The troubled music store HMV has today been saved by restructuring company Hilco for a estimated £50m.
The music and DVD retailer, which is the UK’s last surviving music store chain, first ran in to trouble back in Jan 2013; although the company had seen signs of strain months in advance due to tough competition with online rivals, supermarkets and digital downloads.
The Hilco takeover secures 132 HMV stores (66 were closed during administration), 9 Fopp branches, and saves up to 2500 jobs in the UK.
HMV posted a message on Facebook at 14:00hrs:
“Great news – we’re officially out of administration and now under the new ownership.
The whole team here is working hard behind the scenes to bring you a new and improved hmv – a new website and digital service, a rebooted Pure rewards scheme and a fresh approach to our stores are all in the works.
We’ve got some exciting stuff in store for you, but all of this is going to take us a little time to perfect. For now, we’ll do our best to keep you up to date as we get everything ready to come back with a bang later in the year.
So a big thank you for all your support and patience during the past few months. We really appreciate it and it makes us even more determined to provide you with a better hmv experience.
To sign up for email updates or to locate you nearest hmv store please visit www.hmv.com
Finally, we’d also like to thank and acknowledge the valued contribution of all our store, distribution centre and head office colleagues, past and present.
Thanks, team hmv”
Find HMV on the web
Website: http://www.hmv.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hmv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hmvtweets