HMV has made a “handful” of redundancies at head office days after reporting a slump in sales over Christmas.

The beleaguered entertainment retailer has axed staff in departments including merchandising as part of a restructure designed to improve customer focus, a source told Retail Week.

It also thought to reflect the retailer’s aim to be more effective in its multichannel operations.

It is understood that as part of the review HMV is seeking to place people in new roles across the company to reduce the number of redundancies.

The process is thought to be ongoing and it is understood that HMV will make an announcement once the process has concluded.

HMV reported this week that like-for-like retail sales plummeted 8.2% in the five weeks ending December 31. Although the performance was disappointing, the like-for-like figure was an improvement on the 13.2% posted in mid-December.

However, the group reiterated concerns about its ability to trade as a going concern.

HMV declined to comment.

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