such, it is disappointing to see the market, particularly for DVD, deteriorate so rapidly in the last 12 months as consumers switch at an ever increasing pace to digital services.”

Gift vouchers

Holders of gift vouchers are being advised to consider spending them sooner rather than later.

BBC Money Box presenter and financial journalist Paul Lewis has advised people to use any HMV gift cards immediately.

According to consumer publication Which?, whether vouchers and returns will be accepted following administration depends on the administrators.

Their role is to “try and save the company”, and in doing so, they “may take the decision not to accept returns”.

‘Sand not rocks’

Hilco’s ownership saw HMV host live events in store, with musicians including Kylie Minogue, Stormzy and The Darkness.

Digital music revenue overtook sales of physical formats like CDs and records for the first time in 2012.

Since then, online shopping, downloads and streaming provided by platforms such as Amazon, Spotify and Netflix, have continued to eat into sales of physical music.

Julie Palmer, partner at business consultancy Begbies Traynor, said the fall of HMV had been “coming for many years”.

She added: “It has been revealed that the business turnaround has been built on a bed of sand rather than rocks.”

Weak retailing

Richard Lim, Chief Executive, Retail Economics, said HMV’s situation came amid a weak retailing climate: “Poor Christmas trading has claimed its first victim.”

But the chief executive of the Entertainment Retailers Association, Kim Bayley, said there was hope: “What is clear is that following its first move into administration in 2013, HMV has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround and it is conceivable that this will happen again.

“The fact is the physical entertainment market is still worth up to £2bn a year so there is plenty of business there.”

While Christmas is normally a time of higher revenues for retailers, the number of shoppers hitting the post-Christmas sales dipped this year.

Britain’s shops have also faced uncertainty over Brexit, which sparked a fall in the pound and therefore raised the price of imported goods, as well as rising labour costs, higher business property taxes and unseasonably warm weather.

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HMV, known for its iconic logo featuring the “dog and trumpet”, is Britain’s last surviving national music retailer.

It was launched by English composer Edward Elgar in 1921, selling gramophones, radios and popular music hall recordings.