UK Retailer HMV Sees Overall Sales Drop

British High Street entertainment retailer HMV, which has a large section devoted to video games alongside its chief sales of music and videos/DVDs, and is ubiquitous in most major UK population centers, has reported a 4.4 percent drop in like-for-like sales across the group over the last six months, complaining of poor trading conditions in the United Kingdom. The company has cited the terrorist bombings in London as one of the key reasons for the downturn in British business, but conversely, mentions significant improvements in its international businesses, also mentioning that it has opened twenty-five new stores in the UK this financial year, including a 6,500 square foot store-in-store enclosure at Harrods in London. There is no breakdown of how video game sales, which account for 7.4% of HMV's total revenue, performed compared to the company’s other two staples, but following UK retailer GAME’s financial results yesterday, they are unlikely to have bucked the firm’s overall trends. Ahead of the company's annual general meeting, HMV Group chairman David Kappler commented: "Conditions for high street retailing in the UK have been tough during our financial year to date, and there are few signs of an improvement. In the meantime we are taking the right actions to reduce costs, and to ensure that we are well positioned for the important Christmas trading period." Kappler went on to mention "Microsoft’s Xbox 360 games console" as a key Christmas title in the stores' game line-ups, as well as DVD titles such as Star Wars: Episode III and War of the Worlds.