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HarperCollins UK hits record profit after Lord of the Rings Amazon TV deal
HarperCollins Publishers saw record profits before tax of £26.8m for the year ending 30th June 2018, almost double the 2017 figure, partly due to a monster The Lord of the Rings TV deal with Amazon.
An end of year report filed at Companies House showed a £12.9m profit rise from the £14.2m achieved in 2017. After tax profits stood at £24m compared to £9m in 2017.
The publisher said “the main driver” was a deal for an Amazon Prime series based on Tolkien’s appendices for his epic trilogy. A new deal on mono printing also helped drive the surge.
A spike in turnover, up to £194.7m from £185.8m and not including the Tolkien deal, was partially attributed to the growth in its children’s publishing with the second Paddington film and David Walliams’ dominance of the book charts. Titles including the Why Mummy series and non-fiction books by Nigel Slater, Bruce Dickinson and new author Ant Middleton were also credited for the increase.
The report noted: “We also saw growth in our digital publishing with the increase in downloadable audio more than offsetting the continued reduction in e-book sales.”
Trade increases were partially offset by a decline for Collins Learning thanks to the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s decision to move away from the English syllabus and not renew its contract. This was despite export growth in China, the Caribbean and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Books singled out as big achievers in adult fiction included Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, The Woman in the Window by A J Finn and Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough.
Charlie Redmayne, c.e.o of HarperCollins UK, said: “Our accounts reflect an incredibly strong period of publishing from HarperCollins with a host of market leading books across all areas of the business.
“Our profits were bolstered by a one-time benefit of the Amazon/Tolkien deal but even with that stripped out we have seen a significant improvement in performance in both the top and the bottom line. And more importantly, as can be seen from TCM, this growth has continued into the current fiscal year.”
