Trading ‘notably cooler’ than this time last year as Lagardère Publishing UK revenue dips

Overall revenue for Hachette UK parent company Lagardère has climbed sharply over the first three months of 2022 (Q1), its latest report has shown. However the revenue of its UK publishing arm decreased over the period by 1.0%, by comparison to “an exceptionally brisk start to 2021". 

Hachette UK c.e.o. David Shelley noted that the organisation had seen “robust trading” during the first few months of the year, with its UK print market share growing from 12.1% to 12.4% year on year, but that “all markets were notably cooler than in Q1 of 2021, reflecting both the exceptional lockdown book sales of last year and, potentially, the cost of living squeeze starting to impact on consumer spending.”

For Lagardère’s publishing division, which encompasses Hachette and Partworks, third-quarter 2021 revenue came in at €554m, up 8.7% as reported and up 1.4% like for like, “reflecting the high business base in the wake of the unprecedented momentum built up over the past two years”. 

However the report says that March 2022 saw the emergence of “less favourable trends in the publishing market".

Overall, however, revenue for Lagardère Publishing is expected to remain stable in 2022 according to the report, with profitability “impacted by less favourable market trends in a context of inflationary cost pressures".  As a result, Lagardère Publishing expects to post an operating margin of just above 11% for 2022.

Revenue for the Lagardère group as a whole climbed over the first three months of 2022 to €1,304m, up 44% on a reported basis and up 38% like for like.

E-books accounted for 8.1% of total Lagardère Publishing revenue in the first quarter of 2022, versus 9% in first quarter of 2021, while downloadable audiobooks represented 4.8% of revenue compared to 4.6% in the same period of the previous year.

Shelley said: “We continue to grow and diversify our business, acquiring Paperblanks, the world’s second largest premium stationery publisher after Moleskine, in January, as part of our strategy to publish in adjunct areas. Our recent education acquisitions, John Catt and Illuminate, are trading extremely strongly.”

He also noted that Hachette UK had four number one titles in the Sunday Times’ bestsellers list in the first quarter, with its most successful books including The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (Little, Brown), the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn (Little, Brown), the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman (Hachette Children’s Group), Slimming Eats by Siobhan Wightman (Hodder & Stoughton), Fast 800 Keto by Dr Michael Mosley (Octopus) and The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths (Quercus).