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Global revenues at HarperCollins for the three months to 31st December 2019 fell 11%, while parent firm News Corp recorded a 6% decline compared to the same period the previous year.
Book publishing sales declined from $496m to $442m while EBITDA was down 28% from $88m to $63m. Figures for HarperCollins UK were not broken out.
News Corp blamed the fall on the previous year’s success of books Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave by Joanna Gaines, Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.
The 2019 decline was partially offset by titles including The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier by Ree Drummond and The Beast of Buckingham Palace by David Walliams, it said.
Digital sales increased 5% compared to the prior year, which the company said was primarily due to growth in downloadable audiobooks. Digital represented 19% of consumer revenues for the quarter.
Chief executive Robert Thomson said: "The results were affected by a sluggish Australian economy, uncharacteristic softness in book publishing, and foreign exchange fluctuations. We expect improvement in the second half as real estate markets show signs of gradual recovery, Dow Jones benefits from new content licensing arrangements and higher digital subscribers, and HarperCollins capitalizes on an exciting slate of new releases."
At News Corp as a whole revenues were $2.48bn, a 6% decline compared to $2.63bn in the previous year.