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David Shelley hails ‘amazing’ nine months for Hachette UK as bestsellers boost sales
Hachette UK CEO David Shelley has hailed an “amazing year so far” with sales growth of 3.5% year-on-year to the end of September, driven by bestsellers including Circle of Days by Ken Follett and The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith.
In its Q3 financial report, Hachette parent company Lagardère Group reported record quarterly revenue for Lagardère Publishing totalling €811m in Q3, up 5.9% as reported and up 6.6%, like for like.
The company’s financial report stated: “All business segments contributed to the growth effort, with General Literature enjoying very good performances in the US and France, and continued strong momentum for Board Games and Partworks.”
In the UK, Lagardère Publishing revenue was up 2%, a lift attributed to “the successful release of Robert Galbraith’s new novel, The Hallmarked Man, and Ken Follett’s Circle of Days, continued strong sales of Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid series, and a new distribution partnership with Bloomsbury”.
Overall, Lagardère Group reported revenues of €6,899m for the first nine months of 2025, up 3.9%.
Shelley told The Bookseller: “There have been particularly impressive performances from Little, Brown, Hodder & Stoughton, Orion and Bookouture. We’ve also seen outstanding growth from Hachette UK Distribution, thanks to industry-leading service levels.
“We’ve had a fantastic run in the Sunday Times bestseller charts in the past quarter, with 144 appearances and 13 number ones – a terrific 160% increase from Q3 in 2024. Our top-performing titles included the paperback of the summer, You Are Here by David Nicholls (Hodder & Stoughton), and Freida McFadden’s Housemaid books (Bookouture) and Rebecca Yarros’ Empyrean series (Little, Brown) which continue to attract new readers.”
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Other key Q3 titles included Circle of Days by Ken Follett (Quercus), The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith, Quicksilver by Callie Hart (Hodder & Stoughton), Wild Card by Elsie Silver (Little Brown), Lights Out by Navessa Allen (Quercus) and A Particularly Nasty Case by Adam Kay (Orion), as well as The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Orion), Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (John Murray), and The Names by Florence Knapp (Orion).
Arnaud Lagardère, chairman and CEO of Lagardère, said: “In the third quarter of 2025, the Lagardère group posted solid growth of 5.4%. With record quarterly revenue of over €800m, Lagardère Publishing has confirmed its leading positions in each of its geographic areas, with exceptional growth buoyed by a number of bestsellers in the General Literature segment and our ongoing and successful diversification drive.”
Shelley continued: “In September, we expanded our traineeship programme, offering both entry-level and career-change placements across our entire business. Now in its seventh year, the programme will next focus on recruiting candidates for our Sheffield office which is growing at a rate of knots. Another September highlight was the annual Changing the Story Festival, at which all staff participated in five events across Hachette UK’s London and Manchester offices.
“During the festival, we revealed a remodelling of our Changing the Story Board, with seven staff members joining to promote inclusivity and ensure employee voices remain central to our growth. Additionally, we announced two new partnerships: mentoring writers with the Women’s Prize Trust and a bespoke Raising Readers initiative with the National Literacy Trust, which reaches nearly 4,000 children, involves substantial donations of Hachette Children’s Group books, and offers volunteering opportunities for staff across the business.”
