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'Tough medicine' for BBC Audiobooks

06.02.08 Tom Tivnan

BBC Audiobooks had to “swallow some tough medicine” last financial year, as it saw both turnover and profit fall precipitously. But the UK’s biggest audiobooks publisher says it has since turned things around and is heading for a record year.

Revenue for the 12 months to 31st March 2007 slumped to £15.8m, a slide of nearly £2.6m from the previous year. After-tax profit had an even more dramatic decline, tumbling to £497,000 from £1.3m. The company said the downturn was due to a strategic realignment as the UK market phased out audio cassettes. As a result, retailers were ordering far less stock as they reviewed ranges.

Paul Dempsey, BBC Audiobooks director, said: “It certainly wasn’t pretty. But, with just two months left in this financial year, I can confidently predict that we will have a record year in both turnover and profit. And that is down to the some of the pain and difficult decisions we had to make last year.”

The current year has been boosted by a successful Christmas, with bookshops buying in new ranges to replace cassettes. BBC Audiobooks has also exploited new retail streams, such as Tesco and Toys R Us, which now account for about 20% of revenue. Digital downloads have also increased, currently making up about 15% of the company’s turnover.

financial results BBC Audiobooks

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