S&S UK 'looking strong' as profit grows in 2016

Simon & Schuster UK made a profit before tax of £3.76m last year, coming back from a loss the year before, with c.e.o. Ian Chapman telling The Bookseller the company is looking "really strong financially".

Pre-tax profit for the year to 31st December was £3.76m, back from a loss of £132,000 in 2015, achieved as turnover grew by £677,000 from £41.4m in 2015 to £42.1m last year.

Sales of adult non-fiction titles, notably Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, Born to Run, published in September last year, helped to boost profit, and the company also published 100 fewer books in 2016, Chapman revealed. E-book revenue fell but the decline was “more than offset by growth in sales of physical books”, according to accounts filed on Companies House.

“The profit demonstrates a significant improvement and we are confident that the company has now returned to a position of underlying and sustainable profitability," the accounts said. "Legacy issues around inventory and some author contracts have now largely been dealt with.”

Despite Companies House figures showing turnover was marginally up, S&S said its turnover was actually marginally down by 1.5% when stripping out the benefit received from returned stock.

Sales to date in 2017 were up 4% up year-on-year and profits were set to more than double, the company added. According to Nielsen BookScan, the business has generated sales of £15.9m so far this year, up 1.2%.

In an interview in The Bookseller's current issue to mark the company's 30th anniversary, Chapman revealed the firm planned to boost its audio division, concentrate more on serious non-fiction and Mind Body & Spirit and move away from celebrity books and sport titles. S&S will publish also 100 fewer books again this year.

Chapman also discussed how he had recently “thrown away” his walking stick after suffering from the life-threatening neurological condition Guillain-Barré syndrome last year. After eight months away from the office, he had found the forced convalescence useful and described how he “literally had to re-educate" himself to move. He said: "I couldn’t do anything by myself—I couldn’t shower, walk upstairs or eat, but I could read. I fell back in love with books and the written word again."

He added: "I had absolutely no choice and that doesn’t come naturally to me. But the people around me were incredible and we had a really good year.”

Chapman also dismissed the notion of his company being merely a 'US outpost' as "nonsense". He said: “We have a very strong local identity.” 

Chapman added: “We are really pleased with the 2016 results.”