Book publisher Bloomsbury has said it was confident it has a strong pipeline of new titles to boost trading in the post Harry Potter era.
The final instalment in the adventures of the child wizard saw 2.65 million copies sold in UK bookshops on the first day of release in July. The contribution from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows meant Bloomsbury's pre-tax profits jumped to £17.9 million in 2007 from £5.2 million a year earlier.
Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns were also big sellers as group revenues doubled to £150.2 million last year.
Established Bloomsbury authors with new books include David Guterson, whose Snow Falling on Cedars sold more than one million copies, Margaret Atwood, Justin Cartwright, Anne Michaels and Ben Schott.
The paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will also be published in July, while fans can buy box sets of all seven books in the series by JK Rowling.
Bloomsbury added: "Sales across the group in the first quarter have been encouraging and we are looking to build on this through the rest of the year."
The company said it had reduced overheads and divided the group into two arms focused on trade and reference-based specialist titles - the latter being a strong growth area with lower volatility and strong margins.
Chairman Jeremy Wilson said: "Last year Bloomsbury completed 21 years, and much has been done in 2007 to position the group for growth in a new stage of its development.
"The historic success of Bloomsbury, in which Harry Potter has played a key role, has unquestionably positioned it well for the future."

No comments:
Post a Comment