Jobs fear for Shropshire HMV staff as retailer enters administration
Staff at Shropshire’s two HMV stores are today concerned for their jobs as the UK’s biggest retailer of CDs and DVDs called in the receivers.
HMV last night said they were appointing administrators from Deloitte, putting 4,350 jobs and 238 stores including branches in Shrewsbury and Telford at risk as it becomes the latest retail casualty on the high street.
Branches across the UK will continue to trade whilst administrators seek a purchaser for the business.
In December, HMV warned that a breach of its banking agreements was likely and it had been in talks with its banks to remedy the breach, it said on Monday.
"However, the board regrets to announce that it has been unable to reach a position where it feels able to continue to trade outside of insolvency protection, and in the circumstances therefore intends to file notice to appoint administrators to the company," HMV said.
The company's chief executive is Trevor Moore, who joined HMV last year from camera specialist Jessops, which last week also went into administration. Three branches of Jessops closed in Shropshire.
HMV has been struggling for a number of years, the chain's final straw appeared to come with disappointing sales before Christmas. Fears for the future of HMV were heightened with the beginning of a sudden 25% off sale in stores and online over the past week, and according to the Financial Times, suppliers refused to help HMV with its funding problems again over the past few days.
