HMV report £17 million profit in the year after nearly going into administration

The chain was saved by restructuring firm Hilco in 2013

HMV have reported profits of nearly £17 million for 2013, after filing for administration in January of that year.

When the music chain went into administration on January 14, it had built up £170 million in debt which threatened the closure of 223 shops and would have put more than 4,000 people out of work. The company was saved by restructuring firm Hilco three months later, however, and according to the firm, all the remaining 140 shops are now profitable.

As The Telegraph reports, accounts from HMV Retail show that between January 29 and December 28, 2013, the chain recorded £16.7 million in operating profit. After one-off costs relating to the restructuring, HMV posted a pre-tax loss of £4.8 million.

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Among Hilco’s strategies to help the company was a deal to take HMV’s flagship store back to the 363 Oxford Street location where it began in 1921. They have also successfully built ties with the likes of Disney, Universal and 20th Century Fox.

At the time in 2013, Hilco founder and HMV chairman Paul McGowan said: “This reflects HMV’s renewed focus on going back to its roots and getting the basics right.”

McGowan had also previously spoken of the chain’s newfound profitability, declaring that the key to HMV’s success is to hold events that online retailers are unable to. Record labels, he says, “want someone who is industry relevant… We can get a band from Number Five to Number One in the charts by holding an event here.”

HMV has hosted in-store shows from the likes of Paul McCartney and Ed Sheeran over the last 12 months.

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