The Financial Times reports that HMV, parent company of Waterstone's, has been in talks with Virgin about acquiring part of its Megastores chain. The most recent contact came in the past fortnight but the two sides were so far apart on the valuation of Virgin Megastores and the structure of the deal that discussions did not advance.

HMV, which is due to report final results on Thursday, is only interested in parts of the Virgin portfolio. But any deal for a significant part of the Virgin estate would also have to overcome formidable competition hurdles: HMV is the leading music retail specialist, while Virgin is second.