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Turnover at Jonathan Goodman Publishing, parent company of Carlton Books and Andre Deutsch, soared last year according to accounts filed on Companies House.
Turnover rose by 13% last year to £16m for the year ending 31st December 2016 while operating profit was up 204% to £1.6m.
The company showed an operating profit of 10% on turnover, an increase on the previous year and a gross profit of £6.2m, up 23% on 2015.
The publishing group attributed the rise in operating profit to the increase in group turnover, as well as an improved gross margin of 3%. It continues to tightly control its overhead expenditure, the accounts said.
“The group has retained its existing customers and actively seeks to attract new customers by designing and timing its publications to fit and meet its customer expectations,” the accounts stated.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) meanwhile rose by 178% from £0.6m in 2015 to £1.6m last year and the net assets were up by around 4% from £5.4m to £5.5m.
Carlton is a London-based publisher, which specialises in entertainment, history, sport, arts, lifestyle, and puzzles for adults and children, said it had “maintained a healthy cash flow” throughout the year.
One of the company's directors, Jonathan Goodman, told The Bookseller that Carlton Books had enjoyed a "good year" after 2015's performance was affected by "changes in senior personnel".
Goodman, also the chairman of Carlton, said: “We did have a good year in 2016. All key categories did well. We had another strong year in children’s publishing, led by sales of The Gloriumptious Worlds of Roald Dahl and Digital Magic titles. Adult successes included The Complete Beatles Song Lyrics, The Official Treasures of Muhammud Ali and The Treasures of British History by Dan and Peter Snow.”
Goodman described Andre Deutsch as a "smaller history-led list". He said: "It had a profitable year led by The Snows’ Treasures of British History, but we don’t disclose numbers separately as it shares the same overheads as Carlton."
He added: “By comparison our 2015 figures were sales of £14,373k and operating profit of £565k. That year was affected by some changes in senior personnel.”
Carlton Books’ former m.d Frank Chambers left the organisation in 2015, as did publisher Lisa Edwards. Japhet Asher was hired as digital director to oversee the company’s augmented reality (AR) and digital product development in October last year. Dean Chance was appointed director last month.