HMV enjoys 'best' Christmas period

HMV has said that its music business enjoyed its best ever Christmas but Waterstones failed to make gains in the festive period.

The group said like-for-like sales in HMV UK and Ireland were up 3% in the five weeks to January 3.

But the Waterstones parent said its bookselling business suffered declining sales of 2% as the retailer continued to feel the strain of a downturn in consumer spending.