CAN HMV BOUNCE BACK FROM THESE RESULTS?
KEITH BOWMAN| HARGREAVES LANSDOWN
These results do little to ease fears that HMV is slowly being consigned to the history books. The group’s products are made for the internet, whilst the supermarket operators continue to utilise entertainment products as shop window offerings – with many probably acting as loss leaders.
FREDDIE GEORGE| SEYMOUR PIERCE
Following this update, we are reducing our 2010/11 pre-tax profit from £65.8m to £55m taking earnings per share down from 11.5p to 9.6p. We are retaining our ‘sell’ recommendation. We believe there are safer investments and there must be concerns about the level of debt stock. A disappointing update.
MATT PINER| VERDICT RESEARCH
The long-term trend of more people turning to the likes of Amazon and the grocers has continued and, with no more collapsed rivals from which to hoover up share, HMV is now feeling all the pain from the shrinking market in one go.
The forthcoming period is obviously the crucial one to HMV’s sales, but performance over the past six months provides an ominous indicator.