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Atlantic Books’ m.d. Will Atkinson has told The Bookseller that he will be “very disappointed” if the company does not break even this year, as it has had a good start to 2015.
Atkinson was speaking to The Bookseller after the firm released abbreviated accounts for 2014 through Companies House.
Last year was a “massive, massive year of change” for Atlantic, said Atkinson, with a “full restructure and reconstruction of the business”. However, 2015 has so far been a good year for the publisher, with the company making a profit for five months out of seven from January to July, Atkinson said.
The abbreviated accounts do not give full turnover and profit and loss figures for 2014.
Atlantic had three consecutive years in the red, including a £5.1m loss on turnover of £6m in its 2012 accounts, a loss Atkinson deemed “spectacular”.
Among the departures in 2014 were Ravi Mirchandani and Atlantic’s founder and c.e.o. Toby Mundy.
Australian publisher Allen & Unwin became a majority shareholder in Atlantic Books in January 2014. It had previously owned a minority stake in Atlantic of around 15-20%, with Atlantic representing key titles from the Australian publisher's adult list in the UK.
Atkinson became m.d. of Atlantic in October 2014, moving from his role as sales and marketing director at Faber, where he spent 20 years.
In the notes in its filing to Companies House, Atlantic’s directors forecast that the company would break even in the year to 31st December 2015, but that it would “take more time for the company to become cash generative”.
“This is partly due to the need for the company to continue to invest in the acquisition of new titles and the fact that the return on this investment is not always immediate,” the filing said.
Atkinson said: “We have a strong autumn to come. I wouldn’t have come here without thinking there were huge opportunities. So far 2015 has delivered. The opportunities Atlantic has under Allen & Unwin ownership are considerable.
“We are generating cash. We do need to grow. The topline is important and we should be up in 2015 from 2014. The turnover…we do need to be slightly bigger.”
Among Atlantic’s releases this autumn are new books by Vince Cable, Garry Kasparov, Cheryl Strayed and Gulwali Passarlay.
“If we have a half-decent autumn, we’ll make plenty of money this year,” Atkinson said.
Atkinson has just promoted Francesca Riccardi to the newly-created role of digital and information manager.
“As over half Atlantic’s business comes from online sales, having world class data and metadata is of supreme importance in the growth and profitability of the business,” said Atkinson. “Half of Corvus sales are in e-book, so pricing analysis and manipulation is also a critical area, which she will now run.”