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Co-edition publisher Quarto has increased sales and profit in its latest financial results, although chairman and c.e.o. Laurence Orbach remains agnostic about e-books.
In the half year to 30th June, revenue increased 9% to £45.4m and operating profit increased by 12% to £2.4m. In its publishing segment, profit was up 4% to £2.8m on revenue growth of 10% to £33m. In its co-edition sector, operating profit was down 10% at £0.4m although sales grew 4% to £12.3m.
Orbach said the results were "very strong" amid a "very challenging and turbulent" wider environment.
He said: "Unlike some of the household name publishers, most of whose titles are in narrative form, our concepts do not translate easily to the current crop of e-reader formats. We watch the developing situation closely, embracing the prospects for our titles when they make sense, but not yet having a view on whether the drift presents a strategic opportunity for Quarto.
"There is growing evidence that e-books can sustain an increasing audience, but the pace of growth in the last year has certainly been stimulated from the supply side, and the entrance of so many viable alternatives to Amazon’s Kindle. At the same time, the degradation of sales of printed books, outside narrative titles, seems less clear."
However, Orbach said assuming the economy does not experience a double-dip recession, the publisher would end the year "positively ahead of 2009".