Quarto half-year revenues rise 8%

Illustrated book publisher and distributor Quarto has seen its revenue rise 8% year-on-year to $73.3m (£56.43m) in the six months ending 30th June 2016.

Within this, core publishing revenues for the business were up 16% to $57.8m (£44.48m), compared to $49.9m (£38.41m) for the same period in 2015. The business also managed to reduce its debts from $81m (£62.40m) in 2015 to $72.5m (£55.83m) this year.

However, its adjusted group operating profit was $0.4m (£0.31m), down from $0.7m (£0.54m) a year earlier and loss before tax was $1.4m, down from $1.6m last year.

Quarto said its children’s and foreign rights revenues were growing, with children’s sales up 36%.

"Continued strength" in the US market also saw revenues rise by 17% and adjusted operating profit increase by 39%, due to the "successful integration" of Harvard Common Press, which Quarto acquired in February.

The acquisition of independent trade publisher becker&mayer, which was announced yesterday (8th August), adds “another creative hub in the US with a sizeable children’s publishing element to it”, the company said.

The result from Quarto's Books & Gifts Direct business was "disappointing", according to the company, with the adjusted operating profit falling by $1.1m (£0.85m). However, recovery of this business is "expected" in the second half, based on order book visibility.

Commenting on the results, chief executive of The Quarto Group, Marcus Leaver, said: "It has been another six months of progress for the group. As we have highlighted before, we are increasingly second-half weighted. Trading remains on track, with healthy order book visibility, and we remain confident of both reducing debt and delivering growth for a fourth successive year.”