Tales from the world of boy wizard Harry Potter continue to work magic for publisher Bloomsbury, which yesterday reported increased operating profits during the final quarter.
Despite a 2% year-on-year fall in volume, the publisher said margins had been boosted by the lower relative cost of publishing ebooks in the new digital environment.
In turn, the increased proportion of online sales led to a reduced rate of returns.
Key title sales during the period came from JK Rowling’s box set of Harry Potter extras the Hogwarts Library, Great British Bake Off star Paul Hollywood’s How to Bake, and celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Three Good Things.
The group also said ebook sales continued to show increased market share in the UK, growing 58% year-on-year during the four months to the end of December.
“We will begin to have visibility of post-Christmas returns and the important post-Christmas ebook sales over thenext six weeks,” a trading statement read.
“The results for our 2012/13 financial year will be dependent on these, and the completion of several contracts under negotiation.”
Chief executive Nigel Newton said his firm was making good progress “on many fronts” during a market transition away from bound paper and towards digital sales.
“Ebook sales are showing strong momentum and we are greatly encouraged by the potential of our online Knowledge Hubs where we have some large deals in progress,” he said.
“Bloomsbury is a robust business, well adapted to the challenges of changing publishing trends and the increasing prominence of the digital market-place.”
The group said it was “underpinned” by a strong author list, and would enter the new financial year with new books from best-selling and established authors like Elizabeth Gilbert and Khaled Hosseini on its publication schedule.
Bloomsbury also announced it would publish a new series of the Masterchef cookbooks, with a string of branded titles for multiple markets and territories worldwide.
At the turn of the year the group had net cash of £7.7 million, down £2.9m from at the end of the previous quarter.
Investec analyst Steve Liechti said the statement indicated “robust trading and momentum boosted by trade cookery segment strength and ebook/digital”.
But there were also warnings that high-margin contracts for the firm’s database and information division would hit earnings hard if they are not delivered during the current financial year.
A total of £2.7m in income has been budgeted from such deals, which are scheduled to be completed between now and the company’s year-end at the end of February.
business@thecourier.co.uk