SALES AT the Irish stores of HMV and Waterstone’s fell sharply in the year to April 2009, with the bookstore chain enduring a double-digit drop in turnover.

Best-selling music releases by Amy Winehouse, U2 and Coldplay as well as sales of DVDs such as Mamma Mia!and The Dark Knightwere not enough to prevent a halving in HMV Ireland's operating profits to €2.8 million.

Sales slipped 6.3 per cent at HMV’s Irish stores from €74.3 million to €69.7 million, while pretax profits fell from €6.8 million to just under €5.1 million, according to accounts just filed at the Companies Office.

The performance of Waterstone’s Booksellers Ireland, owned by the HMV Group, over the period was even more subdued, with total sales plunging 13.3 per cent to €24.7 million in the year to April 2008. Operating profit fell from €2 million to €745,000. Pretax profit at Waterstone’s Irish stores fell to €1.5 million.

Sales of books have been hit hard by recession, although closing down sales by the Borders chain took customers away from Waterstone’s pre-Christmas.