Hachette UK buys Laurence King Publishing

Hachette UK has bought arts and gifts specialist Laurence King Publishing (LKP) for an undisclosed sum.

The deal will see m.d. Laurence King, who founded the firm in 1991, depart after a six-month period as consultant. Meanwhile, the company will be split into three components, with its gift, trade and art publishing becoming an imprint of Orion Publishing Group under the LKP name, run by Anna Valentine, executive publisher of Trapeze, Seven Dials and Orion Spring. LKP's student and professional publishing will become a Quercus imprint and its children’s publishing will form part of Hachette Children’s Group; the names of these two imprints are "under review", Hachette said.

Currently based in Islington, LKP staff are expected to move into Carmelite House in early 2021. The firm currently employs around 75 staff; Hachette said it would be reviewing their roles and responsibilities in the coming weeks.

King told The Bookseller he had been considering selling anyway in the next few years, after reaching the age of 65 and having some health issues, decided now was the best time.

He said: “Hachette is the right company to buy us. I thought very hard about it and they seem to be a very trustworthy company, decent and seem to cherish their imprints. The people I met all seem thoughtful, intelligent book people who are very engaged with their lists. I was very keen the company should pass into the hands of people who are as engaged with their lists as my company is.”

He added: “I have no doubt that it will not only preserve LKP’s culture of aspiring to produce really exceptional, original books and gifts, but will also be able to take further LKP’s recent successful initiatives, such as its German subsidiary, Laurence King Verlag. While I am obviously sad to be leaving a company that I have spent so many decades building, it is very good to know that it will be in such safe and thoughtful hands.”

King said the press, billed as one of the world's leading publishers of books and gifts on the creative arts, had been growing strongly and, despite Covid-19, had seen UK sales up on this time last year.

He said: “Clearly Covid doesn't make anything easy for anybody but our UK sales are up on last year, the new adventure in Germany which we started is doing very well and has made substantial gains this year through Covid which I think is remarkable. In America we're doing well. The company as a whole is actually thriving at the moment.”

Successes for the company include Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest adult colouring books, which have sold more than 16 million copies globally. The author has sold 337,000 copies for £2.8m in the UK alone through Nielsen BookScan.

King said the company had slightly changed direction in the past few years following the colouring boom. In recent times, it has also become well known for its gift products, including the successful Bird Bingo and other games.

The publisher's most recent accounts, for the year ending 31st December 2018, showed it made a pre-tax profit of £26,590 on sales of £16.2m, compared to a profit £335,746 on £13.8m sales the previous year. Growth in the US gift market was up by 53% on 2017.

David Shelley, c.e.o. of Hachette UK, said: “I have for a long time admired LKP from afar. The creativity, dynamism and consumer focus of the business Laurence King has built up over the past 29 years is inspiring, and the company is exceptionally strong in a wide range of fields including art, architecture, design, fashion, film and photography, as well as children’s books. One area I am particularly excited about is LKP’s gift publishing, which has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years.

“As well as acquiring companies that publish brilliant books, at Hachette UK we like to acquire companies we can learn from, and I think there is a huge amount we can learn from LKP. I am really looking forward to working with the talented team there and to welcoming the fantastic list of authors. I hope we will be able to help the company to go from strength to strength in the years to come and to honour Laurence’s unique publishing vision.”

The acquisition is the latest in a line of deals that have seen Hachette snap up smaller, specialist publishers including Bookouture, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Summersdale and Short Books over the past three years.

Orion m.d. Katie Espiner said: “We have been looking at how best to grow our excellent commercial non-fiction lists at Orion, as well as looking beyond the book, and LKP is a perfect fit for us. The team are experts in their field and have enjoyed huge, profitable growth with their innovative and creative publishing. I know LKP will go from strength to strength under the aegis of Anna Valentine, and will perfectly complement our broad range of non-fiction publishing on the Trapeze, Seven Dials and Orion Spring lists.”

 “I’m so pleased to welcome LKP’s student and professional list to Quercus," said Jon Butler, m.d. of Quercus. "They have such a strong reputation for making bold, beautiful, essential books, always at the leading edge of what is possible. I can’t wait to get to know their staff and authors better, and to find exciting new ways to blend their expertise with Quercus’ own DNA of daring, creative publishing.”

Hilary Murray Hill, c.e.o. of the Hachette Children’s Group, said she was “thrilled” by the acquisition. She said: “The commitment to quality, imagination and innovation is manifest in everything they have published, and I am looking forward to working with new colleagues and creative contributors in developing bestselling non-fiction, which is at the heart of our programme.”