Ashes a welcome catch for Bloomsbury

Published on Thursday 27 August 2009 21:24

PUBLISHER Bloomsbury is hoping England's Ashes triumph will give it a Christmas boost as it looks to recover from a 67 per cent slide in profits.

The firm yesterday posted pre-tax profits of 1.8 million for the six months to 30 June, down from 5.4m in the first half of last year – a period dominated by strong paperback sales of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Bloomsbury said its acquisition of John Wisden & Co, publisher of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, had already borne fruit after it added a new title in honour of England's win. Wisden on the Ashes sold out its first print run before publication in May and the firm hopes for a repeat with a second edition.

"A new edition of Wisden on the Ashes is being rushed to press for the Christmas market following England's Ashes victory and the timing couldn't be better," the group added.

Bloomsbury said it planned to add titles to the 145-year-old Wisden imprint and 2009 will mark the first year the Almanack will be available as an e-book.

The publisher said its first-half figures were up against a very strong comparable period last year, which not only included the final adventure of the boy wizard, but also featured high sales of Khaled Hosseini's books A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner.

In the first six months of 2009 UK revenues were down 25 per cent on last year at 22.2m. Total sales fell 16 per cent to 35.2m.

Lorna Tilbian, of brokerage Numis Securities, said: "Although we are supportive of the group's strategy we are generally cautious on consumer book publishing and note the importance of the Christmas season to the full-year numbers."