HMV has admitted its sales have continued to slide over the past few months, sending its shares dropping by 8%.
The company did, however, maintain its target of making £10m in pre-tax profits this year.
In an unscheduled statement on Friday, a week before its annual meeting, HMV said like-for-like sales dropped 11.6% in the 20 weeks to 15 September. The chief executive, Trevor Moore, who started at the retailer this month, said: "These numbers reflect the challenging markets in which we operate."
HMV also blamed the figures on a lack of new music and video games releases over the summer. Although it continued to win share in those markets, it was a share of markets in rapid decline. Total sales, including the impact of store closures, fell 14.8%. The only bright spot came from sales in its technology departments, which sell tablet computers, headphones and other such devices. HMV said these continued to grow strongly, helped along by store refits.
Moore sounded a more positive note about the rest of the year. "The like-for-like decline was less marked towards the end of the period and we should be helped in the remainder of the year by a strong pipeline of new releases in the music, DVD and games markets ahead of Christmas."
HMV recently sold the Hammersmith Apollo for £32m to keep its lenders at bay. The company subsequently agreed new terms of its £220m debt, extending the loan by a year to September 2014. It said the strategic review of the remaining HMV Live business is ongoing. The shares fell 0.25p to 2.92p.
