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BBC Worldwide is continuing to look at selling off its audiobooks business, after sales and profits fell at its 'Audio & Music' division. The unit reported sales of £25.9m in the 12 months ending 31st March 2010, down from £27.2m a year earlier. This led to a profit of £1.7m, down from £3m a last year.
BBCW said: "We are pursuing strategic options for our BBC Audiobooks business, particularly through a disposal. Though digital downloads of our titles are growing (29% of purchases by volume are now digital), the business is strategically non-core, and we believe a faster transition from physical to digital distribution can be achieved."
The unit is part of the BBC's Home Entertainment division, which returned profits of £40.3m (up 17.8% on 2008/09) on sales of £230m (up 2.1% year on year). BBCW reported that a "4.1% uplift in DVD sales was offset by reduced revenue from other consumer products such as books (managed via partnerships with Random House and Pearson). The same pattern emerges at profit level".