Book publisher Bloomsbury today proved there is life after Harry Potter as revenues and profits both jumped, with cookery books by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Heston Blumenthal both selling strongly.
Chief executive Nigel Newton hailed a “transformative” year as he claimed Bloomsbury has become “a uniquely balanced business”, after expanding into more stable areas such as academic information.
Turnover rose by 11.5% to £103.2 million in the year to February, with e-book sales up two and a half times at £5.7 million.
Newton said it’s not just new titles that are selling well on e-book: “It’s a bit like when CDs first came out as we’re seeing a lot of repurchasing by people for their collections.”
He highlighted Suzanne Joinson’s A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar as a potential top-seller for the year ahead.
Bloomsbury has net cash of £12.6 million and Newton indicated he could make more acquisitions after the recent expansion of cricket brand Wisden and the digitisation of Sir Winston Churchill’s archives.
Pre-tax profits rose to £8.5 million against £5.1 million.
