Blockbuster results give unexpected hope to high street
17 October 2011 09:52
The UK arm of DVD and games rental company Blockbuster has unexpectedly recorded an annual profit after its US parent filed for bankruptcy.
The chain, which has around 600 company owned stores in the UK, has reported a £1.7 million profit in the year to last January, according to accounts filed at Companies House and seen by the Mail on Sunday.
However, profits were down on the previous year's £4.3 million while sales dropped 12% to £231 million.
Blockbuster's US parent filed for bankruptcy and was saved by US pay-TV provider Dish Network earlier this year - but this had little or no impact on its 4,000 stores across the rest of the world.
Dish bought Blockbuster for 320 million US dollars (£203.4 million) in a deal which saved hundreds of stores from closing and prevented tens of thousands of US job losses.
The chain has come under pressure from the rise of internet retailers including Amazon and iTunes, which now offers a movie rental service.
Blockbuster said had it not been for the 2010 World Cup encouraging people to watch football rather than renting films, the company would have reported profit growth for the period.
The results will come as some surprise given the current retail climate, especially in DVD and video games markets.
Video games chain Game said it lost £48.5 million in the first half of the year, while HMV was forced to sell book chain Waterstone's in May to reduce its debt and is closing stores across the UK.
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