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Simon & Schuster grew turnover by £4m in the UK last year as it increased digital sales by 360%.
Hits such as Philippa Gregory’s The Red Queen and Manchester United’s Paul Scholes’ memoir My Story helped S&S to a turnover of £50m in the UK in 2011, up from £46m in 2010.
Managing director and c.e.o Ian Chapman revealed the hike in digital revenue was not at the expense of print book sales however, which also rose by 5%. Chapman told The Bookseller: "Twelve years ago we had a turnover of £17m. This year we totalled £50m for the first time and with some very healthy profits, so that in itself is a very encouraging and exciting milestone." He added: "We are now the seventh largest publisher by value and sixth by volume, if you take out Oxford University Press."
The UK statistics come as Simon & Schuster in the US disclosed that strong growth of “more profitable digital content” was off-set by lower print book sales. The US quarter revenues decreased by 1% to $229m from $232m in 2010, while fourth quarter digital sales increased 83% from the same period a year earlier. Profit-before-tax for the fourth quarter totalled $28m, an increase of 40% from the same period a year earlier.
For the whole year, S&S US reported revenue decreases of 1% to $787m from $791m in 2010 while pre-tax profit rose by 28% to $92m from $72m, which the company said was down to "lower direct operating costs."
“These include the impact of cost-containment measures, the decline in expenses resulting from an increase in more profitable digital sales as a percentage of total revenue and the absence of a provision for doubtful accounts recorded in 2010," the company said.
E-book sales now account for 18% of S&S US’s business, where it accounts for around 10% of the UK arm’s sales.