The Bookseller.com

21st November 2008

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Stronger fourth quarter for HC

06.08.08 Graeme Neill

HarperCollins' worldwide publishing business has achieved modest growth in full-year operating income of 0.6% as its parent company News Corporation revealed an operating profit of $5.4bn.

In results for the year ending 30th June, the publisher had an operating income of $160m, up $1m on the previous trading period. For the quarter ending 30th June, operating income was $28m, up from $21m for the same period in 2007.

HarperCollins had sales of $1.388bn for the trading period, up 3.0% from $1.347bn in 2007. During the last quarter of its trading year, revenues grew by 15.7% to $350m year-on-year.

News Corporation said that fourth quarter results were driven by "strong sales" of Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey (which is published by John Murray in the United Kingdom), Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall (published by Harper Element in the United Kingdom in September) and an updated edition of You:The Owner's Manual by Michael F Roizen and Mehmet Oz (unpublished in the UK).

HarperCollins had 62 titles on the New York Times bestseller list during the last quarter with 165 titles on the chart during the year to 30th June. News Corporation's net income of $5.4bn was a growth of 21% compared to the same period in 2007. Its fourth quarter net income was $1.1bn, up 27% from the $890m reported last year. Revenue for the financial year was $33.0bn, up 13.2%.

The media giant said the results were driven by its direct broadcast satellite, cable network programming, television and filmed entertainment wings.

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