HMV still in talks to re-enter Australian market

British entertainment retailer HMV is still in talks to re-enter the Australian market, confirms Paul McGowan, CEO of its parent company Hilco Capital.

He did not elaborate on how many companies were involved in the talks.

It is part of the revived music, film and video games retailer's ambitious global roll-out which collapsed only two years ago.

“We have been approached by so many people (to run the brand),” he told the Sunday Express.

HMV, which has 125 stores in Britain, has just signed a deal to open 15 shops across the Middle East. Aside from Australia, there are plans to take the brand to China and India.

It expects to have 25 stores in the Middle East in the next three years, with the first store opening in the Dubai Mall next year. Through a licensing deal with Qatar’s Al Mana Lifestyle Trading (which was set up in 1951), HMV stores will open in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. It is looking at new partners to move into Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.

HMV already has stores in Canada (which Hilco controlled before its £50 million bail out of the British retailer which was forced to close 80 stores due to £170m debts) and Ireland. It is also opening five new shops in the UK this year and also widening its four month old transactional website to ten new countries primarily in Europe.

Last year its CD sales rose by 1.5% and Blu-Ray by 0.5% while a 170% surge in vinyl transactions made it the country’s biggest music retailer during the vital Christmas season.