Music chain Virgin Megastores made operating losses of more than £300m, according to documents filed at Companies House.

UK profits at Virgin Holdings - which includes its rail and airline businesses - slumped from £151.7m in 2007 to a loss of £227.3m in the year to the end of March 2008. Sir Richard Branson’s company was hit by a one-off operating loss of £324.3m in the period, which a Virgin Group spokesman said was mainly because of losses accumulated at Virgin Megastores.

The accounts also reveal that Virgin paid Zavvi £61m to break a licensing agreement for the use of the Virgin name. The 125 Virgin Megastores shops were sold to Zavvi in 2007. Zavvi collapsed into administration at the end of 2008.

Virgin Holdings wrote off nearly £21m when it sold Virgin Vie cosmetics, and paid a further £8.8m to remove the Virgin name from the company, according to The Times.

The accounts also reveal that assets for bridal business Virgin Bride were sold for only £1 after the closure of its last store. Both the Virgin Vie and Bride businesses were disposed of last year.

Topics