Reading boom is not over, says publisher

HARRY POTTER publisher Bloomsbury has played down the threat of the cost of living crisis on book sales, insisting that a reading boom that started during the pandemic has further to run.

Chief executive Nigel Newton said books were a recession-proof staple that consumers could not do without, as the publisher posted record revenues and profits.

Bestsellers such as Tom Kerridge’s Outdoor Cooking and The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon helped revenues grow 24pc to an all-time high of £230m for the year to Feb 28. Pre-tax profits also rose by 28pc to £22m, as the publisher cheered its consumer and academic publishing arms for delivering “outstanding and resilient” performances.

Bloomsbury was among the winners of the Covid crisis as stay-at-home workers stepped up their reading habits when cinemas and pubs were shut under lockdown measures. Shares in the publisher rose 2pc, valuing the company at about £315m as it increased the final dividend for shareholders by 24pc to 9.4p per share.

Mr Newton said the “surge in reading” that was “one of the only rays of light in the darkest days of the pandemic” had now become a persistent trend. “Sales are continuing even though there is the reassertion of competition from restaurants, cinemas and outdoor activities,” he said.

“It means many pastimes and hobbies developed in lockdown are ones which people wish to continue. And for many of those hobbies – such as baking and birdwatching – they need books.”

On the cost of living, he said the evidence of previous recessions showed books were an affordable luxury.

“While you cut some things down, you don’t cut everything. I think books are a staple diet of food for the mind and people hang on to them [during downturns],” he said.