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HarperCollins UK saw revenues up over 5% year-on-year for the first quarter of 2012, c.e.o. Victoria Barnsley has said.
Barnsley said there were strong performances across the board in both physical and digital publishing. Nearly a third of Avon's sales were from e-books during the period, while The Friday Project's Confessions of a GP "continued its dominance of the e-book charts" and George R R Martin delivered "spectacular" sales in all formats, Barnsley said. Meanwhile the Brian Cox Wonders of the Universe app "outperfomed every target set for it."
Education sales were up over 20% with a "particularly impressive" export performance. Children's was "very strong again across the board," led by David Walliams. Barnsley added that HarperCollins was looking forward to starting the final quarter of its financial year "in some style" with the hotly anticipated Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel.
Parent company News Corporation reported that an "improved contribution" from HarperCollins had helped it offset a third quarter decline in operating income from its publishing business.
News Corporation reported third quarter segment operating income of $130 million, a $94 million increase compared to the $36 million reported a year ago due to the prior year’s $125 million litigation settlement charge at the integrated marketing services business, but excluding this charge, a decrease of $31 million from last year’s third quarter. The decrease driven by local currency advertising revenue declines at the Australian and UK newspapers, as well as the absence of contributions from the closure of the News of the World. News Corp said the decline was "partially offset by improved contributions from Dow Jones, HarperCollins and the integrated marketing services business".