MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
April 6 – 13, 2006 Edition
Harry Potter Publisher,
Bloomsbury, Reports 29%
Year-End Sales Increase
LONDON/4/4/2006Bloomsbury, Plc., publishers of the Harry Potter series, reported an increase in sales of 29.2% to £109.11m (2004, £84.45m) for the year ended December 31, 2005. Pre-tax profits were up 23.6% to £20.13m (2004, £16.28m).
Record-breaking sales of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth in author JK Rowling’s blockbuster series, were responsible for the high turnover.
The company has increased its investment in future titles by 7.5% at £22.41m (2004, £20.85m) and plans to make a significant investment in new business initiatives in the coming year, adding acquiring editors and new publishing areas in music, TV, film and sport.
Commenting on the results and prospects for Bloomsbury, Nigel Newton, Chairman, said: We achieved much in 2005, building our book list, expanding the number of our authors and improving the performance of our international operations. We have made particularly good progress in positioning the Group for growth in the future.
2006 has got off to a good start, in line with the Boards expectations and with a number of bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. Our position as an international publisher is now firmly established and we expect to see further benefits from this and the new areas of publishing that we are entering in the current year and beyond.
The cash-rich Bloomsbury now owns Walker Publishing in the U.S. and Verlag in Germany, in addition to Bloosmbury USA.
