British music and books retailer HMV Group said the latest Harry Potter blockbuster and a boost to DVD sales from wet summer weather had led to strong trading and leaves the business in good shape ahead of the key Christmas trading period.
The company, which runs Waterstone's bookstores as well as music shops under its own name, said like-for-like group sales were up 5.8% in the four and a half months to September.
DVD sales saw growth of 20% for the 18 weeks, CEO Simon Fox said.
Like-for-like sales at Waterstone's rose by 2.7% in the period, reflecting very strong sales of the seventh and final volume of the Harry Potter series of books.
Adjusting for the impact of Harry Potter, like-for-like sales were flat.
In June, HMV said underlying pretax profit had more than halved to £48.1m for the year ended April 28, as it battled cut-price supermarket and online sales.
