Acer shares fell sharply overnight after the Taiwanese giant warned markets that snowstorms in Europe meant it would miss sales targets for the final quarter.

The hardware maker was predicting revenue growth of between five and 10 per cent, but said poor weather across much of Europe had hit sales.

The company did detail how much it missed this by, but analysts quoted by Bloomberg put Acer's sales fall at nine per cent. Acer shares fell more than four per cent.

In other retail weather news, venerable record and book purveyor HMV warned that its customers had stayed at home over Christmas and it was now likely to miss bank covenants.

It said sales fell 13.6 per cent in the UK and Ireland thanks to poor weather. This means the retailer will struggle to make bank payments due in April. The company's shares fell by almost a quarter this morning and it said it would shut 60 UK shops. ®