Harry Potter casts spell over Bloomsbury book sales
Harry Potter special editions helped Bloomsbury’s revenue to its highest level since 2007, when the last of the original books came out, lifting the publisher’s shares to a 10-year high.
Sales of the boy wizard’s adventures rose 31% in the year to the end of February, while titles such as Tom Kerridge’s Lose Weight For Good and A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas also shone, Bloomsbury said on Tuesday.
The London-based publisher said its performance this year will be “well ahead” of previous expectations, helped by a strong autumn book list and the acquisition of IB Tauris, which focuses on history, social sciences and culture.
Bloomsbury shares were up 8.7% to 225 pence at 11:23 a.m., their highest level since February 2007.
The robust performance reflects an improving British book market, where special editions featuring vintage covers and new artwork have helped draw readers back to print formats.
Bloomsbury’s revenue rose 13.3% to £161.5 million ($217.3m.) in the year, surpassing the £150m. it reported in 2007, while full-year pretax profit rose 10% to £13.2m.
Spreading the magic
Bloomsbury has been looking to reduce its reliance on the Harry Potter books, which have sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, and is making a push into digital.
This year, as part of this digital drive, it expects to launch five new online resources, which cover a range of disciplines in humanities, social sciences, visual and performing arts, on top of five it launched last year.
Over the next year, the company plans to launch online resources such as Bloomsbury Architecture Library, Fashion Video Workshop and Applied Visual Arts Library.
Harry Potter’s success has also helped it invest in higher-margin academic and professional publishing, focusing on business-to-business digital publishing.
However, revenue at Bloomsbury’s academic division, which specializes in the arts, humanities and social sciences, fell 5.8%, hit by a decline in Britain’s education sector.
Digital revenues grew by 12.5% to £18m. in the year, while print revenues grew 15% to £134.8m., Bloomsbury said.
Bloomsbury announced a final dividend of 6.36 pence per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 7.51 pence, 12% higher than the total payout last year.