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Orbach: time for a ‘generational change’ at Quarto

24.02.12 | Lisa Campbell

Laurence Orbach, the founder of publisher Quarto, will hand the company over to a new leader in 2013 in the face of what he described as a “rapidly evolving” industry.­ Orbach said the company was poised to announce the appointment of a chief operating officer, who will be lined up as Orbach’s successor.

Orbach outlined his succession plan as the publisher increased pretax profit by 5.2% to $12.1m (£7.73m) in the 12 months to 31st December 2011, with overall sales up by 5.5% to $186.1m (£118.8m).

Orbach told The Bookseller that the new appointee, from within the publishing industry, would be in place in time for the ­London Book Fair and announced in April. He will succeed Orbach as chief executive after a settling-in period of about a year, with Orbach staying on in the role of chairman. Orbach said: “I think it is time for a generational change. The industry is evolving rapidly and a younger person with less baggage than I have with probably more energy should take over.”

During the year, Quarto increased its publishing revenues by 6% to $123.6m (£78.95m), and its profit from the division by 5%, to $12.4m (£7.9m). The company acquired Frances Lincoln and Cool Springs Press, which helped to make its UK operations account for 20% of its business.

In 2012, the company will move away from “mass market books and target people who are real readers”, Orbach said, while he dismissed the impact of digital on his business, saying: “It is not a serious issue for us.” Digital sales account for a little over 1% of the group’s revenues, even though digital sales grew five-fold last year.

Despite bookshop closures on the high street, Orbach was optimistic for the outlook of bricks-and-mortar bookshops. He said: “I think bookshops will return to our high streets. They are not going to be quite like they are now, mass market beacons, but more specialist. The idea that you have to cater for everyone in the mass market seems to be delusional.”

Orbach, 70 in May, founded the company in 1976. The group employs 500 people in 20 separate business units based in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

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