UP TO 60 HMV stores will be axed over the next year as the high street retailer battles tumbling sales.

The home entertainment group said it had no specific hit list for closures yet, but revealed that it will target areas of over-capacity in large conurbations.

A spokesman told LDP Business that its flagship Liverpool One store would “not for one moment” be considered, although the nearby Bold Street store, which opened while its former Church Street superstore was being relocated to Liverpool One, could come under scrutiny.

He added that the closure plan represents less than 10% of its total portfolio of its stores. Its Waterstones subsidiary might also be sold.

HMV confirmed there would be redundancies, but the number of job losses had not been determined.

The cutbacks also include plans for £10m of cost cuts in response to a 13.6% slump in HMV’s like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland for the five weeks to January 1, hampered by the recent extreme weather conditions, and concerns over its ability to meet the terms of a bank loan.