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Business News HMV Timeline Retail
Game suspends shares
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 21 March 2012
Shares in faltering games seller Game Group have been suspended from trading “pending clarification of the company’s financial position”.
As previously reported, management at the entertainment retailer admitted last week that it was on the brink and desperately seeking a buyer to rescue its 1300 store business. Some games publishers have refused to supply big new releases to the retailer, fearing stock might get caught up in any liquidation, which, of course, has further hindered Game’s ability to operate.
Various possible buyers have been mooted, but some are only interested in Game’s non-UK business, while it’s thought others might wait before bidding, reckoning they could get a much better deal if they buy the company out of bankruptcy.
High street video game sales have gone the way of CDs in the last few years amidst competition from supermarkets, online mail order sites and digital distributors – even more so in fact, with less interest from casual consumers than albums and DVDs. That said, HMV, which has also seen its gaming revenues slide, could get an albeit short lived boost if Game does disappear.
Confirming they’d requested their shares be suspended this morning, a statement from the Game board reads: “The board now considers itself to be unable to assess the business’s financial position, and is of the opinion that there is no equity value left in the group. Therefore the company has requested that the listing of its securities on the Main Market of London Stock Exchange plc be suspended from trading with effect from 7.30am today”.
