Cookery books help Bloomsbury rake in the dough

Publishing house Bloomsbury has reported a 16 per cent jump in profits, helped by a string of best-selling cookery books.

The firm, which has enjoyed a lucrative spell of success with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter titles, said releases such as Paul Holly-wood’s How to Bake pushed pre-tax profits from continuing operations to £9.8 million in the year to 28 February, up from £8.5m the previous year.

Chief executive Nigel Newton said sales of digital books continued to “flourish”, soaring 61 per cent to £9.1m, and the group has set itself a target of delivering half its profits from digital sources within five years.

Turnover edged up 1 per cent to £98.5m and the board recommended a final dividend of 4.56p per share, taking the total for the year to 5.5p, an increase of 5.8 per cent over the previous year’s payout.