HMV said today it enjoyed a successful Christmas trading period and that its full-year pretax profit was expected to be towards the upper end of expectations.
The retailer, which runs Waterstone's bookstores and music shops under its own name, said group like-for-like sales grew 9.4 per cent in the five weeks ended January 5th.
HMV UK & Ireland reported like-for-like growth of 14.1 per cent, while Waterstone's saw like-for-like growth of 4 per cent.
Pretax profit for the year ending April 2008, is forecast to be £48 million, with a range from £43 million to £53 million, according to Reuters estimates.
The group announced a three-year turnaround plan in March last year aimed at tackling competition from supermarkets and Internet retailers.
Gross margins were maintained at HMV UK & Ireland, despite a higher mix of games, and they were up 30 basis points at Waterstone's despite a competitive book market.