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For the 26 weeks to October 24th, the pre-tax loss at the company was £24.9 million, less than the £27.5 million that was recorded in the opening half of last year.
The news caused in HMV shares to retreat slightly during morning stock market trading, dropping to 105.6p.
According to Reuters, the company's share price finished on 106.6p at the close of trading yesterday.
Like-for-like sales at HMV stores across the UK and Ireland were up by 1.6 per cent over the period, however performance at Watestone's - which is also part of the HMV group - "remained weak", according to the firm, with like-for-like transactions sliding 5.1 per cent.
In spite of this, chief executive Simon Fox stated that it is "very well prepared" for the busy Christmas shopping season.
Posted by Clive Arneil
