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Hachette in hunt for education buy

14.02.08 Barbara Casassus and Alison Flood

Hachette Livre is looking to buy an educational publisher in the UK, according to chairman and c.e.o. Arnaud Nourry. The group's presence in educational publishing was "more modest" than in other sectors, he said. "If the right opportunity comes along in this sector, we would be interested."

"We are always open to opportunities for external growth in the UK, Spain and the United States," he added in an interview with The Bookseller. "In the UK we do not to need to make an acquisition at any price. We lead Random House in market share by two percentage points," he said.

Nourry's commens came as Hachette Livre UK was singled out for praise in parent Lagardère's full-year results, released last week. Lagardère said its publishing division had an excellent final three months of 2007 in virtually all its territories, but that sales were "particularly robust" in the UK. It also said that "very strong growth" in the US since January 2007 was maintained.

Revenues for the publishing division were up 8.6% on a reported basis to €2,130m (£1,580m), and up 4.7% on a like-for-like basis. HLUK c.e.o. Tim Hely Hutchinson said the UK was "roughly in line" with the 4.7% growth, with the trade side doing slightly better and the education side slightly worse in a "quiet year" for education before this autumn's curriculum change.

Octopus, which Lagardère last year singled out for a dip in sales, broke even over the course of the year after a new emphasis on publishing fewer, higher profile titles. Overall, Hely Hutchinson said a "good" spring and a "quiet summer" preceded a "really brilliant" Christmas, when HLUK published seven of the top 10 Christmas non-fiction best-sellers and five of the top 10 fiction titles.

Nourry said HLUK's sales "soared by 50% between November and December" thanks to the bestseller performance. "I fear this might be the only time we achieve such a feat in my career," he added. "And we will probably suffer in 2008—a 4.7% ˇrevenue growth would be impossible to repeat."

In France, fourth-quarter sales were bolstered by popular politician Simone Weil's Une Vie (A Life), which sold nearly 500,000 copies in three months, and Le Rapport de Brodeck (Brodeck's Report) by Philippe Claudel. The book market in France is provisionally estimated to have grown by 2.5% last year, and Hachette Livre "will have done better than that," Nourry said.

Overall, Lagardère's 2007 consolidated revenues were up 8.5% on a reported basis and 3.3% on a like-for-like basis, totalling €8,582m (£6,366m).

International Hachette education France Arnaud Nourry Barbara Casassus and Alison Flood

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