David & Charles declares £5m in revenues in first 18 months

David & Charles Ltd, bought out from the bankruptcy of F+W Media Inc, has reported revenues of more than £5m in its first 18 months of trading.

The imprint became an independent publisher again last year following a buyout by the current management team with investment from Martin and Caroline de la Bedoyere, owners of Search Press. The deal saw them acquire the David & Charles assets from F+W Media Inc, an American business that filed for bankruptcy in March that year.

For the calendar year 2020, revenues exceeded £4m, with profits more than 15% of that, the publisher said. M.d. James Woollam estimated the press, which has been nominated in the Independent Publisher of the Year category at this year's Nibbies, had sales growth of around 22% year on year.

He said: "We could not be more delighted with our financial performance and have exceeded the goals we set when we acquired the David & Charles publishing assets. Buying the assets from F+W Media in bankruptcy was a unique circumstance, leading us to have a company that is only 18 months old with an imprint that celebrated its 60th anniversary last year.

"We have had tremendous support from our fantastic authors and our many business partners. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our books have found readers around the world who have turned to their crafts and hobbies. We are also absolutely delighted to have been nominated for Independent Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards and SME of the year in the South West Business Awards. The nominations are great recognition for the tireless work that the team have put in over the past 18 months to enable our success.”

David & Charles plans to grow its list to more than 40 books this year. New titles build on core instructional art and craft categories and include licensed books such as Pokémon Crochet, children's drawing titles 365 Days of Kawaii and 365 Days of Unicorns, plus mind, body, spirit books, including 100 Plants that Heal, The Witch's Yearbook and Mood Crystals.

A joint venture with Search Press will see the launch of an online community for arts and craft book buyers later in the spring, as part of an ongoing collaboration between the two publishers. A partnership with the Royal School of Needlework to provide online learning courses has also seen significant growth during the pandemic, the press said. Distribution sales of Dover Publications books have also seen growth.

Woollam added: "We have a great platform to build on and are ambitious to grow through new publishing opportunities and additional online learning partners. We look forward to supporting booksellers and independent art and craft retailers as they emerge from the national lockdown."