Relight my fire: Take That give HMV another boost

Sales of Take That’s latest album, ‘The Circus’, released last week, will have helped trading at HMV, the music and game retailer that reports half-figures on Thursday.

Take That’s single, ‘Greatest Day’, has been flying off the shelves at retailers across the country and was set to be Asda’s fastest-selling day one release ever, with 20,000 copies being sold on Monday. Analysts reckon that HMV, which also owns the Waterstones and Ottakar’s bookshops, will have weathered the downturn. Profit before tax more than doubled in the last year to April at £51m on sales of £1.9bn. Its shares are down from the year’s high of 150p but are still trading well at 111p.