The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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Hachette UK 'raises the bar'

13.03.08 Tom Tivnan

The profit margin at Hachette Livre UK was broadly in line with French parent company Lagardere's 11.2% profit margin, according to c.e.o. Tim Hely Hutchinson. The increase was driven by "particularly good years" for the company's four main trade publishers, he told The Bookseller.

Hely Hutchinson said that Headline, Orion, Hodder and Little, Brown were boosted by strong Christmas campaigns. "They all made progress and increased their market share," he added.

In final results from Lagardere filed yesterday, the group generated recurring EBIT before associates of €636m in 2007, an increase of 22% on the 2006 figure of €521m. The business recorded a "fine performance", the group said, with earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) up by 9.4%.

Hely Hutchinson said he was cautiously looking forward to 2008. He added: "Every time we have a good year, it raises the bar for the next. I don’t think the economic environment is very healthy and the booksellers are facing difficulties. Quite a lot of it depends on how we perform this
Christmas."

In the coming year, the group was advancing with its digital business, Hely Hutchinson said: "As soon as there any e-book reader is launched in the UK, Hachette will have a full array of publishing to go along with it. We have made a big investment in our digital programme and the work is well underway." Yet he was unconvinced the devices would be an immediate hit: "It will start off with enthusiastic early adopters, but it will be quite a long time before the e-book readers are part of our everyday lives.

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