HMV owner on the hunt for more British high street businesses in welcome break from retail doom and gloom

THE owner of HMV has revealed he is on the hunt for more British high street businesses in a welcome break from the doom and gloom in retail.

Doug Putman, who rescued the music store chain from bankruptcy in 2019, told The Sun: “I would love to buy more businesses in the UK.

“I’m not interested in a quick buck and flipping it.

“I love the businesses that I own.”

Mr Putman, 40, took back HMV’s historic store on London’s Oxford Street last November from a tacky candy store.

He also opened shops in Ireland and Belgium as he expanded the music chain to just over 120 shops, with plans for more in the UK.

It can also be revealed that Mr. Putman was in secret talks to save Ted Baker stores.

But he abandoned a deal after the fashion retailer’s US owner Authentic Brands did not want to give up its royalty rights.

The Canadian entrepreneur also attempted a full rescue of Wilko last year and recently closely studied a move for The Body Shop.

He insists he was the only credible bidder with financing and an offer to save 100,000 jobs and 200 stores before it was broken into chunks.

He added: “The economy is tough but it’s tough everywhere.

“Out of the countries I operate in I would want to invest the most in the UK and least in Canada.

“I love the British high street.”

But he is urging the government to focus on ensuring online retailers pay their fair share of tax.

Mr. Putman said: “If you are going to operate in a country, make sales from people in the country, use the country, then you sure as hell should be paying full taxes.”

In a further swipe at Amazon — often seen as the nemesis of music and book stores — he said advances in technology risked creating a “joyless life.”

He said: “Staring at screens and waiting at home to open our packages from Amazon, is that the world we want? Don’t we want to see friends and family, go to music stores, visit book shops?”

Mr. Putman said HMV’s revival was in tune with the renaissance of physical music, despite streaming now accounting for the overwhelming majority of sales.

He said: “CDs are back in growth, because they’re cheap, vinyl is growing, so are books — they are tangible things that counter people’s addictions to their mobile phones.”

HMV’s most recent accounts reveal sales rose by 18 percent to £177 million, while pre-tax profits more than doubled to £5.2 million for the year to May 2023.

Ashley’s Mulberry bid snub

Troubled luxury brand Mulberry has swiftly snubbed an £83 million takeover approach from Mike Ashley.

The Sun yesterday revealed the handbag maker’s board was likely to dismiss the hostile offer from the sportswear billionaire’s Frasers Group.

Mulberry said that the bid “does not recognise the company’s substantial future potential value.”

It added its majority shareholder Challice, which is owned by the Singaporean billionaire Christina Ong, “is supportive of the company’s strategy and has no interest in supporting the possible offer.”

The rejection is likely to irk Mr. Ashley, who has built up a 37 percent stake in Mulberry.

He has until October 28 to come back with another offer.

Mulberry needs to raise £10 million from investors after slumping sales knocked it to a heavy loss.

It said it hoped Frasers Group would take part as an investor in the share offer.

Pumpkin & patchy

Greggs is hoping its new pumpkin spice doughnuts will tempt customers to stores after a slight sales slowdown.

The City has become used to Greggs’ strong trading and was yesterday spooked by a slight softening in like-for-like sales growth of 5 percent.

It compared with the previous quarter’s 7.4 percent.

Shares in Greggs fell by as much as 5.6 percent, despite it being on track to hit profit targets and open 160 more shops this year.

Dob jobs blow

Garden centre Dobbies is planning to shut 17 shops in a move that will cut 465 jobs.

The retailer — founded in 1865 — will close all six of its high street “Little Dobbies” trials, as well as 11 larger stores in locations ranging from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, to Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

The garden centre retailer lost £105.2 million in the year to March 2023 compared with a loss of £7 million in 2022.

Hedge fund Ares Management took control of the business last year.

The price of gold has kept rising amid fears of all-out war in the Middle East.

Often considered a safe haven asset, the precious metal has soared 29 percent so far this year.

Yesterday it climbed another 1 percent to £2,004.46 an ounce.

Optimism fades

Manufacturers became much more pessimistic last month amid concerns over Labour’s first budget and conflict in the Middle East.

A closely watched survey showed the sharpest drop in confidence among factory bosses since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

The S&P Global UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index slipped to a nine-month low of 51.5 in September.

Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The drop in confidence was striking.”