Anxious wait for HMV and Waterstone's staff

HMV and Waterstone's workers in Newbury await news after it is announced 60 stores will close across the country

STAFF at Newbury's HMV and Waterstone's shops face an anxious wait after the HMV Group announced that 60 stores would close across the country.

With declining sales of about 10 per cent over the peak Christmas trading period - partly due to the severe weather - and the “challenging entertainment markets”, the HMV Group has announced that over the next 12 months, about 60 stores will close, including about 40 HMV stores and 20 Waterstone's outlets.

There is currently a HMV store and a Waterstone's unit on Northbrook Street in Newbury town centre and although a spokeswoman for the HMV Group, Helen Smith, said the closures were likely to come from areas where there are multiple stores, she said she could not confirm specific locations for the closures.

The group chief executive, Simon Fox, said: “Whilst HMV has had a challenging year to date, it remains a profitable and cash-generative business and a powerful entertainment brand. The pace of change in the markets in which we operate underlines the urgency with which we must continue to transform the business.”

Mr Fox added, however, that progress at Waterstone's this year had been pleasing with improved like for like sales reflecting the success of the turnaround actions implemented during 2010.

But despite this, the board said it expects that compliance with the April covenant test under the Group's bank facility will be tight, adding that further mitigating actions are being taken to address this.

Together with the planned store closures, the group said it has identified a further £10m per annum of cost savings from across the group.