LONDON (Reuters) – Music and DVD retailer HMV said it was calling in the administrators after a last-ditch attempt to secure funding failed, bringing the curtain down on one of Britain’s best-known high street retail stores.

The accounting firm Deloitte has been named as the administrator and intends to keep the business running while it seeks a potential buyer, HMV said in a statement late on Monday.

LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Music and DVD retailer HMV
may announce as soon as Monday that it will call in the
administrators, according to a source close to the company and
media reports, bringing the curtain down on one of Britain’s
best-known high street stores.

Deloitte is being lined up as the administrator, and an
announcement is expected imminently. The Financial Times said
suppliers had refused a request for a 300 million pound ($482
million) lifeline, but Sky said administration could still be
averted as the board remained locked in talks.

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Shares in Marks & Spencer
fell sharply on Thursday as investors reacted to poor non-food
Christmas sales, a slump that has cranked up the pressure on the
head of the British retailer.

Now in his final year of a three-year plan to make M&S an
international, multi-channel retailer, Chief Executive Marc
Bolland had on Wednesday reiterated his confidence that a new
management team, led by ex-food boss John Dixon, would deliver a
better performance at its general merchandise arm.

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) – The billionaire founder of Sports
Direct could net a one-off shares bonus worth about 39
million pounds ($63 million) after Britain’s biggest sporting
goods retailer said it was considering a new payout proposal.

The group, which owns Sports Direct.com and Lillywhites
stores as well as brands like Slazenger, said it was considering
granting majority shareholder Mike Ashley 10 million shares,
which would vest in 2018 if performance targets were met.

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) – HMV has “12 critical
days” to pull in Christmas sales and help avoid a likely breach
of its banking agreements at the end of January, the British
entertainment retailer said.

The 91-year-old company said weak market conditions had
created “material uncertainties” for the business, exacerbated
by a worse than expected start to Christmas trading period in
which the firm makes 60 percent of its sales for the whole year.

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Britain’s Whitbread Plc
has hit record sales at its expanding Costa Coffee business,
serving almost 4 million customers in the same week that rival
Starbucks Corp bowed to public criticism and agreed to
pay more tax.

“Costa’s been the UK’s favourite coffee shop for quite some
time and we remain the taxman’s favourite coffee shop too,”
Whitbread Chief Executive Andy Harrison said on Tuesday, as he
revealed a 3.3 percent rise in third-quarter group like-for-like
sales.

LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – British luxury fashion group
Mulberry said a focus on better quality raw materials
and price increases had helped sales improve in the weeks since
its October profit warning.

Mulberry, whose shares lost a quarter of their value after
the profit alert which it blamed on lower-than-expected
wholesale revenue and disappointing international retail sales,
said on Thursday sales at stores open over a year had increased
11 percent in the nine weeks to Dec. 1.

LONDON (Reuters) – British electricals retailer Dixons (DXNS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a narrower fist-half loss, helped by its businesses in northern Europe, and said it would benefit in Britain from the demise of rival Comet.

The owner of the Currys and PC World chains in Britain where Comet went into administration this month, also said on Thursday its business in Britain and Ireland had made a half-year profit for the first time in five years.

LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Dixons, Europe’s No.2
electricals retailer, narrowed its group loss for the first half
of the year with strong demand for tablets and televisions
pushing it to a first profit in the UK and Ireland for five
years.

Dixons, home to the Currys and PC World chains in Britain,
on Thursday reported an underlying pretax loss of 22.2 million
pounds ($35.48 million) for the 24 weeks to Oct. 13, ahead of
expectations for a similar loss of 25.3 million made a year ago.

LONDON (Reuters) – British travel group Thomas Cook (TCG.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it had seen a strong finish to its fourth quarter as its recovery plan cranked into gear, after a year in which operating profit nearly halved.

Thomas Cook said on Wednesday winter bookings were ahead of committed capacity in all markets at improved prices.