Simon Fox, the top dog at HMV, is leading his company up the British charts. The music and book retailer enjoyed a 14 per cent rise in UK and Ireland sales in the fourth quarter, a remarkable comeback considering it had to announce a 16 per cent fall at the start of last year.

Mr Fox, HMV's chief executive, who says he enjoys soft-indie rockers Keane and The Feeling, was charged with revitalising the business when he joined in 2006. HMV was suffering from changing trends, particularly as consumers increasingly chose to download their music for free on the internet.

Under Mr Fox, 47, HMV has been fast to adapt. As gaming now accounts for 18 per cent of its sales, the retailer is dedicating more store space to video games as demand soars for the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox.

Mr Fox said that the Christmas period had brought a strong line-up of albums that benefited HMV, including the debut album from Duffy and a re-release of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black and big-selling compilations such as Now 68. “We felt there was a good line-up this Christmas; we think the line-up is actually going to get better,” he said, pointing to an encouraging year in music ahead.

This includes the recent album from Madonna and offerings from popular artists such as U2, Kasabian and Dido to come.

Yesterday, he told analysts that HMV, which also owns Waterstone's, the books seller, is rapidly regaining market share lost to supermarkets and online retailers.

Mr Fox started his working life as a graduate trainee at Security Pacific Bank and later joined Boston Consulting Group, the management advisory group, and Sandhurst Marketing. He founded Office World, the UK's first out-of-town office supplies retailer, growing the business to 60 stores and about £100 million turnover in eight years.

In 1998, he joined Kingfisher, where he headed the electrical division and, as managing director of Comet, led its demerger from Kingfisher.

He has also been chief operating officer of Kesa Electricals, where he was given responsibility for overseeing the company's operations in the UK and continental Europe, covering about 350 stores and more than £2 billion of sales.

Mr Fox says that he is more of a reader than a music fan. He lives with his wife and three children in Berkshire.

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