You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
HarperCollins has seen worldwide revenue and profits rise across the past year, driven by sales of Veronica Roth's YA title Divergent.
For the 12 months ended 30th June 2014, HarperCollins recorded revenues of $1.43bn (£850m), a growth of 5% on 2013's figure, $1.37bn (£810m).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at $197m (£117m), rising 39% from $142m (£84m) in 2013.
The results also showed that revenues from e-book sales had improved by 35%, now representing 22% of consumer revenues. In 2013, it stood at 17%. "The higher contribution to profits from e-books and ongoing operational efficiencies coupled with higher revenues" were attributed with the profit growth in the results, along with the continuing success of Roth's Divergent, which sold 19m units throughout the year.
Although figures for HarperCollins in the UK were not stripped out, HarperCollins UK c.e.o. Charlie Redmayne said the UK division had enjoyed "an excellent year", with "the highest profit and margin for many years".
He said: "This is particularly pleasing when the market has been pretty much flat. We've done well in the bestseller lists across the year and across the breadth of our publishing, and had a string of prize winners, including the Costa Book of the Year for Nathan Filer’s hugely acclaimed debut novel The Shock of the Fall, and the Samuel Johnson for The Pike by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, which also won four other top prizes."
While also crediting strong e-book sales and the work of divisions such as fiction and William Collins, he said the "star performer" was the children's division, which won the children's publisher of the year award at the Bookseller Industry Awards.
Results from HarperCollins, which completed its acquisition of Canada-based publisher Harlequin last week, boosted the overall results of parent company News Corp, which was announcing its first full year results as a separate company, following its split with 21st Century Fox.
Overall revenues for News Corp were $8.57bn (£5.1bn), down from $8.89bn (£5.29bn) in the prior year, though EBITDA rose to $770m (£458m) from $688m (£409m) the year before. The revenue drop was attributed mainly to falling advertising revenues in the company's news and information businesses.
Chief executive Robert Thomson said: "We finished our first full year as the new News Corp and made significant progress in achieving the mission we articulated at the outset – to be more global and more digital through organic growth, product launches and strategic acquisitions,", referencing the "international digital platform" that Harlequin would bring to HarperCollins.