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Up of 20% of jobs may be slashed when the HMV Group closes 60 stores—including 20 Waterstones—this year.
The redundancies look likely to exceed 1,000 according to sources. It is hoped that "natural churn" will help reduce the number of forced redundancies, Marketing magazine reports.
A HMV spokesperson confirmed a round of redundancies was set to take place, and said the first stores to close would be those underperforming in cities and towns with two or more stores.
The embattled chain issued a profit warning earlier this month following a "disappointing" Christmas period. The company reported underlying net debt of £151m during its first-half results in December.
A spokesperson for credit insurer Euler Hermes downplayed the significance of HMV's credit insurance coming under review last week, noting that the retailer's insurance is always reviewed and adjusted before and after the festive trading period, for obvious [supply and demand] reasons.