Restructuring specialist Hilco Capital has swooped for debt-stricken retailer HMV in the UK, for a reported overall fee of just £50m.
The move will see more than 2,800 jobs saved, with 141 stores kept open – including all nine Fopp outlets across the country.
HMV was placed into administration in January, with Deloitte overseeing the process. Less than a week later, Hilco bought HMV’s £176m of debt for a reported £40m.
Around 80 of the HMV Group’s 220 stores have been closed as part of the administration operation.
The HMV Group posted losses of £16.2 million in its final full financial year, to the end of April 2012. Revenues stood at £923m. Its underlying net debt grew to £176.1m (2011: £163.7m) in the six months to the end of October 2012.
Hilco acquired HMV Canada from parent HMV Group in 2011 for £2m, and is widely credited for turning the business around into a leaner, profitable entity.
Paul McGowan, the chief executive of Hilco, will become HMV UK chairman. He said: “We hope to replicate some of the success we have had in the Canadian market with the HMV Canada business which we acquired almost two years ago and which is now trading strongly. The structural differences in the markets and the higher level of competition in the UK will prove additional challenges for the UK business but we believe it has a successful future ahead of it.”
HMV UK will be run by some of the existing management team, under Hilco’s direction. It will be headed up by Ian Topping, who was previously CEO of the South African retail group Steinhoff.
The HMV UK stores that will remain open
Aberdeen, Ayr, Banbury, Bangor, Basildon, Basingstoke, Bath, Belfast Donegall Arcade, Birmingham Bullring, Blackpool, Bluewater, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton Churchill, Bristol Broadmead, Bristol Cribbs, Bromley, Bury, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Canary Wharf, Canterbury, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Chichester, Colchester, Coventry, Crawley, Cwmbran, Darlington, Derby, Doncaster, Dundee, East Kilbride, Eastbourne, Edinburgh Fort Retail, Edinburgh Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh Princes Street, Exeter, Bristol (Fopp), Cambridge (Fopp), Covent Garden (Fopp), Edinburgh (Fopp), Glasgow Byres Road (Fopp), Glasgow Union Street (Fopp), Gower Street London (Fopp), Manchester (Fopp), Nottingham (Fopp), Gateshead, Glasgow Argyle, Glasgow Buchanan, Glasgow Fort, Gloucester, Grimsby, Guernsey, Guildford, Hanley, Harlow, Harrogate, Hastings, Hatfield, Hereford, High Wycombe, Horsham, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Islington, Jersey, Kettering, Kings Lynn, Kingston, Leamington Spa, Leeds Headrow, Leeds White Rose, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool One, Livingston, Llandudno, Maidstone, Manchester 90 Market Street, Manchester Trafford, Mansfield, Merry Hill, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Newport (Wales), Northampton, Norwich Gentlemans Walk, Norwich Chapelfield, Nottingham Victoria, Nuneaton, Oxford, Oxford Circus, Peterborough Queensgate, Plymouth Drake Circus, Poole, Portsmouth Commercial Road, Portsmouth Gun Wharf Quay, Preston, Reading Oracle, Romford, Selfridges Oxford Street, Sheffield High Street, Sheffield Meadowhall, Shrewsbury, Solihull, Southampton, Southend Victoria, Southport, Speke Park, Staines, Stevenage, Stirling, Stockport, Stratford upon Avon, Stratford City Westfield, Sunderland, Sutton, Swansea, Taunton, Thanet, Thurrock, Truro, Tunbridge Wells, Uxbridge, Westfield London, Wimbledon, Winchester, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Worthing, Yeovil, York.
The HMV UK stores that have – or will – close
Ashford, Ashton Under Lyne, Ballymena, Barnsley, Bayswater Whiteleys, Belfast Forestside, Belfast Boucher Rd, Bexleyheath, Birkenhead, Birmingham The Fort, Blackburn, Bolton, Boston, Bournemouth Castlepoint, Bracknell, Burton Upon Trent, Camberley, Chesterfield, Coleraine, Craigavon, Croydon Centrale, Derry, Dumfries, Durham, Edinburgh Gyle Centre, Edinburgh St James, Enfield, Falkirk, Folkestone, Fulham, Glasgow Braehead, Glasgow Silverburn, Hemel Hempstead, Huddersfield, Kirkcaldy, Lancaster, London Leadenhall, Lisburn, Loughborough, Luton, Moorgate, Newbury, Newcastle Silverlink, Newry, Newtownabbey, Orpington, Redditch, Rochdale, Salisbury, Scarborough, Scunthorpe, South Shields, St Albans, St Helens, Stafford, Stockton On Tees, Swindon, Tamworth, Teesside, Telford, Torquay, London Trocadero, Wakefield, Walsall, Walton On Thames, Wandsworth, Warrington, Watford, Wellingborough, Wigan, Woking, Wood Green, Workington, Wrexham, Heathrow T5 Departure Level, Heathrow Terminal 1, Heathrow Terminal 3, Heathrow Terminal 4.
In addition, three stores were marked for closure prior to Deloitte’s appointment as administrators, but closed after its involvement: Windsor, Perth, Chatham.Music Business Worldwide
